Common ground
The problem I have with being too critical of Christianity (and I know I probably am) is that I *seem* to have the following attributes in common with Christians
1) Belief in forgiveness and gratitude as healthy mental attitudes to have
2) Belief in a higher power i.e. I am not the most advanced creature around
3) Belief in intelligent design i.e. there is at least some engineering in the bodies we are wearing
4) Belief in immortality i.e. we were somewhere else before we were here and we will be somewhere else after we are here
5) Belief in messengers that carry the message of love (‘angels’)
6) Belief that it is possible to communicate with higher powers via metal effort (“Prayer”)
Then there’s some attributes that I *hope* I have in common with Christians but am not sure they share
7) Belief that war is a undesirable activity to be foisted off on innocents. I have no problem with people having wars for fun so long as everyone opted in, but I draw a clear distinction between that and the type of war I commonly think I’m seeing here
8) Belief that love is far more desirable than hate, that acceptance is better than rejection, that acceptance is better than judgement
9) Belief that hurting people that don’t want to be hurt is wrong
10) Belief that except for cases where their actions infringe on the freedom of another, people should be free to do pretty much anything
11) Belief that there are some actions which are wrong – will lead to undesirable outcomes. That doesn’t mean I think people should be prevented from doing these things, but I do think it’s a good idea to document what they are and what undesirable results come from doing them
12) Belief that love and acceptance will ultimately win out over hate, prejudice, fear, and rejection
Then there’s some attributes I’m pretty sure we *don’t* agree on
13) I believe that everyone is beautiful and amazing and worthy of love. People who want to damage other people should be placed in virtualized jails where they can experience hurting said other people without said other people getting hurt, or connected to people who want to be hurt.
14) I believe that to the extent it’s feasable, everyone should get what they want. At the very least everyone should get what they need, and we should work towards a world where this is possible
15) I believe that we should not be multiplying like rabbits. People who are happy and well balanced and able to transmit that on to their children should have children. Everyone else – shouldn’t.
16) I believe that monogamy may not be the best state for humanity [although interestingly, I think the bible says there will be no marriage in heaven]
17) I believe that the people of the past are not likely to be wiser or better informed than the people of the future. I believe we should throw a lot of the past away and try to come up with something better.