Can't We All Just Get Along?

Alright, the funniest part about this:

New survey reveals that most evangelical Christians 

don’t know the central tenets of their own religion

is that these evangelicals sound more like "liberal" Christians than "conservative" Christians.  But there's nothing inherently un-Christian in this:

According to the summary, “A majority of evangelicals said (1) that most people are basically good, (2) that God accepts the worship of all religions, and (3) that Jesus was the first and greatest being created by God the Father. However, all these beliefs are contrary to the historic Christian faith.”

Sounds okay to me, but The State of Theology (is that like ISIS?  Or more Heidegerrean, and so a state of being?) says:

As State of Theology explains, the Bible specifically teaches that people are not universally good by pointing out, “This idea flatly contradicts the Bible, which teaches the radical corruption of every human being and declares that no one does good by nature (Rom. 3:10–12). This is why we need the gospel in the first place—because none of us is good.”

Actually, that's an interpretation from a very conservative branch of Christianity.  It is not the "truth" of Christianity as recognized by all Christians.  Indeed, all Christians agree there are only three things common to them all:  That baptism is in the name of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and is a sacrament; that Jesus Christ is Lord; and that God is Creator.  None of those have to do with damnation or salvation.  As for reading Romans, I'd refer you to the work of Krister Stendhal, the Bishop of Stockholm; one can hardly call him a non-Christian because he would argue felicitously against this reading of Paul's writings.

Raw Story apparently got this from Friendly Atheist; it's a link my browser won't allow me to follow, so I'll leave the issue here:  "The State of Theology" has a theological agenda to promote, a very conservative one.  Nothing wrong with that, but that website and its writers don't get to determine whether or not I'm a "correct" enough Christian to claim to be one, or to be declared ignorant of central tenets of Christianity.

Friendly Atheist, in other words, appears to have stepped into a family fight and, not recognizing any of the players or really understanding the terms of the discussion, has chosen a side.  They got played.