Sunday, September 6, 2015

Is "Christian" too broad a term?

from CatM on Daily Kos, Sept. 4, 2015

". . . .  As an aside, do you suppose Huckabee and his ilk have ever considered the possibility that their over-the-top bigotry and advocacy for a theocracy are contributing to the decline in US Christians and the even steeper decline in Protestants? 

"Maybe those Christians who truly do believe in Jesus's messages of peace, love, and tolerance are becoming more reluctant to identify themselves with a label that is increasingly becoming identified with intolerance in the United States. Using the same label for Christians like Kim Davis and the kinds of Christians I have had the pleasure of knowing is a bit like using the word mammal to describe both a dolphin and a person. Sure, it's accurate but the differences between the two are monumental." 
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In my own earlier experience in the Methodist church, you are a Christian if you believe in Jesus Christ as your personal savior and ask for forgiveness for your sins.   I, for one, would find the label more acceptable if, instead of theology and divinity, it was given to those who follow Jesus' social teachings about how to treat our fellow human beings here on earth.

And I ask, again:   Where are the liberal Christians in all this?   They were such a force for good during the Civil Rights movement.    Why not now?    Are they growing ashamed of what the label has come to mean, as CatM suggests?

Ralph

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