Following Christ does not mean following His followers, many who come across as judgmental, quarrelsome, disingenuous, hostile, and moralistic superiors who seem to think they are the only ones going to heaven and also seem to relish the fact that everyone else is going to hell. Some folks don't wanna belong to 'that' group. And although they remain committed to Christ, and their faith in Christ remains central to their lives, and they continue to believe in a loving God who created the universe... they choose to step away from the words 'Christian' and 'Christianity'. With good reason. Christ is infinitely more important than either of those two words.
Here is the problem with what you are saying. Christ died for and loves the very people you want to "step away" from. If you are going to follow Christ you have to put up with and bear with people, particularly HIS people, because he does. It always helps to take the plank our of your own eye before you take gnat out of someone else's eye.
He also died for unbelievers, yet Christians are told to "come out from among unbelievers, and separate yourselves from them"...Christ died for and loves the very unbelievers that scripture tells Christians to 'step away' from. For you to insist that being a disciple of Christ means that you must follow the group of what has become a lot of 'Christians' and 'Christianity' nowadays likely speaks to why people have left 'the church' in droves, and it illustrates clearly what Steelhead meant when he said "it's not being passionate about being an atheist, it's being tired of being told who/what/when/where by Christians". Putting up with, and bearing with, the type of Christians and Christianity that I described in my post above...and more importantly, being a disciple of Jesus...does NOT mean agreeing with their position or being a part of their clique. Thank God.
