How an obscure cult grew to become the dominant religion of the Western world

Re:How an obscure cult grew to become the dominant religion ... by nvahalik on Monday February 06, 2017 @11:47PM (#13587111)

> All with different beliefs.

Different customs and perhaps some different interpretations, but if you believe something different (e.g. that deviates from or adds to scripture) then objectively you have a different basis and therefore a different faith.

I'd encourage you to watch some of the debates by James White[1] (yes, those are links to purchase, but if you check the podcast feed/blog they link to YouTube videos of many of the debates. What you'll clearly see in many of those debates is how the arguments of one side breaks down. I can't see how any reasonable observer could watch a handful of those debates and not be at least open to if not convinced that perhaps some of what these "different beliefs" offer isn't real Christianity, but something dressed up as such.

I do believe that there are very small number of _actual_ Christians in the US. Definitely not the 70-ish% from Pew[1]. Maybe 5-10%. Probably even less.

[1]: http://www.aomin.org/aoblog/index.php/2011/01/19/available-d... [2]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Religion_in_the_United_States

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Re:How an obscure cult grew to become the dominant religion ... by Mikeb85 on Monday February 06, 2017 @11:59PM (#13587171)

I certainly would argue that my religion (Orthodox Christianity) is a different religion from that of Dr. James White (Baptist Christianity).

Anyhow, I don't care to argue specifics, only to point out that as everyone thinks their version is correct, and there's many versions out there, it's difficult to say what a 'real' Christian believes, assuming one is charitable enough to consider sects other than one's own as 'Christian'.

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