Belief

C mentioned that sometime ago she came to the realization that she wasn't a Christian, which didn't draw any reaction from me. A few days later when my wife was away at her weekly "become a Catholic" class I was wondering what being a Christian actually meant. But the same token what does being a "Muslim" mean or a "Buddhist" or any other religion you care to name. Essentially with, Islam, Christianity, and Buddhism at least, the central founding figures are people who there can be no dispute have actually lived. We know Jesus, Muhammed, and Buddha walked the earth. So there can be no reason to not "believe" them. But what are followers supposed to believe about them? And what are they supposed to do with that belief?Because one person belives that Jesus is the Savior, does that give them the right to condemn the person that belives otherwise? Believing in something and living the ideals behind something should not be seperate, but it seems to me that they often are. What's the point of believing in a religion but selectively choosing when to apply it or only choosing to be civil to people who believe the same way?

C's not being a Christian doesn't appear to me to make her any less of a good person. In fact her behavior is indistinguishable from what many people would consider to be hallmarks of Christianity - She is good to her neighbors and the people around her, she does not judge, and she's a loving, caring person. Yet if you told a "Christian" that C considers her self to not be Christian, C would be the target of unwanted attempts to, at best, make her "see the light" or at worse scorn and derision. Neither of which are, IMHO, "Christian" ways of acting. Go figure.