America's Not Judgmental...is it?

Maybe one scripture that I hear most often outside the Christian context is "Judge not lest you be judged." Often it is a defense a person uses against an admonished of questionable behavior. Sex outside of marriage, lifestyle choices that don't seem to jive with Christian teaching, etc. It is a defense used to guard ourselves from being told we are wrong by others and a sorry effort to legitimize our own actions.

judgment is something not to be taken lightly. However, even though it may seem the Church, with its biblical moors and moral fortitude, is the biggest judge of people and society, I am more inclined to believe that America is far worse.

In American culture we judge all the time. It is part of our spirit, our being, our community we call the United States of America. If you do not wear the right clothes, drive the right car, root for the right team you are judged and your punishment is banishment. We may not announce the judgment so that the whole world knows. Typically it is subtle. It may be the tightening of the grip on your purse when a black man walks by, or the teenager making fun of a girl because she does not meet his standard of pretty.

The banishment, however subtle it may also be, is truly evident. When the girl is not invited to the party, when the basketball player loses the game...and the scholarship. When your fellow church member wears a loud sweater to church and has the audacity to sit right next to you, even then you are less inclined to invite them for coffee. Try getting tattooed and get a row of earrings, walk into a church and you may see judgment, but you will get that from the police officer as well.

America judges. America has placed itself on top of the world so it can also judge them. America, when will you learn to love rather than manipulate? When will you learn to free rather than imprison people with myths of happiness wrapped up in consumerism, materialism and interest rates? When will you learn to stop judging people who disagree with you? When will you stop waging war with people who return your judgment with theirs?

Stop it. Because the plank in your eye is making you look ugly.