My poor in-laws get so confuses by "I'm a follower of Christ but not a christian".

Since when are kids not allowed to have prayer groups in school?
It can't be a requirement, but they can organize all the prayer groups they like.

The crazy McCarthy God rhetoric just needs to get off of our Money and the pledge and out of all government functions and land... other than that, individuals are free to worship per the 1st amendment.

I'm with you Flint. Except I use the phrase - "Organized Christianity", meaning churches that interpret and decide which parts they'll abide by and which ones they'll discard. Then add in a little personal agenda (and every church has an agenda of some sort or they'd all be one big happy Christian family).

Stormie

Religion is the politics of faith, nothing more.

The word Chistianity itself works just fine, for me. I don't think there is any distinction to be made. If you conciously decide to call yourself a Christian then that means only one thing: you subscribe to that institution.

Some might say that some Christians are basically good people who love Jesus, and don't deserve to be associated with the undesirable elements of organized religion. Then I ask: why call yourself a Christian? What is accomplished by defining yourself as a Christian?

Calling yourself a Christian is a vote, a strength-by-numbers vote, for the nutjobs and theocrats who selfishly abuse and distort the teachings of Jesus. What would be wrong with simply following Jesus, and not having to call yourself something?

Eek. Too many replies to respond to. We have each other's opinions, and they are miles apart, so we'll just remain in our ignert little corners, I guess.

I am with you, however, on the sad state of "the church" as an organization. It's corrupt as it can be. The problem is, a lot of innocent people are taking the heat for the words of a few. If Phelps says something asinine and hateful, that doesn't mean that Christianity said that thing. Let it be on Phelps' head. It's like saying every black person is a Black Panther, or that the goatse guy speaks for all gay people.

Why associate yourself with the instutution?
Seriously, I don't understand.

Wow, I am surprised at the response here! I expected a LOT more hostility!:)

Phelps is a hateful ass, but he's not the problem. Crazy preachers can preach any crap they want, for all I care. Good preachers can preach all they want, and I say good for them. The problem is politicians enacting their religious beliefs into law, whether prescriptive like the newly resurfaced gay marriage ban, or symbolic like religious icons on government property.

YES!!! I LOVE THAT!!! My school district will not let the bible be seen on the grounds that it's intolerant! They should really look at this thread to get both sides of the story!

Oh, I'm sorry, this is argument. You're looking for abuse! Room 12, just along the corridor.
:footpyth:

Ha-ha.

School administrators are not often good at nuance. They LOVE absolute rules (unless someone figures out a loophole, then they LOVE unwritten rules). The law may be that the school can't organize prayer groups, but a principal or school board will say "no prayer groups", possibly with the idea of discouraging any student activity not organized by the school - schools are frequently very paranoid about stuff like that. A law may say no weapons in schools, and the school will ban metal compasses and nail clippers. A law may say no drugs in school, and a kid will get expelled for taking an aspirin. There's no "new tolerance" conspiracy for that, they just love to be able to say, "sorry, I have no discretion, it's a zero-tolerance policy."

Try going here and reading Onyx Cougar's posts #s 21 through 25. There is much truth there to what was actually going on outside the history book view of the early US.;)

PS. Especially her post #23

Strictly speaking you cannot call yourself a Christian just because you follow the teachings of Christ . To be a Christian you have to accept the idea of the Virgin Birth , and you have to accept the idea that Jesus died and rose again . This is the core of Christianity , and if you don't believe that then you are not a Christian .

I'm glad to hear that, because I can't seem to find anybody that calls themselves a Christian and actually does follow the teachings of Christ. Most Christians appear to be violently opposed to the message of Jesus.