The book of Matthew in the Christian New Testament, in chapter 18 verses 15 to 17, could be roughly paraphrased to be Jesus giving Humanity the message that “if you all could just please handle your disputes democratically, me and my dad’ll just love you for it”.
Now what it actually says is, “If your brother or sister sins, go and point out their fault, just between the two of you. If they listen to you, you have won them over. But if they will not listen, take one or two others along, so that ‘every matter may be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses.’ If they still refuse to listen, tell it to the church; and if they refuse to listen even to the church, treat them as you would a pagan or a tax collector”.
Another thing that Jesus said (verse 5) is that it is a divine fate for Humanity if “the meek” become the ones presiding over the law for our planet. Giving optimal democratic enfranchisement to the meek, especially if they happen to be larger in number than the non-meek, may perhaps be an effective way to fulfil Jesus’s wish for Humanity. Apparently, if You do the work of contributing to the emergence of a more democratic society, then You are doing the work advised and requested by Jesus, regardless of which side you particularly take on the contentious and irresolvable question of whether He may be the son of God.
You can look at any major political figure in the world who claims to be a Christian, and yet appears not to be meek, and easily arrive at the conclusion that this figure is sufficiently hypocritical that your support of this person would be an irrational decision. That is perhaps one of the beautiful attributes of the more ethically wise precepts advocated by the guy whose birthday is celebrated every 25th of December.
The most important thing that I would hope might be on the mind of anyone who, like myself, is not convinced of the claim that Jesus was the son of God, and yet finds many of his ethics pleasing, is how to use this knowledge, of the convictions of genuine Christians, to contribute to our ability to share community and friendship with them in a way that shows society’s gratitude for their deliberation on the supreme source of their ethics. I equally favour seeking their approval of our ethics, that we have chosen for and amongst ourselves.
So in the hypothetical situation that Jesus wasn’t actually the son of God but was a man with some strong ethical innovations, it is nice to know that genuine Christians can be gratefully respected for their willingness to support having society’s disputes handled through a democratic process that is optimally enfranchising to the meekest of its members.
Written with love by a devout, possibly (probably?) eternal agnostic