The New Age is pretty flakey, but meditating on crystals and doing yoga is a lot less destructive than the Judeao-Christian-Islamic tradition. (Of course, there are Good Things in the Bible, amid much bad.)
That's true. The split between the Northern and Southern Kingdoms of Israel was brought about in no small part by "elements of exclusivity and intolerance". They just plain didn't like each other.
Those same people today are mostly Celts/Europeans/Americans/Christians (Northern Kingdom) and Jews (Southern Kingdom).
WRONG! This was NOT a "Christian concept" but the work of the Roman Catholic Church.
Do not confuse the two.
Evangelical Christians like Jerry Fallwell and Pat Robertson would have been burned at the stake right alongside the Jews and other "heretics". That was the fuel that ignighted "Protestantism".
Pray tell, what did Jesus say that is intolerant of others? He taught not to judge others, and he reached out to all (including sinners) around him. He was tolerant of people (though not of sin), and was hardly exclusive! You seem confused between what Jesus taught, and what some did in his name.
The idea of burning heretics is not a Christian principle. I get so tired of hearing this idea repeated over and over. First off it happened a few hundred years ago and I think we can safely say that Chrisitan ideals have evolved somewhat since that time. If the burning of heretics is currently a big issue why I have not seen anyone burnt at the stake during my life time. God, knows there are enough heretics to justify a prye on every street corner. It is a sad chapter from Chrisitian history that really should be given a rest.
If killing people for not accepting your religious belief is an exuclusively Christian idea please explain to me why Druids bar-be-qued their heretics,or the Aztecs, the Romans for that matter. In fact one would be hard pressed to find a major world religion which has not done it at some point They were doing this well before Christianity came into being. I get sick to tearings listening to the new age people drivel on about the brutality of Chrisitanity when the Druids who they hold in high esteam did the same things. For some reason the blood on their hands dosen't count. I guess it's because they were kind to trees to they can pass the politically correct smell test.
Killing people who disagree with your religion has to do with crappy human behavior and nothing to do with Chrisitanity. The modern western world no longer tolerates this atrocious crime. The Muslim world does. We are living in the current world not the past. To argue that "well Christians did it hundreds of years ago so who are we to point fingers" is an attemmpt to inpart some sort of phoney guilt within Christians for believing in their faith. I for one have never owned a slave, killed an Indian, or burnt a heretic. I hazard to guess if you will not find many ,if any, American Christians who have.
Yeah, those Christians are still burning heretics < /sarcasm>