Rachel Held Evans is discussing patriarchy and the role of women as teachers in the Christian church:
Perhaps we could push beyond these legalistic gender roles if we spent less time worrying about “acting like men” and “acting like women,” and more time acting like Jesus.
via The Absurd Legalism of Gender Roles: Exhibit C – “As long as I can’t see her…”.
I think her formulation would work pretty well for lots of other tribes within Christianity beyond just men and women: rich and poor; Republicans and Democrats; citizens and immigrants; mainline and fundamentalist, 7-day and evolutionary creationists. Perhaps we should spend less time “acting like X” and “acting like Y,” and more time acting like Jesus.
AND we could act like Jesus toward some groups outside the typical evangelical church too: Muslims, atheists, homosexuals — Perhaps we should spend less time “acting like Christians” toward Y and more time acting like Jesus.