Quoting Mike Hewitt (mikeh@electroteach.com):

Just to show that I, at least, am reading this discussion:

I have some understanding of both(?) points of view and while I

don't live in USA I can see some of the issues raised if only through the eyes

of the style of some of the TV programs that we receive here in Melbourne, Aus.

My own parallax on this matter was having been raised, first as a heathen in California, then during formative years studying in the British government school in Hong Kong, a very Church of England place, and having Lutheran relative and Catholic (and Jewish) friends. And my main teacher in Hong Kong was a very, very Presbyterian Scot. So, I ended up having a good grounding in mainline, normal branches of Christianity -- C of E, Presbyterian, Lutheran, Catholic, etc. -- when in 1968 with an immense sensation of cultural dislocation I landed back in the USA and studied this preposterous and now-alien place as if I were a 10-year-old anthropologist. And, my point is, you can recognise the main themes of Christianity in all of those, plus (non-Southern) Baptists, non-Holy-Roller Methodists, Quakers, and many more. IMO, where the budding young heathen anthropoligist will be driven to 'WTF? Why is this called Christianity?' is when the young lad encounters Southern Baptists and such lot. Or Mormons, though that should go without saying. (Scientogists are equally crazy if not more so, but only passively let people assume they're Christians because of symbolism such as the cross-like symbol they use, but they actually have no Christian roots at all.)

Christianity seems to have been forked like early version of Linux

Well, yes, for well over 1000 years. You've heard of the Great Schism? That was in 1054, and made the Protestant Revolt and the responding Reformation look small by comparison. Christianity forking is _old_. But the point is that the family is mostly still close, from my outsider perspective. Faith versus works, central authority versus decentralised, who's in charge, these are all to my eye small points. Your Mileage May Differ.{tm}

and now some

Similar too for the use of English language : one point could be that when you read, or hear, sentences in 'english' you could take them literally or guess at the meaning and then you get shot for 'picking' wrongly.

http://linuxmafia.com/pub/humour/a-man-of-letters.html Dear Editor: Could you set me straight on apostrophe's? I can't keep its and it's straight. All those possessive's and contractions are confusing. Thank's. Charle's Owen's San Carlo's Dear Charles: Sure, no problem: It's is not, it isn't ain't, and it's it's, not its, if you mean it is. If you don't, it's its. Then, too, it's hers. It isn't her's. It isn't our's, either. It's ours, and likewise yours and theirs. See, it's handy to have a publication that knows its it's from its its, isn't it?