> I was talking about Christianity with a friend on another board, and it got me to thinking: Why are there so many different denominations of Christianity? Like Methodist, Baptist, Assembly of God, etc. Why can't a Christian just be a Christian? What's a non-Christian going to think when they see all these versions?

Think to Europe: there are Christian Catholics, protestants (Luterans and Anglicans), there's the East-European Christian Ortodoxy...

Think to all the different confessions born in the East Europe (most of which were defined heretical after the Nicea Council of A.D. 317 -or was it 325?); think to the fragmentation of the Catholic church in different confessions, expecially in Italy, Germany and Spain in the Middle Ages.

Most of these confessions were born due to battles for European leadership between the Pope and the Emperor of Germany; each confession supported the Pope or the Emperor, forming alliances and producing battles over battles between different "churches" that marked each other as "heretical".

History shows us that, at any time and in any place, religion and politics have always been involved in each other; still nowadays, in many communities, the religious leader is also the political one.

Of course, this may be used as an argument against every religion - expecially against the Christianity, that in the past centuries had no problems killing, burning and destroying the "heretics" trying to defend someone's interests instead of following the words of Jesus.

At any rate, one thing are the historical reasons that led to a fragmentation of Christianity in different (and sometimes unconciliable) confessions; another thing is the confession you are into, which is ruled by people that are fallible as any other human being; another thing again are the words from Jesus Christ, who postulated a new and better society built by new and better people (utopistic Socialism, between 18th and 19th Century, postulated a new and better society as well -but, while starting from the Enlightment, moved from a more radical p.o.v. against every religion- and later Marx tried to give a solid scientifical foundation to Socialism; both fell on the same historical error, in which a society cannot rule itself to be new and better, while Jesus postulated a new *mankind* able to build up a new world).

All this to show that different confessions aren't an argument strong enough against the Christian religion; on the other side, may be an argument showing how Christian religion is alive and evolved in the past centuries - and continues to evolve nowadays.

Being Christian is, as a matter of fact, a condition that can elevate the person to a different spiritual level and has nothing to do with history or the particular confession in which that person is into.

All this, in short, from my strongly non-Christian p.o.v.

AP.