Hemant, have you ever read any of Bishop Spong’s books? He describes himself as a non-theist, probably a lot like Stark, but Episcopalian instead of Unitarian. He does not believe in the theistic god most Christians do, but takes a Humanist and Tillich stance. He’s met Dawkins and in one of his recent newsletters he said that he and Dawkins believe in the same god- a natural entity found in nature, not supernatural. Anyway, one of his books is “Why Christianity Must Change or Die”. He has many and I won’t list all his books, but I think you may find that the retired Episcopal Bishop has some ideas similar to yours. He has been called a heretic for some of his beliefs, writings, etc, but now the Episcopal Church is full of heretics the way it’s told in the news. lol I wouldn’t know, I quit going a long time ago.

No, what he says won’t convert you to Christianity. In fact, what he said turn me off even more, because he tells you that the Gospels are not eyewitness accounts, that we don’t know who wrote them, they were written in the Hebrew litergical format, the years and dates they were written long after JC died, the contradictions, etc etc etc. which all can be confirmed by other resources including FFRF and AHA (I think that’s the Humanist site I found it too) articles. That information combined with other information I have in Psychology about how the human brain reacts, caused me to reject the Bible even more, not accept it.

So, conversion is not an issue when you read Spong’s books, but I think you will find he has some similar ideas to yours about how Christianity needs to change. Not all, but some similar. Give at least the one book a read and see if you don’t find a minister who agrees with you on some things. He gets even deeper in what needs to be changed in as well as more information about the Gospels in “A New Christianity for a New World”, which will make you wonder why anyone relies on the Bible today. *rolling eyes*

I felt a tinge of pity when I read about Alister McGrath’s book though. Based on what I’ve read of his work, he isn’t up to the challenge of refuting a serious atheist. If I were one of his friends, I would be working to make sure his books got as littlte attention as possible…