Mathematician
Reason, and reason again
After I (de)-converted from my quasi-Christian beliefs, I entered a stage of my life devoted to hate, pessimism, and nihilism. I wanted to extract revenge from what I saw was a corrupt religion, a disillusioned public, and a false prophet. My political beliefs seemed at odds with Christianity in almost every way. I thought of liberal Christians and Jews as abnormalities, people even more confused then their evil brethren.
As the fire in my chest began to wane (partly due to the kind friends at RF), I began to embrace a more humanitarian approach. I still had misgivings about Christianity, but I devoted my life to tolerance, hoping one day I could take that small feeling and beat it into oblivion.
However, what was needed, for me, was reexamining the Christian faith through the main source -- the Bible. By doing this I discovered that the main character in the New Testament, Jesus Christ, wasn't so different than myself. On certain issues Jesus and I are in disagreement, but the message he preaches is riddled with love, especially for the weak, sick, and poor. Those advocates of theocracy are forgetting about the free will prescribed by God himself. I started to understand where liberal Christians, even literalists, were drawing their beliefs from. Now if I engage in a debate with a conservative Christian, I will fight his/her own game by using scripture.
My question to liberal Christians is: how has your relationship been with secular liberals?
I hope we secular liberals can empower the Religious Left and Moderates to not feel isolated. It's a great thing to see Christians, Buddhists, and atheists standing together and complimenting each other on their beliefs.
"The community of believers were of one heart and one mind. None of them ever claimed anything as his own; rather, everything was held in common." - Acts 4:32
As the fire in my chest began to wane (partly due to the kind friends at RF), I began to embrace a more humanitarian approach. I still had misgivings about Christianity, but I devoted my life to tolerance, hoping one day I could take that small feeling and beat it into oblivion.
However, what was needed, for me, was reexamining the Christian faith through the main source -- the Bible. By doing this I discovered that the main character in the New Testament, Jesus Christ, wasn't so different than myself. On certain issues Jesus and I are in disagreement, but the message he preaches is riddled with love, especially for the weak, sick, and poor. Those advocates of theocracy are forgetting about the free will prescribed by God himself. I started to understand where liberal Christians, even literalists, were drawing their beliefs from. Now if I engage in a debate with a conservative Christian, I will fight his/her own game by using scripture.
My question to liberal Christians is: how has your relationship been with secular liberals?
I hope we secular liberals can empower the Religious Left and Moderates to not feel isolated. It's a great thing to see Christians, Buddhists, and atheists standing together and complimenting each other on their beliefs.
"The community of believers were of one heart and one mind. None of them ever claimed anything as his own; rather, everything was held in common." - Acts 4:32