I don't venutre into R&F as much as I do other threads.  When I do visit these threads more often, I am usually disappointed.

For the last couple of days, I have had the occasion to read many old posts. This is not to critique any one poster in the Cafe, but it is an overall view of what I noticed.

Christians come across as smug. Our religion is the best and we are a step above everyone else's religion.

We spout lots of platitudes about being welcoming and open-minded about other religions but underneath all of this is still a bit of a smug attitude,imo, of being "better than".

We  throw this word around a lot as Christians. Forgiveness. If we love God and if we love neighbour as self, then, it makes sense to me that if  someone asks for forgiveness for something they have done, as people of the faith, we are obligated to forgive.

But how many times do we forgive , everytime - even if it is the same offence that is being asked to be forgiven over and over?

One of the most interesting phenomena of American Christianity is its apparent affinity for Judaism. Politicans regularly speak of a “Judeo-Christian” moral base for American law (even though it is, in reality, closer to Roman law), and evangelicals often refer to their “Judaic” or “Jewish” roots - especially with those sophisticated enough to realize Jesus was not a blonde-hair blue-eyed American. I don’t feel the need to extrapolate all of the ways that American evangelical Christians look fondly at the Jewish nation - it is fairly transparent.

The phenomena of the SuperChristian is, for sure, nothing new. Just read the mid-second century document,

The Marytrdom of Polycarp

. Not only did his entire martyrdom mirror that of his Saviour, he was accused of being an atheist (for not believing in the gods of the Romans), served Christ flawlessly for eighty-six years, and found the persecuting crowd unworthy of his time.

Blessed are they that have been persecuted for righteousness’ sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when [men] shall reproach you, and persecute you, and say all kind of evil against you falsely, for my sake. Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven… You are the light of the world. (Matthew 5:10-14a)

One of my friends refers to himself as an “Irreligious Follower of Jesus,” another writes on her Facebook profile that “I’m in love with Jesus, its [sic] a relationship NOT religion.” Dan Kimball wrote a book called “They Like Jesus but Not the Church: Insights from Emerging Generations.” A commenter on another blog wrote:

Here's a fun little quiz for those who claim to follow the bible (don't cheat - god will know).

http://ffrf.org/quiz/bquiz.php