Christianity and Christians: Are They Indistinguishable?

What funny timing. I don't really talk to anybody I used to know back in my Christian days. It's not that I cut them out of my life. I just slowly drifted away from them. We lost our common ground. Except for one guy. We don't talk often, but it's always to good to hear from him when we do. And oddly enough he called me after at least of a year of no contact just days after I started this blog. (To Christians: Evidence of God's involvement in our lives. To Atheists: Coincidence.)

I really like Steve (we'll call him Steve to protect his anonymity...and his pride, since his real name is Flogchortle Cheesemumbler.) I like his positive attitude and his general approach to life. He's truly live and let live.

After I got of the phone my girlfriend asked me how I could rectify having Steve as a friend while publishing this blog. Good question. I've thought about it a bit, and here's my answer.

I don't like Christianity. For that matter I don't like religion. Religion, dogmatic religion, is stifling and mind-constricting. It doesn't leave room for alternatives, nor does it leave room the possibility of being wrong and redrawing conclusions.

Spirituality on the other hand is great. I may not be terribly spiritual myself, but I'm totally open to the idea. Spiritual people, outside of the dogmatic realm, make up their own minds. They choose what to believe. And their belief system is flexible. It can evolve and change as life changes. It can inform an internal moral code without the need for fear and guilt-inspiring concepts like sin and punishment. Some of the most open-minded people I know are highly spiritual, while the most closed-minded people are usually Christians.

Here's what I think it comes down to. Like I said in a previous posting, the basic philosophy Jesus the man espoused was reasonably positive. His claims (or the early churches' claims) of messiah-hood defeated most of Jesus' message, unfortunately. But I think Christians that follow Jesus the philosopher, Jesus the rabbi, are far more spiritual than they are religious. And they are probably better people for it, not hypocritical, judgmental bigots. While following the moral code set down by Christian theology, they do it more out of a love for other people than out of fear of hell. Sure they believe in all the goofy stuff that goes along with modern Christianity. But that is all secondary to them. First and foremost is, "love thy neighbor," "turn the other cheek," etc.

Flogchortle...I mean Steve, is a spiritual Christian. And I can respect him for that. He's applied his mind to what he believes. Maybe because he's my friend I'm biased, but I think that's true.

Plus. I just like Steve. I'd be just as much a bigot to hate someone for being a Christian as Christians are for hating someone just because they're non-christians, homo-sexuals, pro-choicers, whatever. Steve is a cool guy...except for his name.