Harpers has posted a great excerpt from a piece by Bill McKibben talking about how Americans get christianity wrong. I have long said that most religion these days is more of a social phenomenon rather than a spiritual one. The fact that a vast majority of christians have only superficial understanding of the dogma (and sometimes not even that) supports this assertion.
I won’t repeat much of the points he makes, but check the article out. They are good ones. Most American christians these days could hardly be called christians in the traditional sense. While there are plenty of people shouting for a return to “traditional christian values” few if any of them are calling for abolition of the death penalty of better care for the poor of the country.