I read maybe 2/3rds of Scahill's book on Prince. "Hypocrite" is one thing Prince isn't. He's a principled, elite Christian apocalyptist that killed ragheads with distinction in the SEALs, was born a member of the Council for National Policy and has known, from an early, early age that the world is run by the Illuminati of which he is a member. The problem isn't that he's a "so-called" christian. It's that he's a capital-C Crusader that has made a career out of killing people in the dark off the record.
I don't imagine JFC himself would recognize much of his teachings in this kind of Christianity. Indeed there are many Christians who wouldn't. (You know, there's that whole love, humility and compassion thing that seems to get overlooked in favour of "fuck thy neighbour".) The terminological point is unimportant but the difference in spirit between one end of Christianity (basically, Jesus F Christ) and the other (Erik F Prince) is huge.
Muhammed would have a hard time with Islam (all sects) these days, too - it's taken on a lot of the Beduin stuff that he deliberately tried to cut out. A friend observed that it seemed like "Christianity" had a lot more to do with Paul than it did to do with Jesus and he's not wrong; Paul never met Jesus and proselytized that which would stick, not necessarily that which belonged to Jesus. Then you get to the Nicene Council and it's safe to say Paul probably wouldn't recognize modern Christianity, either. Hell, Jesus probably wouldn't recognize the Copts. So I get your point? But the fact of the matter is, Erik Prince grew up espousing the main-line charismatic end-times Christianity that defines the sect for the rest of the world. I mean, his dad was buddies with Tim "Left Behind" Lahaye. The dude literally grew up believing that Nicolae Carpathia was going to put chips in everyone that didn't get raptured to heaven because he was zero degrees removed from that shit. You and I can disagree with their interpretation of christianity, but I have zero doubts that their faith, and their understanding of their faith, is orders of magnitude stronger than yours or mine.
Yeah, I don't think we actually disagree about anything. Christianity, as you say, is a thing that was invented after Jesus (just as Buddhism is a thing that was invented after Buddha, Islam after Mohammed, Catholicism after Cathol, etc.). And it has taken multiple evolutionary pathways since (shortly after) Jesus's time, which is bound to happen. He may well be a sincere and faithful Christian, within a particular toxic species of Christianity. I just get shocked from time to time at how people can take a clear message of universal love and, over time, morph it into a self-serving club for assholes. Oh well. That's institutions for you, and we don't seem to be able to manege without them. P.S. I always enjoy talking to you. Thanks!