Hey, Little Hawk: As I know you know, Christianity isn't as monolitihic and simplistic as people make it out to be. I was close friends with a wonderful Lutheran minister who did not believe that the saying "No man comes to the Father except through me" meant that non-Christians could not be accepted into the Kingdom of God. We're getting into deep water here, and probably not a proper subject to discuss on the Cat. I have no desire to, at least. I just wanted to say that there are Christians who are "organized" that do not see salvation as exclusively Christian. If God is love, then I figure he's going to cut everybody a lot of slack.

The other observation I wanted to pass along in response to your posting is that I have heard ministers say countless times, "Don't worship the church," or "Don't worship me." Worshipping "organized religion" is much like worshipping a false God. It's like unwrapping a package, admiring the wrapping paper and never opening the gift.

Jerry