Am I my brother’s keeper? Most of those who call themselves Christians or Jews or Moslems answer: Yes, we are our brothers’ keeper. That is the heresy.
Am I my brother’s keeper was asked by Cain, the first murderer in an attempt to distract God from his question.
I am not my brother’s keeper. I am my brother’s brother. There is a big difference.
Joshua said it best in reference to government:
Choose you this day whom you will serve. But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.
The essence of our society is that choosing Judaism, or Christianity, or any religion/value system is a free choice. We Judeo Christians are to set an example and spread the good news. But we are not to impose our Christian values on others and force them to practice the golden-rule or any other Christian teaching.
” But we are not to impose our Christian values on others and force them to practice the golden-rule or any other Christian teaching.”
But we are to call to task those who profess to be Christian and operate outside Christian values. See church discipline.
This does not prevent others from imposing their values on us. Fact is, many non-believers think our values are valueless, indeed harmful. It does matter WHAT you believe. What a society believes about what is good behavior is the basis of its laws. Nonbelievers are now trying to use the law to say what is good behavior and what is bad. Gays believe that saying that sodomy is bad behavior is wrong and should no more be tolerated than saying that blacks are inferior to whites.