Faith, With A Lack Of Respect For People's Humanity

"Perhaps this is the hardest lesson of resurrection-centered spirituality: to look upon ourselves and others as free, responsible persons. Instead of creating more freedom, all of us unwittingly erect impediments to it—impediments such as neurotic fear, pressure, threats of punishment. The tragedy of our attempts to compel others to be virtuous by force or subtle manipulation is that these efforts are so prevalent in our lives, so characteristic of our relationships with others that most of us, most of the time, are unaware of the problem. We do not perceive that we betray a basic lack of respect for the humanity of those with whom we deal, and that this lack of respect is the essential problem with the use of authority in the church and in the home.
If we really knew the God of Jesus, we would stop trying to control and manipulate others “for their own good,” knowing full well that this is not how God works among his people. Paul writes, “Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom” (2 Corinthians 3:17). " (Brennan Manning. The Signature Of Jesus)