I have news for you. You are a Christian.

Fine. Have a nice day. So are lots of people and Christianity is two thousand years old so you have plenty of company. You don't get to be two thousand years old without doing something right.

It's like saying "I consider myself a fireman." You are not an atheist. At some practical level your ideas about morality and common sense are derived from some ancestor of yours believing in God.

Fine. Was he a dumb peasant pushing a hoe before modern science? No. Science does not fight with Christianity.

Anybody who thinks science conflicts with Christianity doesn't know enough about one of those things and possibly both of those things.

I deeply appreciate your candor that you haven't read one word about what you ostensibly claim to not believe in.

I do agree that there has been a lot of accrued and accreted unnecessary complication and general off-puttingness about religion. I do agree that there have been icky episodes and unworthy leaders.

To make an analogy with art, just because there have been stinky painters doesn't mean we give up on art. We look for the good ones. There is still Rembrandt.

I think there is a book in the For Dummies series about the basics of the Bible.

I would counsel you to say you are Christian with little knowledge but nonetheless in a basic way, a Christian.

Because you are.

Christianity, like food, can be stripped of its icky additives and be reduced, restored, to a small number of fresh and wholesome ingredients.

But that requires some home cooking.