>which feels at odds with a professedly Christian nation

I observe and respect the Christian heritage and traditions.

Having said that, and from my own experience, the most vile, hypocrite and ill-intentioned people I've met, happen to portray an image of justice and purity based on (their purported) Christian values.

I believe it's some sort of mimicry they develop on purpose, to balance out the negative image deserving of their real self.

They're also quite easy to spot, though. Most Christians keep what they do, good or bad, to themselves, while these guys preach it out in a way that comes off as unnatural.

Anyway, these kind of scumbags, when at the right place/time, could do irreparable damage to other people's lives and then go on with their business and completely forget about it, so be careful when you encounter one, best advice is to just steer away from them. (Thomas couldn't, in this case, and that's part of the tragedy).

Anyone that flaunts morality (of themselves or others) or loudly decries 'immorality' at most charitable probably hasn't thought things out well, most likely is lying to themselves (though they often don't realize it), and at worst their basis for morality is based on fears of things they might themselves want.

There are also the more obvious examples of people that pander to get some perceived benefit, most are happy to believe 'the other party does this'. It's really sad that it is a rare gem of a politician who really believes in everything they say.

I do not think this is Christianity specifically, I think this is how religion stays whole. They have to have absolute rules otherwise people would leave them and stop to obey out of fear.

When you have some oppressing others, this is always in the name of something great and beyond mere mortals. Never because "I said so" (even if of course this is usually the case)

Wow, $50K / year is high. Illinois I think tops out at a max of $140K total, and that only kicks in at something like a decade locked up.

Bear in mind those figures are statutorily-mandated money that you get by law. You can also sue on top of that.

The issue is that it's often impossible to sue for decades behind bars. All sorts of things stop you, such as statutes of limitation, qualified immunity from prosecution etc.

> professedly Christian nation

There is nothing in federal or state legal documents that mention Christianity. God? Yes. Traceable to Judeo-Christian values? Yes. Christianity explicitly mentioned. No.

ha, christianity is nothing but a way of social signalling purity. So they can get away with being nasty brutish selfish beings. The world suddenly makes sense if you consider that the majority of people are complete asshats who would kill you for a sandwich and never think on it again -as long as they can get away with it.

LOL “Christian nation.” I don’t even think the Evangelicals actually believe this. It’s just a set of coded language they use to gain power, like people quoting their favorite movie.