Theodore Dalrymple writes of an English judge who showed leniency toward a pair of brothers convicted of a drug crime, and reversed herself after they publicly mocked her leniency. (Justice isn’t blind in her court.)

The judge is well known for her leniency, which is more properly called soft-headedness. Dalrymple calls it residual Christianity syndrome:

She thought initially that it was her place to be mercifully forgiving of sins, provided they were humbly confessed before her, thereby also fulfilling the injunction (on behalf of society) to turn the other cheek.

Similarly disposed are leftist politicians — and leftists generally — who often excuse their penchant for dispensing other people’s money as a Christian act of charity or compassion. It’s nothing of the kind, of course, because it’s not their money.

With due apology to the founder of Christianity, I offer this slightly modified version of Matthew 19:24:

And once again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to pass through a needle’s eye, than for a man to enter the kingdom of heaven when he robs some to give to others in My name.