As for the fact that the writer no longer considers himself a Christian, well, God hasn't finished with him yet. And Jesus had this to say about him and people like him:
He isn't finished with any of us yet.
To clarify, and give the Reader's Digest version, I left Christianity in the 1980s, when Christians began claiming that one cannot be gay and christian. Even if one were to agree that homosexuality is sin, to then claim that another cannot sin and be Christian is to ignore one's own sin that they still are guilty of and yet, forgive themselves, and call themselves Christian. Some churches even forbid gay members. It was exclusively gay people. Everyone else was welcome. So, I began to question whether it was God or man that they followed.
After researching many religions, I was led to Buddhism, and Buddhism teaches a lot of what Christ taught in terms of being thankful in all things, being humble, to love wastefully, without expecting return, etc.
And now, some 20 years later, I feel like the path has returned to Christianity, only I'm looking at it from the other side. I no longer see the callous God that demands that you love him or burn, but the God who loves you whether you love him or not. I don't see a God making a laundry list of petty sin, but a God that is more concerned with how you treat others in love, because that makes the love in you grow stronger, and God's voice more clear.
Some Christians will adamantly say, "Jesus said, NO ONE comes to the Father but by me! You have to be a Christian to get into heaven!" However, they don't seem concerned about it. In fact, they seem to act like it is a membership to a Whites Only Golf Course that they show to their black neighbors who won't be accepted. They say it with self pride.
However, "No one comes to the Father but by me" is something I agree with. Jesus said it while he was living. One who does not become Christ-like, who was willing to humble himself to serve man, and demonstrate his love, won't enter "heaven", the state of being love, as God is love. There's no place in "heaven" to exhalt yourself by condemning others. One cannot speak of how great your God is for his mercy, and then be merciless to others, and truly know God. One must be Christ-like.
I don't believe any one religion has a monopoly on God. There are more than one way up the path. Why this is a threat to Christians, I don't know. Maybe they want people to burn in hell, while God doesn't want that anyone should parish.
I don't believe that it was God who demanded Christ's death, but man, who exalted themselves, and were humbled, and so, angered by God. They were angry that when they accused the woman of adultery, and trying to trap Jesus, he in turn illustrated that none of them were qualified to judge another because they were also sinners, and that Jesus with no sin, did not condemn her. Ironic. In history, this repeats itself. JFK and MLK fought against the injustice of racism, and were killed because of it. However, rather than quieting the voice, their deaths made their points even stronger.
I believe in a very different God, one who is compassionate, has endless mercy, forgiveness and we forgive, takes joy in our lives, and isn't focused on sin or law, but simply that we love our neighbor as ourselves. I believe that if Jesus took away the sins of the world, then no one perishes, and that really is Good News. I pray to God. I pray in tongues. I simply don't call myself Christian because I don't want to argue theology, and be judged whether or not I'm a True Christian (TM), when I don't have to answer to man. And that seems to upset them even more.
So, I am a theist, a Buddhist, a heretical Christian. It's simply a name to me, while the traditional use of the word is the starting point of my journey, a long way from it's end.
But don't assume I'm lost. On the contrary, as many people will attest to (back me up on this), many people find that they often grow closer to God by leaving the church.
