What, if anything, is a Christian?

Are you a Christian? If so, I assume you believe the following:

1. Adam is a historical person who incurred a debt, passed on to all of humanity, because of his disobedience to God
2. All humans are born bearing the debt of Adam's sin
3. Jesus (God in Human Form) redeemed this debt (to Himself) by dying on the cross (but not really dying)
4. Belief that this story is literally true is the necessary and sufficient criterion to obtain eternal life.

If you *don't* believe in the founding myth of Christianity, you are not a Christian. You may comfort yourself that you believe in a "higher power" or that "things happen for a reason" but that doesn't make you Christian. Christianity is not about belief in some generic God. It's belief in a *specific*, historical reality.

By my own definition, I am not now and never have been a Christian, nor do I know a single Christian. The founding myth is so preposterous that we have somehow parked it in the back of our brains and never really challenged it. Most of us reserve the right to be skeptical about the Bible and the logic behind (say) the letters of St. Paul. But there is a point where this skepticism is really a rejection of the whole premise of the faith.

Like all great religions, "Christianity" has undergone numerous  schisms over fine points of Theology. "Religions of the book" stand out in this respect by weaving "faith" in literal, factual, historical issues. For example, the schism between Sunni and Shiite is based on a historical dispute over authority. As far as I know, the countless varieties of "Hinduism" and Buddhism have not tended to come to blows, since these religions are based on interpretation and practice. For example, there is an impressive body  evidence that Buddha (Siddhartha) actually existed and taught he doctrine that he is noted for. But Buddhism is based on what he taught, more specifically in behaving the way he recommended.  The historical reality of the person is not relevant.

In "Christendom", a person could be persecuted or killed as a heretic until relatively recent times, for reasons based solely on his or her opinions about actual historical fact. "Heresy" put down at the point of a sword included such things as thinking (a) Jesus was a normal human being (b) Jesus was not an ordinary human being (c) rejecting the idea of infant baptism.

I contend that such violent confrontations, along with the belief that what other people believe is literally wrong and deserving death is a defining characteristic of "Religions of the book". In the name of common sense, if not human rights, such beliefs must be challenged. Such beliefs are now in the news every day, in the minds and actions of ISIS.

One of the things that got me thinking along these lines was the recent exodus from the Mormon church of people who disapproved of the Mormon doctrine on same sex marriage. The obvious question for me was, if they are prepared to abandon the "faith" over this issue, why not ask what it is they do believe and whether somehow, somewhere along the line, they have allowed themselves to be identified with a huge scam. Mormonism has undergone schisms too - mainly over authority. The offshoots tend to accept a new authority, but keep the idea that authority is absolute. Such attitudes hardly encourage discussion of the core historical doctrines of the Church, such as North American aboriginals being the lost tribes of Israel. Once you start picking away at the roots, the scam is exposed and the whole structure crumbles.

These days, educated people think that the core issue of religion is "atheism" vs "theism". A lot of "theists" assume themselves to be Christian just because they were raised that way and they are certainly not atheists. I have heard this fallacy expressed explicitly in statements like "Muslims are atheists". 

Others hold vaguely religious ideas, such as "there has to be something greater than ourselves" or "everything happens for a reason" and assume this is a modern, sensible "politically correct" version of Christianity. This would be harmless if it weren't for the fact that the same people can be manipulated into supporting "Christian" political agendas, such as pro-life or anti same sex marriage. Self-identification with "Christians" creates a bogus distinction between "us and them", which historically is an excuse for violence and oppression. For example, "Christians" want to force women to have babies against their will and prevent gays from marrying each other (by force of law).

Below the Bible Belt in America, the word "Christian" is synonymous with "decent person". Such people use terms like "real" Christian and "Bible Believing Christian" to distinguish between "us and them". They claim that the Bible is their guide to life, the celestial law book. But do they hold to the core doctrine as stated above? If not, they are not "Christians" by any plausible definition. Let them stand up and be counted.

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Obviously, in practical or "operational" terms, "Christian" doesn't mean anything like what I describe here. People don't actually believe this stuff or, at the very least, they don't think that such belief is absolutely necessary to self-identify as Christian.

I wonder if this is true of other "religions of the book". What about Islam?

Supposedly, you are a Muslim if you can sincerely say "There is no God but Allah and Mohammed is his prophet". Of course the problem with that is, in many countries, once you say that you can't un-say it. You can't stop believing it, because if you do you can be subject to the death penalty.

Parenthetically, I should remark that there are Islamic atheists, who read the creed as "There is no God. Only Allah ...", from which point you can borrow from your "Christian" cousins and define Allah any way you like.

At one time, saying "Jesus is Lord" was enough to self-identify as a Christian, but then it became political and legalistic. Doubting any part of the creed that opens this essay became punishable by death.

So it's not really about belief at all is it? Even though it's all about belief. Hmmm