re: #142 Wendell Zurkowitz ((slave to the waffle light))

There are Christian (and other religious) denominations that simply see their religion as one of many paths to God, the one that was revealed to us as a person, and no more or less valid than other revealed paths.

And there are other denominations that say you will rot in hell if you do do not follow their rules to the letter.

Well, in my experience, even so-called liberal or mainline Christians feel pretty much the same way. It doesn’t matter whether a person is a Pentecostal or a Methodist, they pretty much seem all to think atheists are going to hell (however they define hell).

I can’t count the number of times I’ve gotten the “I’ll pray for you” line when someone finds out (gasp) I don’t believe in (insert Protestant or Catholic version of God here) and I gently reject the assertion without evidence.

(I’m not mean enough to ask a question like “do you believe your New Testament where it says you only need the faith of a mustard seed or do you go to the doctor when you are sick?” And while a doctor might also be religious, a doctor does not earn that degree through seminaries and prayer: They learn how to be a doctor through years of gruelling medical school, internship, and practice. It works the same whether they are any flavour of Christian, a Muslim, a Hindu, or an atheist. Almost like religion has no part in healing.)