QUOTE : In recent years and elections, we might have thought that homosexuality and abortion were the new litmus tests of authentic Christianity. Where did this come from? They never were the criteria of proper membership for the first two thousand years. Instead, they reflect very recent culture wars, largely from people who think of themselves as traditionalists! (The fundamentals were already resolved in the early Apostles’ Creed and Nicene Creed. Note that none of the core beliefs is about morality at all. The creeds are more mystical, cosmological, and about aligning our lives inside of a huge, sacred story.) When we lose the great, mystical level of religion, we always become moralistic about this or that as a cheap substitute. It gives us a false sense of being on higher spiritual ground than others.