> the US is an exception though

I would say people in the US just really like to profess to being Christian, even though they act the part in no way, shape, or form. Both country and people. It's more of a cultural 'thing' than actual belief or practice.

The dichotomy of word and action is striking. Like watching someone claim to be a firefighter, attend training and seminars, then commit arson and not do any, you know, firefighting.

There is an extremely large very religious population in America. If you live in a blue state, though, you likely have little connection with them.

You can't "No True Scotsman" the definition of "religious," though, by claiming that they don't act religious. That quickly becomes a slippery slope of definitions. "Oh, these people don't like immigrants, they're not really religious."

There's no single definition of Christianity. There are so many denominations and different practices within, it's almost mind-boggling.

So you may think people in the US merely profess being Christian according to your personal definition of whatever you think a Christian is or ought to be.

But I can guarantee you the US is an extremely religious country and the different denominations are quite sincere in their beliefs.

You don't have a monopoly on judging what "actual" Christianity is. In fact, your attitude is an extremely paternalistic, and frankly offensively, literal "holier than thou" position.

Dude, it isn’t like we can’t see what red-letter Jesus said and did, and also see that many — even a majority — of self-identifying “Christians” behave in ways that are in contradiction to His commandments. IOW, about as “Christian” as the Democratic People's Republic of Korea is “Democratic”: the self-selected name does not represent the actual reality.

Christianity as it is practiced by the vast majority of Christians today is not based on the teachings of Jesus, but rather on the teachings of Paul. If you were to take only the teachings of Jesus (minus those that were clearly invented by later scribes), it is not very far from the views expressed in the Talmud. In some cases Jesus was on the liberal end of Jewish thought, in others on the conservative end, and in the few cases where he deviated from the mainstream he did not stray all that much. When Jesus complained about the Pharisees (i.e. Rabbis), his complaint was not that they taught the wrong doctrine but that they were hypocrites who did not properly keep the law they taught.

On the other hand, mainstream Christian ideas about human nature, about sin, about the messiah, and about God's will (not to mention the nature of God), are for the most part based on Paul's writings and all represent departures from Jewish thought on those topics. It was primarily Paul who pushed for Christians to abandon kosher laws and circumcision, two major hurdles he faced in convincing non-Jews to join the new religion. More than anyone else described in the New Testament, Paul was responsible for Christianity becoming a distinct religion rather than just another Jewish sect.

"Dude", if you think Christianity is mostly about what Jesus taught or his commandments... then I'm sorry but you don't understand Christianity at all.

Christianity is a multifaceted historical phenomenon, a cultural tradition of which Jesus and even the text of the Bible is a small part.

Saying Christianity is about what Jesus said and did makes as much sense as saying that the US is about the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution. In both cases, it's not nothing, but neither is it the whole story, or even 10% of the story.

You're free to decide what Christianity means to you, but not to prevent others from doing the same for themselves. After all, others doing it for themselves is precisely why "Christianity" is a family of seemingly countless denominations and divisions within. It's not a single monolithic thing, or even close to it.

> Christianity is a multifaceted historical phenomenon, a cultural tradition of which Jesus and even the text of the Bible is a small part.

Agreed, Jesus Christ’s teachings play a minuscule part, especially in modern American Christianity.

Wondering why you're singling out America here.

Do you think it's any less than among Catholics in Italy? Or Eastern Orthodox adherents in Russia?

Because back toward the root of this thread, the talk was about America.

I think there is one more factor. Due to polarized state of our politics religion is used as “rally flag” or a way to show “family values”. On both sides.

Is it though? I am a christian in the US and have only met other christians at religious functions save for two or three occasions, where as everyone else I meet is not christian and probably not religious.

But increasingly less:

https://www.economist.com/united-states/2021/07/10/nothing-i...

This is from an outsider’s view. No need to go to church, it helps, but it is not the main attribute of a Christian. In fact, these institutions have become so blatantly centers of salesmanship nowadays, that there is a greater probability of fakes and hypocrites attending today.