In religion and society there is a common thread which binds the two together. It is a thread which spans from the lowest ranks of the many churches to the upper eschalons of government and spiderwebs like a virus touching every man, woman and child in some fashion or another. That thread is hypocrisy. In this piece, I will attempt to point out some forms of hypocrisy and why we as individuals must be more scrutinizing about who and what we put our "faith" in.

Let me begin by stating that one does not need to have deception in mind in order to be a hypocrite. Hypocrisy exists in many forms and we, as a judging public, often give too much credit to the hypocrites, deeming them deceptive masterminds whom we've been swindled by. That is not to say that all hypocrisy is accidental. That would be a ridiculous assumption. It is, however, wide spread across a spectrum of social (and anti-social) circles.

Let's not go any further with this article without an agreed upon definition of hypocrisy. In The Simpsons and Philosophy, Jason Holt defines hypocrisy as "not practicing what one preaches. That is, one affirms certain principles or values".

It does not take a philosophical genius to see that there is and always has been a deeply rooted string of high-placed hypocrites throughout human history. The question is, how long are we as individuals, ultimately as a species, going to keep putting stock in these social, beaurocratic and religious mistakes?

The problem is that just when we seem to get rid of one hyprocrite, we replace them with another. In religion, they are appointed and we keep approving them over and over again. This activity of course causes the people to become unwittingly hypocritical, (remember, hypocrisy isn't always deceptive), because who really places a need for unworthy leaders in their value system?

At this stage, I am going to go after the institution of religion as a whole because the religious right, values and hypocrisy are all as tightly interconnected with each other as they are with politics; (seperation of church and state? Okay, whatever). The problem is that we have entirely too much value systems to choose from. I am going to paraphrase what many philosophical scholars have said by stating that it's easy to miss the point of values and all but impossible to tell which value systems we are supposed to live by if, judging by the hypocrisy of our religious and political leaders, there is absolutely no discernable foundation for morality?

There are too many painfully obvious examples of religious hypocrisy we see in the news, like the molestation problems in the Catholic church and the bilking of the public out of millions of dollars by ridiculous, over the top evangelists. However, the problem really begins with the small hypocrisies we allow to go unnoticed every single day. If "regular" individuals can't seem to live within church mandates, how can they expect the leaders to do the same? That is not to say that all openly religious are "bad", but they certainly aren't doing enough to sway public opinion about the declining state of most organized religions.

My own observations on the subject have brought me to two main conclusions. Frederiech Neitzche said, "God is dead". I don't completely agree. I just don't think he can be found at most churches. Also, hypocrisy doesn't always mean you are doing "evil". If your system of morality condones the beating of kittens and you are found donating to PETA, you're still a hypocrite!

Where the philosophical idea of hypocrisy is concerned I have left a myriad of possible points undiscussed. I have done this for the simple fact that there are loopholes in hypocrisy. Doing something hypocritical for the greater "moral good" is not, persay, bad. Also, there are rare cases where hypocrisy and integrity do not oppose one another.These cases would compose a completely seperate and deeper work. For now, let us just say that there are those blatant and perverse perpetrators of hypocrisy who demand immediate attention.

The battle to erase the ugliest forms of this vice must begin with you, the reader.What was the last hypocritical thing you did or saw? Can you correct it? If not, don't fret. There is hope for you yet. Just remember, once you have evaluated yourself, you will have much less sympathy for the more hypocritical wings of the religious and political right and left. After all, once one has made a heartfelt commitment it shouldn't be that difficult to put the alter boy's pants back on, or not buy the Lexus with parishoner or company funds, or put down the pills when one just openly criticized drug use.....(are you reading this Rush?), or even turn down the corporate kick backs when there are people left in this world/country/state/city who don't even make a minimum wage, people one promised to speak for and stand up for.

In closing, It can be said that hypocrisy is one of the worst and oddly, most avoidable vices. Is it more important to follow personal values over "official" or projected values? It depends upon the ends. There will be more articles on the varieties of hypocrisy to come. Until then, scrutinize everything, especially those who claim to know what's best for you. And remember, changing your beliefs or system of values does not make you a hypocrite. Violating what you hold true to yourself does.