Heretics

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>	I would like to think that the trinitarians are full of the Love 
>of Christ, but history has shown that they are more then willing to 
>kill, burn and destroy all who disagree with them. The only reason they 
>are placient today, in this country, is because such activity is against 
>the law.

Ouch.

I'm very sorry you feel this way.  I'm sure you are not paranoid or 
irrational and that you would not have reached these conclusions
without having experienced such things.  I can only tell you that
not all are like that.  In America, christianity is considered "normal"
to some degree.  By this, I mean that if someone went to church
when they were a child, they probably consider their religion to
be whatever denomination they attended, regardless of whether
they ever knew Christ, or whether they still go to church.  There
are many people who never go to church and who don't have the
slightest clue who Christ is, yet if you asked what religion they
are, they would reply with some christian (and probably trinitarian)
denomination.  Thus Christianity receives a bad name because
people see those who are considered Christians sinning regularly
and going against all that is Christian.  There are even those
who go to church quite regularly and still haven't the slightest
clue who Christ is.  It is really sad how many people are dead
in churches across the country.  I think this leads to many 
distorted views of Christianity.  I don't mean to say these are
the people you ran across, but it is something to keep in mind
when talking about "Christians" or "trinitarians".

When I joined this list I knew nothing of UPC or Oneness, and
I asked several of my friends what these things were.  I received
many different responses, some of which told me that Oneness
is the belief that Christians, Hindus, Buddhists, etc. are all 
praying to the same god, and thus are all saved.  I have learned
from being on this list, that it is not the Oneness belief that *all*
are saved regardless of their religion.  It is possible the people
you ran into hold this misinformation.  It is sad that they would
not take the time to verify this, then they would see their error.

Anyhow, I think each group has great misconceptions of the
other and unfortunately, few take the time to really learn the
other's point of view to give it due consideration, (please do 
not interpret this as being directed at anyone here, it is not).
I am very sorry that you ran across this sort of treatment. I
think most people have run across this from some one at
some time.  Although, it seems to me that pointing fingers 
and teaching newcomers to expect the worst from others is
only going to increase the lack of understanding and Christ-
like behavior.  I do understand that it is painful to receive
shunning and such where it is not expected and that it is
easy to look back and think "why didn't anyone tell me it
would be that way or prepare me for this", but what you 
experienced is not the norm and I fear that teaching
people to expect it from certain groups only perpetuates 
intolerance.

-Dee
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