Re: How many Christians are there in America?

Keith F. Lynch wrote:
> Old Toby <tobiasburmeister@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote:
>> Judaism isn't defined by belief: one can agree 100% with Orthodox
>> Jewish teaching and still not be a Jew (or disagree 100% and be
>> a Jew).
> 
> That's not unique to Judaism.  Many Christians believe that *everyone*
> is actually a Christian in the sense of believing in the theology, but
> that some people choose to side with Satan instead of with Jesus out
> of sheer meanness.

<snip two more very similar examples>.

But that's a completely different phenomenon: attributing your worldview
to others and assuming that any differences are due to a faulty moral 
compass rather than different perspectives.  The agreement I was
speaking of could include moral as well as factual agreement.

Furthermore you hedge things by speaking of "many" Christians, "some"
Marxists, and a single objectivist (albeit the founder of the whole
thing), even as you broaden things by speaking of "everyone" being
considered either a willing member or a willing rejector.

It would be a very strange Jew who said "Everybody is really a Jew, it's
just that some people deliberately reject the Covenant, while others
adhere to it."  It would also be a strange Jew who said "anyone who
fully agrees with Judaism is, ipse facto, a Jew."  There are some Jews
who feel that any Gentile who agrees with Judaism should be _allowed_
to convert, but AFAIK, no talk of Gentiles being Jewish without
conversion.

Old Toby
Least Known Dog on the Net