Christianity compatible with atheism

[coffeeveritas]

---

So my question is this: What middle ground do you find with Christianity? (Or what specific form of Christianity do you appreciate?)

Are there any things in the faith you admire? Religious people you respect?

The only form of Christianity I appreciate is the form that renounces the notion of a Christ above man, and denounces the concept of man living for the purpose of any divinity.

There is nothing in the religious notion of faith that I admire.

There are religious people I admire greatly. But each of them I would admire much more greatly still if he was to add to his admirable attributes the additional virtue of skepticism towards his religion.

---

So you can appreciate Enlightenment-era, morals based Christianity? As in "Jesus was a great teacher of morals that we can live by, but there was nothing divine about him." That was, and to some extent is, a very popular belief among many Christians for a long time. It's not exactly popular now, but that would indeed be a fairly significant middle ground, Jesus as a teacher. (Of course you might not believe that Jesus was a great teacher yourself but still appreciate those who do.)

I also liked your statement about people of faith. Skepticism towards religion as one more admirable trait still leaves room for admirable people in all sorts of contexts.

So hypothetically, what if there were a form of Christianity that really believed that Jesus saved the world, but highly valued science, didn't feel the need to evangelize anyone, and spent all its time taking care of orphans, fighting economic injustice, and striving for world peace? Would you find that form of Christianity to be fairly admirable, if a bit deluded? Or would the belief in a deity still bother you too much?

(Of course the hypothetical is hugely favorable to my side, but this is just something I wonder about).