There are some living parables that simply tell themselves.  Neither illustration nor explanation is necessary.  Nevertheless, I’ll go ahead and engage in a little pedantic theological overkill, just to make sure the point is driven home.

This article was sent my way by Matt Grove:

Highly Religious People Are Less Motivated by Compassion Than Are Non-Believers

Go ahead and read it.  Then compare the results of that study to the words of the Dude himself (with all due respect to Jeff Lebowski):

[Jesus said:] ‘What do you think? A man had two sons; he went to the first and said, “Son, go and work in the vineyard today.” He answered, “I will not”; but later he changed his mind and went. The father^* went to the second and said the same; and he answered, “I go, sir”; but he did not go. Which of the two did the will of his father?’ They said, ‘The first.’ Jesus said to them, ‘Truly I tell you, the tax-collectors and the prostitutes are going into the kingdom of God ahead of you. For John came to you in the way of righteousness and you did not believe him, but the tax-collectors and the prostitutes believed him; and even after you saw it, you did not change your minds and believe him.  (Matthew 21:28-32)

Finally, here’s a video from Derek Webb, one of the only ‘Christian’ artists I can stand to listen to anymore: