The thinking of some people is that He is a God who demands perfection. If we hope to gain entry into heaven, we had better tow the line, otherwise we could expect utter abandonment and damnation. This God of religion is not a God who gives people permission to embrace life in all of its ambiguity and complexity, let alone to embrace our humanity in all of its ambiguity and complexity. This, in fact, is a God who refuses to recognize ambiguity altogether, who forces people to see the world in dualistic categories...good and bad, black and white, right and wrong...with no allowance whatsoever for anything in between. This God, like the fundamentalists who invented him, views the Believers life as a steady ascent toward holiness. Once a person is born again, once the “sinners prayer” is prayed, you could expect to move onward and upward in your faith, and if didn’t maintain that course, if you falter along the way, well, you were made to feel guilt and shame and subject to the discipl...