Christianity

All aspects, as viewed from
conservative, liberal and
1st century CE perspectives

Quotations:

Christianity started out in Palestine as a fellowship; it moved to Greece and became a philosophy; it moved to Italy and became an institution; it moved to Europe and became a culture; it came to America and became an enterprise. Sam Pascoe, American scholar.
Christianity is not a religion; it is a relationship with Jesus Christ. Anonymous posting to a Christian mailing list.

The term "Christianity" has many meanings:

We receive frequent Emails, some quite irate, that say: "denomination X" is not Christian" -- where "X" may refer to the Jehovah's Witnesses, Mormons, Roman Catholics, the United Church, Unity Church, etc. The cause of this conflict is lack of agreement about the meaning of the word "Christian." For example:

Some fundamentalist Christians believe that the only "true Christian" is a person who has been saved. Probably about 30% of adult Americans would meet this definition.
Public opinion polls count a person as a Christian if they describe themselves as Christian. Surveys consistently show that about 87% of adult Americans are Christians in this sense.

We prefer an inclusive definition. We use the same definition as do public opinion polls. The alternative, religious exclusion, has led to serious conflicts. In some countries, as in Bosnia and Northern Ireland, discord has resulted in mass murder. For some, it is only a small jump to go from "You are different from us," to "You are not a real Christian," to "You are sub-human," to "You have no right to live." Fortunately, there is a great reservoir of tolerance in Canada and the U.S. that prevents intra-Christian friction from degenerating to this point.

Brief overview:

Christians follow the teachings of and about Yeshua of Nazareth, commonly referred to as Jesus Christ. (Jesus is the Greek form of Yeshua; Christ is Greek for the Messiah or the "anointed one.") He was a Jewish itinerant preacher who was born circa 4 to 7 BCE. He was executed by the Roman occupying authorities in Palestine, perhaps on Friday, 30-APR-7 CE (i.e. in the sprint of the year 30). Most Christians regard him as the son of God. They further believe that he is God, the second person in the Trinity. (The Trinity consists of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit; three separate persons, all eternal, all omnipresent, who form a single, unified deity). Most Christians believe that Jesus co-existed with God before the creation of the world, was born of a virgin, and was resurrected three days after his death. Many conservative Protestant Christians believe that people are born and remain sinful; they will end up being eternally punished in hell unless they are "saved." Roman Catholics believe that salvation is obtained through repentance and church sacraments. Religious liberals generally interpret hell symbolically, not as an actual place of punishment.

About 33% of the world's population regard themselves as Christian. This percentage has been stable for decades. (The second most popular religion is Islam, which is expected to become the dominant religion of the world during the 21st century.) 87% of North Americans identify themselves as Christian. This has been dropping very slowly in recent years, mainly due to the sudden increase in non-theists, such as Agnostics, Atheists, Humanists, etc. Other factors are the increase in minority religions, largely caused by immigration and the emergence of new spiritual/religious movements like New Age, Wicca and other Neopagan religions.

Christianity in North America is a severely divided faith consisting of over 1,000 denominations, which are often categorized into conservative, mainline and liberal wings:

Many Fundamentalist and other Evangelical Christians regard saved individuals as the only true Christians. They maintain separate religious denominations, radio stations, publishing houses, local ministerial associations, etc – even exercise videos. They tend to look upon Christianity as a living relationship with their Savior.
Mainline Christians tend to be much more inclusive. They accept as Christian anyone who follows the teachings of and about Jesus Christ.
Liberal Christians agree with mainline Christians, and are even more inclusive. Some theologians, particularly those who are members of the Jesus Seminar, have abandoned or completely reinterpreted most traditional Christian beliefs.

The main purpose of this section of our Web site is to help Christians understand the great diversity of beliefs and practices within Christianity, and how they developed through time. We try to compare and contrast the beliefs of the most conservative and liberal Christians. We realize that many, if not most, Christians hold intermediate views. We also describe the beliefs of the early Christian church movements, which are generally quite different from those of modern Christians.

We receive many critical Emails about these essays. Some are quite angry and hateful. Some accuse us of promoting our own liberal beliefs. Some say that we are a stealth Islamic, Satanic, Scientology or Mormon group trying to undermine Christianity. Others perceive us as lacking any deeply held beliefs. Still others say that we are just plain wrong. None of these are true. We are simply reporting the wide diversity of belief within Christianity. Yet many of our readers are distressed at seeing their beliefs described beside those of other Christian groups.