The classification of a “good” one casts dispersion on all the rest. Very early on, “others” were cast as baddies. It seems like a trend.
Quoting Wikipedia:
Jesus’ target audience, the Jews, hated Samaritans to such a degree that they destroyed the Samaritans’ temple on Mount Gerizim. The Samaritans, reciprocally, hated the Jews.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parable_of_the_Good_Samaritan
Quoting Wikipedia [emphasis mine]:
The Samaritans (/səˈmærɪtənz/; Samaritan Hebrew: ࠔࠠࠌࠝࠓࠩࠉࠌ Šā̊merīm; Hebrew: שומרונים Šōmrōnīm; Arabic: السامريون as-Sāmiriyyūn), often preferring to be called Israelite Samaritans, are an ethnoreligious group originating from the Hebrews and Israelites of the ancient Near East. They are indigenous to Samaria, a historical region of ancient Israel and Judah that comprises the northern half of what is today referred to as the West Bank. They are adherents of Samaritanism, an Abrahamic, monotheistic, and ethnic religion that developed alongside Judaism.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samaritans
I dunno. Maybe someone will correct my interpretation. This has been at the edge of my mind for a little while and I’m curious if others agree.
I’m pretty anti-theist. However, if religions were just a bunch of ideas on how to live your best life (like this parable) it would be generally fine. The problem is a lesson as simple as “love thy neighbour” fails to make it through because it would undermine the organisation. Without “them” there is no “us”, and without “us” there is no organisation.
I don’t think people consciously take on this “us” / “them” thinking, but they fall into it and it feels safe and comfortable. In this case Jesus was literally telling his followers to do what felt uncomfortable — to help people outside of their own faith. To not let labels get in the way.
Be spiritual. Hold a faith. Just forgoe the organisations that corrupt that faith.
One of lessons of the Bible (from what I gather anyway) is that all humans are corrupt-able and will err. Therefore, all organizations that wield any power at all are subject to human corruption. Indeed, this is how we think of organizations in a secular light.
If you’re looking for the religious teachings or church organizations that are free from the sins they denounce, you won’t find them, because human beings cannot keep themselves from temptation indefinitely.