To reform Christianity we must shun religion and return to the basics
The final post in the long series on the reformation of Christianity
“And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.”
These words of Paul from the first letter to the Corinthian church are among the most famous of the Bible. If Christianity is going to be reformed and reformulated, it must begin here.
I make a distinction between faith, belief systems and religion. The words seem interchangeable, but the reformation of Christianity depends on my take on that distinction.
Belief vs. Religion
A belief system is a set of ideas, facts or propositions. One can accept or reject a belief system based on a number of factors. Atheism is a belief system that is closely related to physicalism. Physicalism says that the universe consists of matter and forces and the laws that determine their interaction. This is nothing else and can be nothing else. That is not a scientific statement, as much as physicalists may protest that it is. It is a belief to which one can subscribe or unsubscribe.
Christianity is a belief system in the same way. It posits a number of ideas and facts which adherents claim are true. Faith is when the belief system is adopted despite…
