In my experience, those "many churches" could be defined as any church that holds a literal interpretation of the Christ story (Christ was *literally* born of a virgin and Christ *literally* ascended bodily to a place called Heaven, etc.). I have never seen someone believe that literal interpretation who did not also believe that those who did not were damned to an equally literal "Hell". The damned are, in that way at the very least, inferior to the "saved".

Of course, those statements are true of any fundamentalism (which is the same as holding a literal interpretation), and are the basis of the ethnocentric "fanatic" views that are the core of so much of the turmoil in the world. Literal fundamentalism is the problem, whether it is fundamental Islam, or Christianity, and needs to be held in check by more sophisticated views of the world.

I, too, was raised in a Christian family. For a long time, I felt that the whole thing was complete nonsense. Since then, I have significantly altered my opinions. I now believe that Christ (and many others) had particular insight into the human condition that is beyond the ability to express in langugage (a so-called Cosmic Consciousness experience, also known as a direct realization of "nonduality"). Unable to express this so-called "inexpressible", those who have such experiences explain them in metaphor. The metaphors are misunderstood by most people, since the metaphysical insights are rare, and literalized. Then the trouble starts.

I believe that over 99% of religious followers have never been exposed to the idea that the teachings are metaphorical. I have been told by Christian theologians that it is "blasphemy" even to suggest it.

It is a sad irony indeed. The "belief" actually keeps the followers from even *considering* what (in my opinion) is the "real" (metaphorical) teachings. Not only that, people consistenly prove how attached they are to their interpretations by being all too willing to kill for them.

The earlier distinction between "Thou shalt not kill" and "Thou shalt not murder" is telling: when we kill someone who is not part of our ethnocentric sect, it isn't murder, it is simply killing.

The world has become too small for that kind of thinking, whether it is from Osama bin Ladin or the President of the United States. That is not to say that lethal force is not sometimes justified, or even necessary, only that an ethnocentric view of the world should not be encouraged, regardless of the form.

Jim