... because, though I attend a Christian church and belong to another (same denomination, opposite sides of the US), most people (including many here who read my posts) would not count me a Christian. And they would be right (which might come as a shock to any of my friends in the Maine church that read this). For though I accept Jesus of Nazareth as a prophet with a mission similar to that of Muhammad six centuries later, I do not accept that Jesus is divine, is "the Son of God".

I hold with those that think Jesus of Nazareth himself would be thoroughly appalled at such a heresy. Jesus was a Jew, and he would have agreed with his compatriots that calling himself divine in any way is a crime, a cardinal blasphemy to be punished by immediate stoning. In this interpretation, terms like "Son of God" and "Savior" were applied later, many decades after the death of Jeshua son of Joseph, to help sell the Jesus movement (which was thrown out of Judaism) to Greek-speaking Gentiles already familiar with such concepts (Herakles, for instance, is a demigod, son of Zeus and a mortal).

So why do I go to church? Because I recognize the power and necessity of the ethical system that is embedded in Christianity, and because I was raised in this church, I find (after trying several other things) this one the easiest and most meaningful metaphor for right relationship with "one's neighbors" for me to manage.

I would say you have something of a challenge on your hands. Because every Christian church is different. I've seen lots at beyond tourist level, in five different countries (US, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Germany). To base one's idea of "Christian" on any one of them (especially the strain currently embodied by our national leadership) is a calumny on the whole. Just as it is to base one's concept of Judaism on West Bank settlements, or Islam on Hamas or Al Qaeda.

But to introduce this diversity to young people, especially if they haven't had a chance to assimilate the principles of any one flavor thereof, runs the risk of confusing them, and perhaps (not entirely unreasonably) inducing them to reject the whole.

If I were in your position (unlikely), I'd be tempted to focus on the "Two Commandments" of Jesus (love God, love your neighbor), and let your students know, in an age-appropriate way, that God tells people about these commandments, and how to best fulfill them, in ways each group of people can best accept. So that each particular faith, and denomination of that faith, is God speaking to different groups of people with different words, with the intent of capturing all of them into God's grace.

Unfortunately, we are human. And often hard of hearing.

Please forgive this long letter. I did not have time to write a short one. - George Bernard Shaw

Why I do not call myself a Christian is too difficult to answer in seven million words or less. So, forgive me for sounding flippant, because I truly don't mean to, but I am not a Christian because it's not my religion or faith. I was raised Christian, and after studying other religions, I found myself with many questions. Not all of these questions were for Christianity. I began questioning, and I consistently got non-answers. After many questions to many different people, and being told time and again that you just have to have "faith", I began to realize that people either don't know the answers or they are concealing them. Either one is abhorrible. And while I do think faith must play a part in religion, it did not to the questions I was asking. So in the end, I guess the closest thing that could describe me is agnostic.

My view of Christians in America is that when they are very good, they are very, very good, and when they are bad, they are ugly. There isn't nearly enough tolerance in the world, and by tolerance, I am not referring to approval. You do not have to approve of an action to recognize that as a fellow human being, they are entitled to respect. When there is not even tolerance being promoted by clowns such as Falwell, Phelps, or Robertson, it screams that Christians cannot accept anyone else who does not fit within a certain small definition. Worse yet, they do not even support each other. So I hear about love and compassion from my Christian neighbors and co-workers, and I see Phelps and Robertson making the news for being jerks yet again. There is a great divide, and many Christians fighting over which one is the right way to be saved. For example, another blog on here asked what if I am wrong about hell, but the real question is, whose hell? Methodist? Presbyterians? Catholic? To become Christian, one must not only declare that they are "Christ-like" but they must also decide which aspects of Christ they feel like following.

All of that long-winded nonsense means that I don't believe that your average Christian can provide enough influence to overcome the wretched self-declared leaders of Christianity. If I may give a suggestion... don't teach them the disgusting things that some Christians do to turn people off of Christianity. Show them the things that turn people on to it. People have enough reminders of how utterly useless they are. Sometimes they need built-up instead. For whatever it's worth...

That's an excellent idea. It definitely exhibits progressive thinking. You think parents of children being instructed by a youth minister are going to let you get away with that?