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Those who crucified Jesus attended synagogue services regularly just like Christians attend what they think are churches. Just because you assemble together with others who profess faith in Christ does not mean that you are obeying the scripture which says " forsaking not the assembling of yourselves together". The "yourselves", referred to at that time had all accepted one gospel, followed the apostle's teaching on every issue, and oh yeah, they had no divisive names such as baptist, catholic, methodist, etc. Until we understand what a believer is we will never understand what a church is.

What a coincidence that the counry with the greatest christian identity is also the greatest country in the world. My concern is the new trend of dismantling the faith on the basis of science and the law.

My question is simple: If there is nothing scientifically wrong with homosexuality to make it illegal, then what is wrong with adultery and incest that made them unlawful.

Can anyone help or am I another brainwashed, under-educated, scriptural slave.

Well, my family are some of those that while they do consider themselves "Christian", rarely see themselves inside of a church. (I'm a non-believer, btw) With the loss of a family member recently, we've been discussing this stuff. What's clear, is because the absolutist brand of Christianity has been so powerful over the last twenty years, they've poisoned the message, so to speak. People wonder if they're next on the chopping block?

Religion is a way to claim the sacred emotion of community. But Absolutist or Exclusivst religion has a hard time with truly capturing that feeling. That leads to feelings of frustration and anger.

Either one of two things are going to happen. The second group (the inclusivists) are going to be able to break their message away from the excluvists, and those in the middle will choose one way or the other. (Overwhelmingly inclusivist). Or not. And the actions of the excluvists will continue to taint and poison Christianity as a whole.

In particular, I suspect that the anti-gay marriage movement will create a large backlash, once people in the middle realize what that entails. Most people believe that marriage is an honorific. They don't think about all the important factors of it. Once they do, in my experience they change their outlook to one of anger that they were manipulated

There are other issues, the war in Iraq, the war on terrorism, domestic issues, health care, etc.

I think on a cultural basis, the "War on Christmas" stuff is going to boomerang back as well. Again, by creating the impression that there's an actual war going on, they actually created the war.

I think all these things combine to where at least for the future of the more open form of Christianity, they need to actively work to separate themselves from the conventional wisdom regarding the religion, I think to the point of actively speaking out in rather blunt in harsh terms.

Most people whom identify themselves as Christian do not actually practice anything of their faith, like going to church or praying. It is more of a tribal affiliation, or a country club membership, than an actual tradition.

At Christmas time, this could not be more apparent. Ask people to name Jesus's 12 apostles, and maybe they would get 5 or 6 of them right. Ask people to name Santa's reindeer, and you've got your answer in less than 30 seconds.

Thank you, Betty. I could not agree more. We are seeing it here too, in the SouthEast. Lots of people referring to themselves as "christian" yet never living a life that Christ would be pleased with. Only attending during holidays or special events. Our church is quite large, however there is a core of folks who do it all. We would love to see the 50% that Dr. Borg talks about. If only we could get them involved...

This phenomenon is described by Christ in the book of Revelation as "you have lost your first love". Straight is the gate, narrow is the way. I think your estimate of 10-15% is also inflated. Based on the "christians" I am in contact with, I would place the label of "true believer/follower" on 3-5% of them. Narrow, very narrow.

Your comment "Roughly 80% of Americans identify themselves as Christian. Only about half are actively involved in the life of a church, but this is still a large number."

I might agree that roughly 80% of Americans identify themselves as Christian. BUT - I STRONGLY DISAGREE WITH YOUR STATEMENT THAT ONLY ABOUT HALF ARE ACTIVELY INVOLVED IN THE LIFE OF A CHURCH! YOU HAVE GOTTEN SOME OLD, OLD STATS HERE! I WOULD ESTIMATE THAT ONLY 10-15% (NOT 50%) of those that identify themselves as Christian are actively involved in the life of a Church.

IF YOUR STATEMENT WERE TRUE - OUR CHURCHES WOULD BE OVER FLOODED! I live in the Bible Belt where many Christians are actively involved in Church BUT, I can tell you Matter-of-Fact that Many, Many only attend church at Christmas and Easter (C&E). (From my view - they are not actively involved in the Life of their Church!)

some peaple said america peaple get old before they start worshiping GOD what do u say about that?

you want to see people giving religion a bad name, go to Cleveland.com Religion Forum.

Some American Christians seem to me to have the goal of dividing and conquering the country. Divisions within religions is as old as religion itself. Christianity seems to me to be a dividing force. In other cultures religion appears to unite. I'd guess it has something to do with organization, Christians always taking over government and establishing their leaders above the civilian leadership. The president wouldn't dare do something that was both immoral and legal would he? Now take Mr Clinton. Did we ever decide the true meaning of the word "is?" How much did the search cost the tax payers? Who instigated the search?