I was brought up a Christian, in a very liberal (English Methodist) church. I was happy there, and only left when it was demanded of me that I have ‘faith’: ‘Faith, Hope and Charity’, as it says in the Good Book (I Cor 13. 1-13). OK, ‘Charity’: that goes without saying. ‘Hope’: well, if you’re lucky. But ‘Faith’ – that is, uncritical faith, in the existence of a God, for example, or the Resurrection – I felt went against my vocation as a budding scholar. So I dumped it. What I’ve retained from my Christian upbringing is the moral teaching, as I understand it, of most of the New Testament, especially the four Gospels (but not 1 Corinthians); and which is found, of course, in other religions too.

Which is why I’m still unwilling to identify as a Christian, when that might associate me with others, like Jacob Rees-Mogg and people on the American ‘Christian’ Right, whose views directly contradict the true kernel of Jesus’s teaching . Again, ‘as I understand it’. (I’m no theologian; but then Jesus wasn’t preaching to them.)

Many others have made the same point about false, tribalised and weaponised versions of ‘Christianity’. Here’s one recent example: https://medium.com/@garylellis/when-christianity-lost-christ-e5d388da5d58. – Monty Python’s Life of Brian is pretty sound on this, too:

Brian: Look, you’ve got it all wrong! You don’t need to follow me. You don’t need to follow anybody! You’ve got to think for yourselves!  You’re all individuals!
Crowd:  Yes! We’re all individuals!
Brian: You’re all different!
Crowd: Yes, we are all different!
Man in crowd: I’m not…
Crowd: Shhh….

Brilliant!