Are You a Functional Atheist?

 I just learned about all the things that need to rattle around in your head in order to be classified as a "Christian." If these things are not flying around in your brain you are a "functional atheist." 

If you self-identify as a Catholic but ignore the prohibition of birth control or think women should have the right to determine what happens to their own bodies, it's had to see how you can accurately call ourself a Catholic. Few, no doubt, prefer to call themselves functional atheists. but it seems to fit.

The same is true of Protestants who never mastered the tenets of either their own denomination nor the Christian faith in general. I have known so many of these, including some in my own family. Functional atheist in not a term them would be familiar with. But, it is a term that would apply to many. 

I don't know if it is fair or not, but I'd like to see a survey of people among people who attended a specific church service and are asked five days later what the topic of the sermon was. During my church-going years that would have been a tough one for me.

There is a similar term used often about Jews. There are "cultural Jews." As I understand they are people who observe at least some of the Jewish Holy Days and rituals. They do not attend services nor follow the rules of the faith otherwise. I suppose this is something like a "functional atheist." That is, a "cultureal Christian" is also a "cultural Christian." That person may be a member of a church but attend only at Christmas and Easter. President Trump only attended on those holidays. (He said he attended then, no one has ever verified he did actually attend.)

Part of the Christian schtick is that the founding fathers were "Christians" and thus intended the U.S be a "Christian nation." If you have seen that there is evidence this is not correct but continue to repeat it you are an underground "functional atheist."