I identify as Christian, and the values mentioned by Running Coach are the major reason. I don’t believe in a literal resurrection, virgin birth, ect.
Yeah, they can be found in many religions. And who knows what Jesus actually said? The gospels were written decades after he walked the earth. I realize that many say I’m not Christian, and that really doesn’t concern me. There are many of us who don’t take the Bible literally.
Weird article, When she says “Christianity outgrew its dogmatic stage” I thought WTF? And her complaining about “woke” also seemed strange, and as others have noted, has nothing to do with whether you believe in Christianity.
I’ve known various people in my lifetime who have had repeated and radical changes in worldview – capitalism to communism then back again, or nontheist to dogmatically religious, etc. – and I think some of these people are just searching for something. When they think they’ve found it they latch onto it strongly and dogmatically. Eventually they stumble onto a different view and they latch onto that just as dogmatically. They are eternally searching but choose their path without adequate thought. Sometimes it’s just because of the people they happen to be hanging out with.
Those values have nothing to do with Christianity. I’m not a Christian and I think those are all fine values. The core of Christianity is the worship of Christ. Without it, you’re just someone who thinks Jesus said some nice things. Which he did, IMO. But so did a lot of other people.
ETA: I missed your second post while typing this. I mean, you can call yourself what you want, but I’d feel I was disrespecting Christianity if I called myself a Christian.
Yep:
Sounds reminiscent of Milo Yiannopolis declaring himself Catholic in order to continue chasing the alt-right grift.
I don’t know what baffles you. Some people believe in Christianity - that is, that Jesus is the son of God, etc., etc… At its best, Christianity exemplifies values of tolerance, love, and compassion. Many other religions also stress such values - they aren’t exclusive to Christianity, for sure. Or even exclusive to religion; atheists such as me often also espouse such values.
I doubt you disagree with anything in my previous paragraph. And I don’t feel particularly argumentative, just curious. I’m just baffled by what baffles you!
To quote the prominent theologian Popeye, “I yam what I yam”. What other people think doesn’t matter too much to me.
Ok, that’s cool. I still don’t understand and I doubt I ever will, but if identifying as a Christian who doesn’t believe in the divinity of Christ makes you happy, knock yourself out.
In other surprising celebrity reversal news, Snoop Dogg says he’s quit smoking weed.
Anti-woke is it’s own religion.
Ok, one last post. Jesus said a lot of cool things. I agree with a lot of them, though I disagree with some. Yoda and uncle Ben Parker said cool things too. But the core message of Christ, the message that permeates the New Testament, is to have faith in Jesus as God incarnate. If you believe Christ said good things but not that faith in him will save you, you aren’t a Christian, any more than I’m a Buddhist because there are a lot of cool things in Buddhist scriptures. I can’t stop you from identifying as such, and I wouldn’t want to, but it’s contradictory.
It’s like if I called myself a baseball fan, despite finding the game boring and avoiding it.
In my experience, most baseball fans do find it a little boring.
The only downside is that hyper-Christian types will be going nuts blabbering about this conversion, but they can be tuned out.
In general I view people who do such complete about-faces (whether it has to do with abortion rights, GMOs, vaccines or whatever) with a degree of skepticism. It’s nice when a convert aligns with my thinking, but you wonder how much the announced change reflects genuine beliefs as opposed to getting love and attention from their new allies.
I never said that agreeing with Christian values makes a person a Christian. I personally don’t think it does. I don’t think we disagree on anything, do we?
As an atheist, I’m more than happy to lose Ayaan Hirsi Ali to the “other side.”
What do you think makes you a Christian?
As someone who grew up in an environment of believers and even went to religious schools through part of my education, I fully understand how a lot of people choose to change religious affiliations not out of an endorsement of a specific theological/soteriological school or doctrine but because it provides them subjectively with a greater and/or better sense of spiritual fellowship and community than what they had before and fits better their value principles.
Just from the linked article we do not learn what tradition of Christianity has Ayaan Hirsi Ali adopted. The article itself seems to signify that her choice is because she believes Western values can use being backed up by a spiritual tradition of belief beyond the material, and because subjectively she “found life without any spiritual solace unendurable” so she looked around and found a source that coincided with that preexisting value judgement. So it is a case of a sociopolitical and self-validation motivations.
(Meanwhile for sure it’s always fascinating to watch both committed believers and nonbelievers “gatekeeping” a religious identity.)
Hey, I’m with you there. I stopped using scare-quotes, qualifiers, and the like to refer to Christians with repugnant beliefs because I came to accept that… there’s a lot about Christianity that’s repugnant. Who am I, as an atheist, to deny anyone their identity, especially when it seems to actually cohere pretty well to what’s in the damn book (and after all, the book is kind of a “choose your own adventure” affair anyway)?
It’s the perfect sport to watch while you get in some good book reading time. Back when I had cable, I “watched” a lot Mariners while I was concurrently reading a lot of books. That’s the biggest thing I miss not having cable.
Is that question directed to me (as the reply icon suggests) or at @Jackmannii, who you quoted? Anyway, I can answer: My definition of a Christian is someone who believes that Jesus Christ is the son of God, that he died for people’s sins, and that he was resurrected. If you have Christian-influenced values but don’t believe that, to me you are not literally a Christian. But if someone wants to call themselves a Christian because they share the ethical values of Christianity, it’s no skin off my nose.