When I ask people what religion is about I usually get one of two answers. 1) It’s about morality, about being good, about prohibiting bad behavior. Some say it is repression. 2) It’s about social service, helping the poor, and achieving justice.
By contrast, consider what the Bible says in John 3:17 “For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.” Christ’s purpose in coming was to bring forgiveness rather than condemnation, rather than judgment, and life rather than death. All of this is because of God’s grace, His unmerited love toward us.
The reason “religion” is all about morality and judgment in the popular mind is that grace is not. The human heart knows the law and sin and judgment, but cannot know that at a certain time and place God entered into this world as a real human being in order to redeem us. That is a matter of history, not something we are born knowing.
So what does this mean for us? While we surely uphold what is right and reject what is wrong, the most important thing is the forgiveness of sins.