The word hypocrite comes from a Greek word “hypokrites,” which means “an actor” or “a stage player.” A hypocrite is a person who claims or pretends to have certain beliefs about what is right but who behaves in a way that disagrees with those beliefs. Hypocrisy, thus, is the practice of engaging in the same behavior or activity for which one criticizes another or the practice of claiming to have moral standards or beliefs to which one’s own behavior does not conform. In moral psychology, it is the failure to follow one’s own expressed moral rules and principles.

 

In the parable of the Pharisee and the tax collector, a Pharisee and a tax collector went to the temple to pray. The Pharisee prayed about how good he was, but the tax collector asked for God’s mercy as he was a sinner. Jesus said that it was the tax collector who went home justified before God. This reminds us of ‘Pharisees’ among us – the hypocrites – who love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by men!

 

An observer while referencing the all pervasive corruption in Nagaland once said that it is because the people, being mostly Christians, believe that they will be forgiven for all their transgressions and, therefore, they engage in all sorts of corruption without compunction. We are so used to living in a culture of corruption so much so that we no longer realize what corruption is. The general idea now is we cannot achieve success in life if we detest corruption, just as fish got to swim and birds got to fly. In many circles, the exposure of faux principles is more likely to be greeted by “So what?” than by “Shame!” This is one reason why the RSS/Hindutva agents look down upon us with disdain.

 

But how did this normalization of hypocrisy get established in our society? Perhaps the fault lies with our theology. We tend to keep our faith in one box and our way of life in another – and these two boxes are kept separate like they were exclusive to each other. When we open the ‘faith box’ we become the most faithful believers and pray like the Pharisees, often with our arms raised! And then we close the box. First thing we do next is open the other box and voila! Look at our way of life – the stench of corruption stinks to high heaven.

 

We are so given to the cares of this world it becomes natural for us to live in corruption. Worse, we have gotten so used to it that we warmly tolerate corruption as a way of life. A glaring example of how we have normalized hypocrisy is the manner in which we participated at the recently held assembly election. Or the much talked about backdoor appointment to government jobs. We all know how the elections were held and how the ‘successful’ candidates were elected – all the vices that a finite human mind could conceive were employed. And then we hold thanksgiving prayers for them. Or look at how backdoor appointees pray and tithe for the ‘blessing’ of landing a government job. That is just how we have normalized hypocrisy.

 

Mokokchung Times

 

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