Standing Up for Righteousness?

We hear a lot these days about "standing up for righteousness." I've been thinking about this phenomenon and wondering how, in its most common context, this has come to be the main focus of so many Christians. How have a relatively few things -- abortion, gay marriage, prayer in school and others -- become such pivotal issues which elicit so much anger and shouting?

This is not about which "side" of any issue I'm on (and I'm certainly not telling anyone else which side to take), but my question is: How do we study the teachings of Jesus, within the entire context of the New Testament, and decide that certain things deserve to be the objects of our passionate rage while other things do not? How, when we are clearly told not to judge others, has judging others become the main task of so many? Even if we somehow feel entitled to tell others that what they are doing is wrong, how do we pick and choose? Why not try to get laws passed against gossip, pride, greed, strife, lying, being unmerciful or a number of other behaviors which are clearly listed as sins?

If we follow the example of Jesus, as we are commanded, we see that when a woman who was about to be stoned for adultery (a sin -- should we re-instate laws against it?) was brought before him, he did not join in with the crowd to condemn her. Rather, he uttered one of the most-quoted, perhaps least-heeded, concepts in the Bible, "Let him without sin among you, cast the first stone." There must be a lot of us who are sin-free these days, because rocks are flying around every where we turn.

Jesus tended to be far more angry at the religious folks who had done things like turn a "house of prayer" into a "robbers' den." He had a long list of "woe to you" items directed at those who do such things as put burdens on other people which they, themselves, are not prepared to take on and who "do all their deeds to be noticed by men." (see Matthew 23)

To the extent that we should not tolerate sin in our own lives, we definitely need to stand up for righteousness. When it comes to the way we treat others, Jesus said, in John 15:12, "This is my commandment, that you love one another, just as I have loved you." Let's consider his example when deciding who and what to condemn.