When is a church not a church?

"A religion is any systematic approach to living that involves beliefs about one's origins, one's place in the world, or a responsibility to live and act in the world in particular ways."

A friend of mine posted a Tweet the other day quoting from a blog of the Avangelism Project [a group that thoughtfully feels the need to debunk organized religion, faith and belief in God]:

• "Unlike Santa, parents won't admit Jesus is imaginary when the gig is up and friends don't encourage you to outgrow it."

Then it struck me: They too are a religion and therefore their website is in reality a church, albeit online. Quite the oxymoron.

After sifting through some of the articles on Avangelism's site it becomes readily apparent their staff writers, though intelligent and well spoken, are not knowledgeable or learned about faiths, religion or middle eastern history. Most of their articles target and attempt to debunk the Christian faith as well as the "myth" of God or any deity. Like most arguments against God, faith, Jesus or Christianity, they use no relevant facts or truth to dignify their viewpoint.

Conversely, they do a great job of taking quotes out of context, making assumptions, embellishing the truth and telling outright lies. Though, to be fair, these same characteristics can be used to describe many Christians and church leaders, too. The difference lies in the admission of sin, plea for redemption and gift of grace by God.