Most main line denominations are losing membership, and there are a lot of

[Stopbiblebullies]

7. Christians are losing out because they are not Christ-like

Growing up in a fundamentalist Baptist family in the deep South, I learned early on that there was an ugly side to the religion. It happened one day when, at the age of 7, I stopped into my usual ice-cream store and, with childhood innocence, asked the young girl scooping the ice-cream why she was always so sad. She replied, "Because my dad's a Catholic and he's going to hell."

In the 2012 election, I saw such hatred and ignorance spewing from the mouths of talking head fundamentalists that I wrote Bible Bullies: How Fundamentalists Got The Good Book So Wrong to expose the hate-filled tactics of people who use the Bible as a weapon for the groups that they want to attack.

Whether it be women's issues, social service programs, sexual diversity, separation of church and state, or a number of other issues that I visited, there is always a hate-filled fundamentalist willing to quote Bible verses to damn his or her enemies.

Christians have to distance themselves from this sort of very un-Christlike behavior and return to following the message of peace and love that Jesus taught. They also have to stop condemning others, which is what Jesus taught.

Until Christians can stop bullying others, they will continue to lose their following.