Probably because I was raised evangelical and kept at it into adulthood, and all my family and closest friends are Christians, too. Specifically thinking about climate change, Christians really only have 3 responses that don't involve outright denial or depending on us to "innovate" our way out of the problem (neither of which are real responses):
1.) Recognize climate change is real and it's us Americans that bear a lot of that responsibility. Then, act accordingly by supporting efforts like the GND to mitigate the problem as much as possible. Also, will probably need to do a little bit of #2, too.
2.) Recognize climate change is real, just say we either can't or won't do anything about it, so they commit to a program of accepting refugees (and it's gonna be a lot of refugees) from parts of the world that impacted by climate change. Throw the door open.
3.) Recognize climate change is real and it's going to displace tens and probably hundreds of millions of poor and desperate people all over the world, while the US will, at least for a while, be ok. And instead of doing something to stop it or accepting climate refugees, just say fuck it, let them die. Let millions and millions die because we love our Escalades and can't give them up for electric cars because that would be gommunism. Oh and if you try and get in here we'll just shoot you dead.
So of course, outside of a few Catholics and liberal protestants, the overwhelming majority of Americans Christians are gonna go with option #3. Despite being the "salt of the earth", having this belief that their religion is correct and calls for them to be compassionate, and that God cares about every single human soul on earth.
I get that the hypocrisy isn't really surprising to most folks here, but for me it's very personal. I remember some friends and family crying when they found out I deconverted. A couple tried to get me come back. They couldn't understand, they couldn't see the holes that I see. In their heart of hearts, they believe their religion is good and beautiful. They think it truly reflects the nature of God. And I know they care a lot about "winning souls". And yet, these same people can't see how absolutely ugly and awful the results of their beliefs are. It just pisses me off, is all.
You're seriously not alone. I grew up vaguely Catholic but studied a lot of religion as part of my history studies, 1st century and early Christianity stuff, and the cognitive dissonance between 1st century Christianity and what Americans actually do is a constant gnawing at the back of my head. The religion just isn't that complicated, the values are clearly laid out, the expectations for how you're supposed to relate to other people and to Empire are pretty straight forward, yet "Christians" in America, the Evangelical Right wing, might as well be shock troopers for Rome. I don't understand that culture at all, how it could claim "Christianity" yet be so ruthlessly authoritarian, imperialist, and just wall to wall violent.
SMH, yo. SMH.
That's what happens when your county's growth is largely built on the genocide of indigenous peoples. Your popular religion or values system has to accommodate that
I still say the worst thing to happen to Christianity was being made into the state religion of Rome. After that it lost all of it's radical compassion and love and became just another tool of control for the ruling class.
Nah, every few decades there would be a schism, someone would try to do the radical compassion and love thing, and the mainline groups would mobilize to kill all the peace and love people. And, really, jokes aside, it's very complicated. Two thousand years, dozens of cultures, wild variations in theology and beliefs. There are cool christians like the Catholic Workers and some of the Unitarians, there are woke nuns, there's all sorts of weird protestant groups that try to do good things.
But the big right wing mass of American protestantism is pretty damn fash.