Stealing Jesus

The time has passed when denominational names and other conventional identifiers accurately reflected Christian America's religious views and practices. Today's relevant contrast is between legalistic and non-legalistic religion, or the Church of Law and the Church of Love, rather than between Protestant and Catholic, Baptist and Episcopalian. On the one hand, there is the fundamentalist right, which creates a clear line between saved and unsaved and worships a God of wrath and judgement; on the other hand, there are more mainstream Christians, who see all people as children of a loving God who urges them to dismantle hatred, prejudice, and mistrust obstacles.