Jesus’ great one-liner, “Give to Caesar what belongs to Caesar but give to God what belongs to God” is well known. What lead him to make this statement? The meanness of the Pharisees who tried to trap Jesus and make him look bad to one group or another.
Many religious people are mean-spirited like the Pharisees who demanded that Jesus & others see things their way. We don’t just try to convince others of our religious views, but we try to destroy them. Just look at some religious websites where even religious people fight against religious people.
The message of Jesus? You can’t serve a loving God by hating other people. Are we religious people but also mean people? What do we do in the name of religion that is not a reflection of Christ? Give to God what belongs to God. Give to others what belongs to them: the respect of someone made in God’s image.