Update March 17 - the node described below proved to be the straw that broke the camel's back. It was nuked along with all the other "fill-in-the-blank Everythingians" nodes.
So we have these "Fill-in-the-blank Everythingians" nodes. You know what I'm talkin' about. Furry. Out. Atheist. Asian. Quaker.
On the one hand, these little subcommunities on E2 are nice. You search, you read, you find people who are into the same things. Possessed of the same worldview. Having sex with the same gender. Asian. Sometimes it's a delightful discovery - I didn't know you enjoyed dressing up like an animal in a loincloth too! Sometimes it's not so delightful - I will never be able to speak with this person again without picturing them dressed up as an animal in a loincloth. EW, EW, EW.
But on the other hand, they're just lists. Lists that can become out of date and which need to be maintained by someone who might leave and when that happens they'll just sit there collecting dust. As an editor, that kind of bugs me. But for the reasons given above, I don't delete them.
As of right now there is no Christian Everythingians node. And Christianity is a very social religion -- we are members of the mystical body of Christ, brothers and sisters. And despite my reservations regarding the fill-in-the-blank Everythingian nodes, it brightens my heart to imagine Orthodox, Catholic, and Protestant noders standing together in unity and showing our colors. Viva ecumenism!
So, then. Assuming something like this won't immediately get nuked, how would we define who is Christian, and who is not? I mean, that should be EASY, right? A religion two thousand years old, surely we have a definition everyone agrees on, RIGHT? There's the Nicene Creed...no wait, that excludes Byzantine. The World Council of Churches has a pretty minimal set of requirements, you just have to believe Jesus is God and Savior...no wait, that excludes novasoy. Okay - the Bible is your only holy book...unless you're sfc. DAMMIT!
And then there's the criteria set by the United States government, who for census purposes has simply declared that if you say you're a Christian, then you are one.
I would appreciate the suggestions of my fellow editors and gods regarding the advisability of creating such a node, and of my fellow Christians for filling it. (See http://www.religioustolerance.org/chr_defn.htm for a sampling of the possibilites.) I'm thinking the format would be noder - sect.
I ask not, therefore, of him with whom I would unite in love, Are you of my church, of my congregation? Do you receive the same form of church government, and allow the same church officers, with me? Do you join in the same form of prayer wherein I worship God? I inquire not, Do you receive the supper of the Lord in the same posture and manner that I do? nor whether, in the administration of baptism, you agree with me in admitting sureties for the baptized, in the manner of administering it; or the age of those to whom it should be administered. Nay, I ask not of you (as clear as I am in my own mind), whether you allow baptism and the Lord's supper at all. Let all these things stand by: we will talk of them, if need be, at a more convenient season, my only question at present is this, 'Is thine heart right, as my heart is with thy heart?'
-- John Wesley (Founder of Methodism, also not a Christian by certain definitions)