On February 22, the second man with ties to the Mesquite Baptist Church in Texas was arrested with the charge of sexual assault on a child. Larry Allen Winn, head of the ministry bus service, was the second member of the church in February to be convicted for sexual assault of a child.

The heinous actions of active church members like Winn are not scarce and often gain media attraction, exposing churches across the world for structural corruption and neglect of morals.

The malicious tendencies of church members are non-unique to Christianity as nearly every religious institution is burdened by individuals who contort the teachings of the church for selfish purposes.

Rhetoric against organized religion in the modern day is often misconstrued to make individual members of churches seem like accurate representations of the churches ideology and interpretation of the word of their God.

While certain institutions are inherently more discriminatory toward certain demographics, it is unfair and unwarranted to brand most religious sects as malicious or corrupt.

Most sects of Christianity are all formed upon the same core values: the Ten Commandments.

These Ten fundamental values act as the cornerstone of Christian beliefs as members are expected to follow principles such as not committing murder and not stealing. It is those ten simple rules that all Christians must abide by, and none of the commandments are discriminatory in nature.

Looking to other global religions like Islam and Judaism, similar fundamental philosophies reflect messages of not only obedience but of compassion.

Looking to the five pillars of Islam, there is an explicit emphasis on loyalty to the faith and the importance of charity.

Time and splitting of churches over centuries has undoubtedly lead to discrimination on the basis of religion. With this in mind, it is important to remember that the actions of church members like Winn are not inherently reflective of religious institutions as a whole.

While institutions like the Westboro Baptist Church Kansas spew messages of hate and discrimination, the Baptist Church as a whole follows a set of protestant beliefs that primarily focus on an individual’s dedication to their faith as opposed to concerns over outsiders of the church.

Associating hatred and discrimination with organized religion as a whole reflects a flawed understanding of what these institutions are attempting to bring to the world.

In a modern culture running rampant with criticism of nearly every institution, focusing on fundamental values of religions at their core is vital to acceptance of religious movements and practically everything else.