Thank you for your insights, barryogenesis.
Your experience of cultural Judaism is interesting and throws up many more questions, but could you please answer mine more directly: do you think someone who attends church but who does not believe in the divinity of Christ is Christian, how would you feel about being led in prayer by that person or listening to a sermon by that person, and would your reaction to their prayers or sermons alter if their atheism only came to light long after they had moved on from your church?
Regards
WLB
Thank you for your response. Regarding a person who attends church and leads prayer and sermons who does not believe in the divinity of Christ, first I would have to understand what it is they DO believe about Christ.
Some people reject Christ's divinity outright. Others accept it. But there are some who don't easily fall into either camp. They are unsure of the particulars of doctrines like the Trinity, and especially coming from a Jewish or Islamic point of reference, they often are unsure exactly how to square a Divine Christ (Who prayed to the Father in Heaven) with "God is One."
Some consider Christ as a prophet of some kind (divinely inspired?), some believe He existed historically only to fulfill earlier prophecy (He was an "effect" and not a "cause"), others say He is a priest in the order of Melchizedek (who had no beginning or end), others say He is God in the flesh (and this may or may not be the same as Melchizedek), others confess "Christ is Lord" as Peter did (though their specific belief about His divinity remains ambiguous), others are "agnostic" about the divine nature of Christ, though they are not agnostic about God or even the Christian religion.
This is why your question as to whether a person who did not believe in the divinity of Christ was a "Christian" or not is more difficult to answer than I would have thought just a few days ago. "Christian" is a subjective term. Since it is not defined in Scripture, different people have different opinions on what the word actually means. I have usually heard it defined as "Christ-like." Though that is also the meaning of the word "Christian" as an adjective, as in, "Do the Christian thing..." When we speak of religion, I have often heard it as "Follower of Christ" or more specifically, "Follower of Christ's teachings." The latter can be true of someone even if they are unsure of their understanding of the divinity of Christ, or if their understanding doesn't match up with mine.
Typically "Christian" is the title given to an adherent of a specific religion whose primary authoritative source is the New Testament, as well as a long tradition, as well as various cultural keystones, from ancient Hebraic to Babylonian to Hellenistic (Platonism, Peripateticism, Neoplatonism) and onwards. Various Christian groups have drawn up creeds of specific foundational points that determine one's membership in said group. Throughout history there have been disagreements, sometimes wars, and even atrocities committed by one "Christian" group against another, usually in the name of unifying under one creed or leader. But from the beginning there was diversity, as different followers of Christ answered their calling and convictions. Paul was not called to the same ministry as Peter or James, for example, and was not even accepted at first as a fellow "Christian" by the church in Jerusalem.
This is also germane to current events, as people debate the "Christian-ness" of candidates identifying themselves as "Christian" and members of the LDS church. Romney and Huntsman say, "Christ Jesus is my Lord." Do I feel on solid enough ground to stand between them and God and shout "No you are not! You are not worthy!" Not me.
If the person leading the prayer is known to me to be an atheist, then I cannot imagine the point of "following" them in prayer, though I can always pray to God despite what someone else in the room is doing. If the sermon draws on Scripture and does not contradict any salient Scriptural doctrine, then it doesn't much matter to me who is giving the sermon as God's Word is still being taught. If I were to discover only much later that a minister I admired was actually an atheist all that time, this could only serve to highlight for me the utterly humbling ways God can make use of anything or anyone for His good purpose.
I believe that the only "ordained" position in the Church is Christ, as its head. All others are called to different positions according to their abilities and God's untraceable paths, but no one is above or below anyone else other than Christ. Therefore I do not depend on any specific belief of a pastor or minister or teacher or counselor, for God can and does make use of all for His purpose, and my dependence should be on Him alone.
One of my favorite authors is C.S. Lewis, from whom I have learned a great deal. He used to be an atheist; he used to teach atheism and debate the matter as a professor. God was working within him the whole time, however. I believe one of the ideas conveyed in Christ's Parable of the Wheat and the Tares (Matt 13:24-30,36-43) is that we should basically assume that we are dealing with people for whom Christ died, even if we do not know the final disposition of their souls while we live on this earth. So if someone leads a group in prayer to God, I do not see the gain in second-guessing their personal beliefs. If what they speak during prayer illustrates a lack of understanding about the nature of God, I would think that us believers gathered there in Christ's name should be convicted to speak to that person, either instructing or admonishing or (in the case of a non-believer) witnessing. Perhaps that was the very reason God indented us to gather in that group for that prayer, however misguided it may have seemed on its own merit.
I don't know if I have answered your question directly, as you have asked. To me this matter suddenly became a lot less simple "black and white" as I can perceive several nuances that I was happy to leave under the rug, frankly. I am also curious and interested in your answers to some of my questions in my first post above. Thank you again!
