@ Sanyam Deshi
-There are some Christians who fit the description you created. These only represent a small percentage of Christians, though. The two reasons why it's more than you seem is: 1-Extremists are more likely to get publicity. 2-Politicians tend to be arrogant and extreme, so when you get a politician who is Christian, chances are that he's going to be way more extreme than the groups he is a part of. Just as I tell everyone else, treat people for the individuals who they are, not for the preconceived beliefs that they have about the groups that they are in.
I apologize if I come off as bigoted or hateful toward Christians. That is not my intent. I have an inclination to be rather straight forward and provocative sometimes.
And for whatever it is worth, I come from a predominantly Christan family in a predominantly Christian community, and have a lot of Christian friends and associates that I very much care for. I also recognize the many positive contributions of Christians, such as charity and community outreach programs; battered women's shelters, homeless shelters, rehabilitation programs for drug addicts and/or prostitutes who need a way out, etc., etc., etc...
It's not like I'm hating on Christians.
I will clarify my above point from the previous post.
Over the course of the last few years, I have done a LOT of research into this particular area, be it the sociological aspects of religion, with special attention to Christianity in the USA. The actual number of what I will characterize as 'problem Christians' is an estimated 40-60+ million of just over 200 million people who identify themselves as from a Judea-Christian background.
I would define 'problem Christians' as those who typically exhibit positions and behaviors such as the following;
They are the ones who refuse to accept or respect the right to religious freedom of others. They generally take a very self-righteous arrogant 'holier than thou' attitude and claim they have an exclusivity to god, that they are right and all other beliefs are inferior, evil or wrong, and thus use it as a justification to impose their religious values and beliefs upon others through whatever means available or what they feel is necessary, or otherwise reject or dominate anything that is not them.
They are the ones who are politically active and insist that the USA is a "Christian Nation" in spite of a legal structure, philosophy and tradition to the contrary which promotes and/or protects religious freedom and equality.
They are the ones who hold authoritative positions who act in bias to deny permits to erect others' religious monuments, but insist it is okay for the Ten Commandments or nativity scenes to stand. They insist it is okay to say Christian prayers as part of legal ceremony, but deny others the same opportunity. They're judges and policemen that give people the choice of jail or to attend some kind of religion oriented program. They deny permits to build Mosques, or actively engage in protests, simply because they do not like them or agree, or are otherwise scared of them.
They are the ones who cleverly arrange media presentations as to paint Muslims as evil. They are the ones who unreasonably conclude that all Muslims are evil, and therefore fully support the torture, bombing and massacre of innocent women and children.
They are the ones who, unlike you, when presented with an honest respectful religious discussion, refuse to engage, and instead curse at you and/or ban you from chat rooms or blogs simply because you don't agree.
They are the ones who violently attack others for sinning.
There is no real legal premise or good reason to deny gay people their rightful equal place in society, to include the legal contract of marriage and all related financial benefits and tax breaks, etc. Yet in a nation of equality and religious freedom, gays are only recently being lawfully permitted to marry, the root issue being Christianity's nonacceptance of them.
They are the ones that take advantage of the young and impressionable captive audience of school children by bringing bibles to public school as to proselytize exclusively for Christianity, sometimes without their parents prior knowledge or consent.
I can continue with more, but I think you get the point. There are many millions of them who hold enough collective or individual influence to make a difference, and are doing so at the expense of others in favor of their own beliefs. They are typically zealous bigoted self righteous hypocrites in contempt of the man they worship, and generally give Christianity a bad name. You know the ones.
Hopefully you aren't one of those bigots who thinks that Christians hold back scientific research. Although it's true that earlier history does contain some examples of this, modern-day Christians use the scientific method just as well as anyone else. No Christian in the science field ever says "I'm going to hold back results to a study because I think it's going to contradict my beliefs."
Actually, there are numerous examples of people denying, rationalizing, or outright rejecting solid science when it conflicts with their religious beliefs. While I recognize those folks are often lesser intelligent fundamentalist zealots, I also recognize there are a lot of moderate Christian scientists who are extraordinarily intelligent, steadfast and unwavering in their dedication to authentic and truthful findings.
-I see you are taking the route to pretty much believe that there is no hope for Christianity as a possibility. I'm still sticking with my belief that it is a possibility. Everything has just been through so many translations and potentially manipulated by all kinds of variables, that there is no way to tell for certain the course of events in a clear-cut manner.
I have to agree. A lot has been lost, ...lost in translation, bent and twisted, deviated from the original premise, exploited for political gain, etc, ..or however you want to state it.
Modern Christianity is premised on ideas that ultimately originate from a few key verses within a few chapters of The Bible. When you break it down and apply critical reasoning, it shows to be completely inconsistent, or at best, highly suspect. To put it bluntly, it is essentially based on hearsay which resembles a fairytale written in an ancient book. (The same can be said of a lot of religions.)
For example; take my earlier post in this thread citing the discrepancies with the relationship between Matthew 1 and Isaiah 7. The belief of Jesus' divinity is based, in large part, on the second-hand, anonymous, long after the fact account of a dream, whereby a man was 'lied' to by an angel of God about earlier texts, and in regard to having him accept a biological impossibility.
Siriusly?
Granted, until humanity discovers and unlocks all the secrets of the universe, there will always be religion. But with the modern understanding and scientific knowledge we possess, it is my opinion that we shouldn't accept unreasonable ancient beliefs and cultural standards. It is holding us back from progressing toward our potential.
And that is not to say that The Bible holds no value, as there are a lot of redeemable or retainable aspects to it. I don't necessarily believe there aren't truths within either, just that they aren't as many interpret or understand, or are even aware of.
Aside from all mentioned thus far, however much I may disagree with some things, I still adamantly defend the freedom and rights of people to believe in what I may consider nonsensical.
Your belief that Christianity is a religion characterized by mostly intolerant people parallels this.
I think I already covered that.
