Reconstructing Christian Ethics 01.2: Pseudo-Christian Virtues

I've talked about the virtues that are clearly Christian, derived directly from scripture. There might be some details that I have wrong, but in general I feel comfortable with that list.

I've also talked about virtues that have been historically associated with Christianity, which clearly have substantial overlap with my list.

But what about "virtues" that are often associated with Christianity, but are not Christian? There are quite a few. The ways Christians behave are sometimes the complete inversion of the Christian virtues. This is often due to our taking a legalist approach to scripture, trying to extract some hidden set of commandments from the New Testament, which results in the development of inconsistent rule sets. Here are some example corruptions of each of the virtues we've identified:

• Humility before God
• Unquestioning submission to government authority, tradition, and other man-made systems claiming the moral authority of God
  
• Drive for righteousness and restorative justice
• Belief that any action we take, or any side we take, is, by definition, righteous (self-righteousness)
  
• Non-restorative punishment of wrongdoing by others, as an end unto itself
  
• Embrace of knowledge, wisdom and truth
• Ignorance, rigidity of thought, and unquestioning certainty
• Love and respect
  
• In-group loyalty, exclusion of the other, especially seen with sexual and gender minorities
  
• Joy, satisfaction, contentment, gratitude
  
• Worship of material success
• Prosperity gospel
• Prayer of Jabez
  
• Peacemaking, building relationship and community
• Schism within the Church
  
• Unkindness to fellow Christians, of any church or denomination
  
• Patience and hope
• Lack of long-term care for the world
• Kindness, mercy, and generosity
  
• Treating some people as not worthy of kindness and mercy due to their origins, actions, or outside group status
  
• Integrity and self-control
• Purity culture
• Faithfulness and endurance
• Refusal to acknowledge non-adultery causes for divorce
  
• Satisfaction with our present selves, failure to recognize areas for spiritual growth