of their "bible" and actually created their own faith out of whole cloth. They are not Christians, IMO. People of that faith should rail loud and clear against them using the name of Christianity to describe who they are. They do not follow the teachings of the Christ. They follow the teachings of false prophets, moneychangers, and anti-christs. They are giving Christianity a bad name.
There's good and bad in every religion, because all of them have been created by man. From the first to recognize the elements and pray to them for good crops, hunts, etc., through to today to justify what they want justified. Christianity has a lot of blood on its hands, but then so do most religions... including my own, Paganism.
Most of us today try to extend tolerance and understanding through Interfaith meetings and gatherings. We realize when you boil down all religions, there are a few universal truths that they all recognize. Well... until now, anyway. Christian extremism and Islamic extremism I can say have forsaken those truths for truths of their own. Perhaps others have, too. I know I detest what the fringe of the Norse religions have been saying and doing of late.
Yes... churches have the opportunity to help when it fits within their faith missions. To me, that does not include stripping people of their native religions nor making square pegs fit into round holes. But it is under the constitution that our help as Americans comes from; the fact the politicians who rule "in our name" disregard it, twist it the way they do their bible verses, and discount it completely doesn't negate what it actually says.
And you're right... when it comes down to the nitty gritty of what people need, churches are poor substitutes for government safety nets.
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