... in all of its manifestations, has been and remains the single most destructive influence in the history of the world, Brien. And, before you take that as an anti-Christian statement, understand that I am referring to religious intolerance and bigotry of any kind, Christians having as often been on the receiving end as the giving.

Nevertheless, so-called "Christians" have been particularly good at religious intolerance -- they seem compelled to fight even with each other (e.g., the Catholics and the Protestants in Ireland). And I say "so-called Christians" advisedly because I believe that anyone who is willing to injure or kill another person in a dispute over religion is no "Christian".

>> No mature Christian "forces" another to believe what we believe, but we
>> are obligated to share the love and salvation of God with a lost world.

The arrogance of that statement is stunning, Brien. Feel free to believe as you like, but neither you nor any other Christian has any such "obligation", except insofar as it is self-assumed.

See this site for statistics regarding world religions as of 1994:

http://www.zpub.com/un/pope/relig.html

At that time, there were approximately 5.7 billion people in the world. Barely more than a third (1.9 billion or 33.7%) were Christians. Nearly half of these (.9 billion or 16.9%) were Roman Catholics (who, according to some Christian fundamentalists, should not be considered Christians at all). My paternal aunt has been a Catholic nun (Daughters of Wisdom order) for 57 years, but my "born-again Christian" sister (who wasn't even born the first time when my aunt took her vows) says my aunt cannot go to heaven because she is a Catholic, "not a Christian".

As for the "lost world", there are only 219 million atheists (3.8% of the world population) and 121 million "non-religious" (2.1%). So, more than 94% of the people in the world adhere to some religious belief. Where is the "lost world" that your distinct minority needs to "save"?

>> It is out of love that we share the good news of salvation, and not out
>> of "disrespect of individuality". No Christian wants to see another
>> human being go into an eternity seperated from their loving creator.

Seems to me that, in this respect at least, the world could use a little less "love" and a lot more "MYOB". BTW, you'll notice that there are more Muslims in the world than non-Catholic Christians -- making Islam the most common world religion. How would you like it if they felt compelled to "share" their religion with you?

>> ... the gift of salvation has to be accepted and asked for. It is,
>> in fact, a personal decision. No one wants to force it on you ...

The history of Christianity belies that statement. Throughout history, Christian "missionaries" have forced their beliefs on the unwilling, the weak and the disadvantaged. You don't even have to go outside the United States to see classic examples of this -- the forced proselytization of slaves, American Indians and native Hawaiians.

World-wide, you can start with the Crusades, work your way through the Inquisition and hundreds of years of European domination of Africa and Asia, on down to 20th century Australia. (To be fair, Christians have been on the receiving end of compulsion, as well, with perhaps 70 million killed for their religious beliefs during the last century alone.)

>> A true Christian just wants you to know the truth and loves you enough to say it.

To go back to my Aunt for a moment, I know no one who has lived a more Christian life than she has. She worries about and prays for me, but she loves me enough that not once in my entire adult life (during all of which I have been a lapsed Catholic) has she ever said a word to me about my religious beliefs. Oddly, she is the only person in the world from whom I would have tolerated it.

The following quote is from an article entitled: "God save us from those who claim the Truth", reproduced at this website:

http://www.hollandsentinel.com/stories/062698/opn_truth.html

>> If I could sum up my reaction in one phrase, it would be this: God
>> save us from religious zealots. The deeply religious mind tends
>> toward narrowness and an inability to see the other fellow's point of
>> view. When you've got an exclusive franchise on The Word, after all,
>> what is there to argue about? You're right; everyone else is wrong.

>> That's why the Founding Fathers, in their wisdom, gave us separation
>> of church and state. They realized that the most religious among us
>> were generally unfit to govern because of their inability to
>> compromise. As the nation has grown more complex and diverse
>> through the years, and the need for compromise more acute, their
>> decision looks better and better.

----- jim o\-S