I was baptized a Christian (Methodist) in my boyhood but at age 55 I have doubts about the Christian belief. I feel some Americans claim to be Christians and go to church to make themselves look good or like they are doing the right thing in the presence of other people but may or may not strongly believe in the faith. I have also witnessed much hypocrisy in so-called Christian organizations.
I still subscribe to the possibility there is a single God or multiple gods or goddesses. I don't know the alleged trueness of any of the religious doctrines or the existence of any supreme being for a fact but I am only open to the mere possibility. The existence of Bigfoot is still a remote possibility for me as well as that of a supreme being as I have seen no scientific evidence ruling out the existence of either as absolute proof. Christianity could be possibly true but so could Judaism or Hinduism. I don't know the existence of the alleged immortal human soul for a fact but still accept its possibility.
The biggest mystery to me in all of world religious history is how Christianity became so big and powerful? For thousands of years in Europe, paganism/polytheism was a long-standing tradition among the Greeks, Romans, Gemanics, Celtics, Slavs and other tribes and peoples of Europe and the Western Civilization. Judaism was the first monotheistic faith I know of and has pre-dated Christianity for a long spell. How did this lowly burro-borne, sandal-clad, white-dress-attired, long-haired bearded man, Jesus Christ, with his few disciples turn the long-standing religious traditions in the western ancient Old World on its ear? Why did that world give up paganism (to the point it's almost extinct) and Judaism (considerably) to come to Jesus? What was the driving force, the motivation, to make this crucified humble man to be King of the religious western world following the demise of the Roman Empire and the go on through the course of history to dominate the entire world today?
The thing I hate most about monotheistic religions is the homophobia. Same-sex romance and love was well-accepted widely in the ancient pagan world. It was because of the rise of the church that we have had homosexuals in the closet for centuries and such hate words as ******, fairy, queer and bull-dyke. It seems the three main monotheistic faiths, Judaism, Christianity and the newest kid on the block, Islam, have condemned same-sex attraction to some extent and have gone so far as putting homsexuals to death for that reason. The Jews seem to be the least outspoken against homosexuality these days, however, the Catholics, not so much, but the biggest hate-purveyors are so-called Christian Right groups in America. Many Islamic nations still make sodomy a capital crime.
