Hypocrisy

Hypocrisy is “claiming to have moral standards or beliefs to which one’s own behaviour does not conform; pretence.”(New Oxford dictionary 2005)[1]. Wikipedia wants it as the assumption of a false appearance of virtue or goodness, with dissimulation of real character or inclinations, especially in respect of religious life or beliefs; hence in general sense, dissimulation, pretence, sham. [2] Digging into the achieves to ascertain the origin of the word, we find it rooted in the Greek word hypokrites , which denotes a stage actor, pretender, dissembler or one who wears a mask. What people portray when acting doesn't always add up to their lives offstage. That contradiction then gave rise to the borrowing of the same concept to address those who can't live up to what they say. It has to do with the speech that cannot tally with the life. An example will be of one who can be inwardly evil and outwardly professes to be very virtuous. You can't match the two. When people hear of the word hypocrisy, they tend to quickly relate it with religion more than anything else. Though many will be tempted to dispute that, it remains a matter of time before they are labelled canting hypocrites for denying what they see and hear on a daily basis. The Christian circles continue to struggle with this pious fraud eating our morals in the church today. This religious anomaly claims a big portion of the harm done in the church. This imitation of beauty has worked wonders that may not be compared with the little that atheists might have done to see people continuing to call themselves Christians without a relationship with their Christ.

With all the definitions we may ride on, there are some common traits that we can almost always come to. Whether it's religious, political or social hypocrisy, they are some signs

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