Distinctions are important to understanding and it is not always easy to make distinctions, especially when important issues are being discussed. Broad generalizations like saying all Christians are good or bad, or all politicians are bad or good, or all police are good or bad. We all know that none of those statements are accurate even though we may believe that many, or even most, within any of those groups are good or bad.
Judging groups or individuals simply by past behavior falls too easily into prejudice, ignoring present realities.
So, when a politician is shown to be corrupt it is not wise to reject all politicians since there will be some who are ethical and trying hard to keep things from getting more corrupt. The same is true of police officers, some may be truly bad, but most are not. We are often willing to leave room for their organizations to work effectively to actually correct the problem and not to simply become defensive.
Because there are horrible things that are done in the name of Christianity, or any religion, it is important to be aware of the difference between some within that religion and the religion as a whole. The same might be true of the military, although they may be involved in a war that is based on bad or flawed policy, it does not mean that those who do the fighting are tainted by those bad policies. On the other hand, it is important to be able to discuss or even identify, the policies as bad or flawed without being attacked for being against the military personnel who participated in those flawed wars or military actions.
We all know how painful it is to be judged by our associations and not by our own actions.
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Bob Passi
Baxter
