
I have stopped identifying myself as a 'Christian'. I remember having to register at a government office and the person at the counter asked me, "what is your religion?". I said, I don't have any religion. Then she asked, "so are you a free-thinker?" I said that I certainly do think freely but asked if that was a religion as well and if it was than I am not. She says that she does not know if it was a religion or not, but that she needed to classify me as one or another. Very often, identifying as a 'Christian' is a mere classification exercise. People have a need to be labelled and to belong somewhere; and classifications help this process. There are only 3 instances in the Bible where the followers of Christ were identifed as 'khrē-stē-ä-no's' (Christians) and they are all attempts at classifying the followers.
Ravi Philemon