> Of course, this is "our" definition of "religion." The word has several dictionary definitions, and ours admittedly isn't the #1 definition. If you go by the #1 definition, yeah, Christianity is just another religion. But we believe that it should be set apart, as our belief in saving grace makes it unlike all the other legalistic faiths of the world, and very unique.



I'm a Christian, attending a Christian college, but I'm not entirely certain I agree with how you're defining religion.

For one thing, I'm reasonably certain that the Ten Commandments are indeed the Ten Commandments, not the Ten Suggestions. Commandment = rule. To say that there are no rules that Christians have to live by seems to me a pretty big stretch. You say that true Christianity is a "lifestyle," in which one is to "live according to Jesus' teachings." To paraphrase shortly: to live by the rules Jesus gave us, as found in Holy Scripture.

You seem to be defining religion by how a particular belief set says its salvation is acheived. You also seem to be the only person I've ever met to say that. But I can hardly think that any belief set that states "salvation is found in obeying the rules and strictures found within" would fall under the category of a "religion", while Christianity and other belief sets that find salvation in a messianic figure (and Christianity is certainly NOT unique in this, either) are not "religions".

Religion is not to be defined as "a belief set in which salvation is found through following legalistic rules." Religion is not to be defined as "man making stuff up about God." Religion is man's connection to his God (whoever/whatever He/She/It may be). The only entity above religion is that God.

One may not care for *organized* religion, or heavily ritualistic religion, but to define religion as something it is certainly not, and then disavow all ties to it, is...well...silly.

> As far as this Father Ramos is concerned, I agree that he is way off base.
> -useless"Occasionally, I feel compelled to stand on this here soapbox. Today was one of those times."ness

Father Ramos is certainly way off base. I myself am a gamer, and have played some of the games he mentioned, even the HORRIBLE DISGUSTING WHITE WOLF GAMES. While roleplaying in and of itself is not wrong, I *do* understand how it can be turned to sin. But, well, LOTS of things in life are like that. I think roleplaying gets a bad rap from fundamentalist Christians cause the worlds tend
to be polytheistic, pagan, and involve lots of demons, devils, and evil. I fail to see what is wrong with playing as a party seeking to rid the world of evil demons. Nobody I know of actually worships the gods found within these games, or seeks to bring demons into this world (I know OF people who do/have done this, which I would agree is wrong.) RPGs are easy targets.

I think the funniest line was when he lumped Libertarians into his "Evil People" category.

The Other "And yes, a lot of THIS came from my Cultural Anthropology class, too. I have the feeling I'll be using that class more on this forum than anywhere else in my life." Matthew