Prometheus 6

This time it was Atrios. Given that I understood him the first time I'm just going to link to today's clarification. But I'm also linking to Alan Brill at The Right Christians because I'm as with his view of Christianity as I am Al-M's view of Islam and because (being in the middle of it) he's collected just about all the links you'll need to get the whole story. Atrios links to the rest.

I've had all manner of occasions to say stuff about religion in general, and recently I've been on a bit of an anti-theocracy rant. I've been, and remain, very critical of much that the Catholic Church is doing. Yet one doesn't want to get stupid and confuse the institution with the faith. Nor does one want to fail to call a spade a spade when the Christianites start flinging distortions around.

As a result I've decided to share the apolitical test I use to sort the Christians from the Christianites. It's very simple and actually applies to all religions across the board; I'm just writing in the Christian metaphor.

Here's the test: If you are trying to arrange things such that people have no choice but to obey the Word of God, you are among the fallen. You are a Christianite.

You should live as your teachings direct, let the Word shape your life and let your life shape the world. But trying to remake the world such that everyone must obey God is more than God Itself chose to do. If the Creator chose not to compel, by what right do you attempt to do so? You overreach—the very action that landed Lucifer in Hell.