That is the religious tradition of about 3 out of 4 North Americans, our target audience.
	Essentially all of the negative Emails that we receive in which the religion of the sender can be determined, are sent by conservative Christians.

We are not attacking their religious beliefs; we are simply explaining that full range of beliefs that people hold to be true. For example, consider personal salvation. It is perhaps the most important religious topic to many conservative Christians. They commonly believe that those people who are not saved (whether they have considered and rejected trust in Jesus, or simply have never heard of the gospel message) are destined to spend eternity being tortured in Hell. In formulating a belief system on salvation:

	Some Christians stress passages from the synoptic Gospels (Mark, Matthew, Luke), and the letter of James which appear to teach that that people are saved by doing good works.
	Many conservative Christians follow many passages by St. Paul, who believed that one is saved by first believing in Jesus' resurrection.
	Some stress the some of writings of the author(s) of the Gospel of John who wrote that one is saved by believing that Jesus is the son of God.
	Some sincerely believe that, irrespective of whether one believes and trusts in Jesus, only members of their own faith group will be saved; all others will go to Hell.
	One faith group believes that an individual has to be exposed to the gospel message in a certain way -- by a pair of teachers -- before that person can be saved and avoid Hell.
	Pentecostals believe that one is saved by trusting Jesus as Lord and Savior. But a few believe that if God does not subsequently give that person the gift of speaking in tongues, then their salvation was not valid. Since the vast majority of Christians do not speak in tongues, those Pentecostals would consider almost all Christians to be unsaved.
	Another faith group teaches that one has to be baptized before one can be saved.

Many of our readers will find some of these beliefs irritating and even interpret them as assaults by us on their faith. We are not attacking anyone's religion. We are simply the messengers - we are just reporting on the wide range of religious beliefs that people hold.

1. Theological Beliefs: This includes a faith group's belief concerning the nature of Deity, of humanity and of the rest of the universe. For example:

   Most Christian groups believe that the Godhead takes the form of a Trinity; Other religions, like Islam and Judaism, teach the unity of God. Some believe that there is no God, or two, or many.

   We make every effort to avoid criticizing such beliefs. To do so would be the worse type of intolerance.

2. Religious Beliefs: These are typically beliefs that are secondary to a faith group's theological beliefs. They are not primary statements of faith. They are beliefs whose validity which can be tested. For example, religious organizations might teach that:

   The universe came into existence about 6,000 years ago. That some Native Americans are the descendents of Jews who emigrated to North America from the Middle East. That prayer is the most effective treatment for physical illness. Mental illness is caused by indwelling demonic spirits.

   Here, faith groups are leaving the area of purely theological belief and making medical and scientific statements about the world. They are often in conflict with medicine, geology, astronomy, archaeology, biology, etc. We do not criticize these beliefs. However, we do compare them with the findings of science and medicine so that people can evaluate which gives a more accurate picture of reality.

3. Sometimes, religious and even theological beliefs become translated into actions. We do criticize some individual and organized actions when they hurt other people. When we criticize a religious group's actions to reduce individual freedom, we are sometimes accused of attacking that group's beliefs. We try to differentiate between the two with great care.
   
   An example might be useful. Many conservative Christians believe that homosexual behavior is a sin, it hated by God, and is chosen, learned behavior. Some believe that same-sex behavior should be re-criminalized. They believe that homosexual orientation can be changed through reparative therapy and prayer. We have no objection to them holding these beliefs. But when they take action to oppose the granting of equal rights to gays and lesbians in the area of employment, accommodation and marriage, we oppose those actions as hurtful. We uphold the fundamental principle of "liberty and justice for all" without exceptions based on gender, race, nationality, sexual orientation, age, degree and type of disability, language, etc. We also promote the concept of personal privacy, in which each individual has the right to pursue their own happiness and creativity without government interference. Where this conflicts with actions promoted by religious groups, we feel that fundamental human rights should prevail.

in favor of protection against employment discrimination for all groups, including gays and lesbians against individuals being automatically rejected for religious ordination on the basis of their gender, disability or sexual orientation against various religious freedom restoration acts, if they elevate religious freedom above other fundamental liberties against enforced religious prayer in public schools in favor of special interest groups in the public school system, including religious study clubs and homosexual support groups. and on a few hundred other topics.

Web ReligiousTolerance.org

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