That’s your idea of Christianity, but people have fought long, bloody battles over whether this is true or not. I will say, though, that there is obviously a difference between Christianity and some other religions in this respect - I think that most contemporary Christians would agree with you, whereas there are religions that you actually have to pass trials to enter or that you have to be born into. But, to use the extreme example I keep bringing up, if someone thinks Jesus was actually an alien and that he’s returning in his mothership soon, are they really a Christian? I mean, they accept Jesus Christ as their personal saviour, but you don’t even agree with them about who or what Jesus Christ is. If I said, “I accept Jesus Christ as my personal saviour” but I by “Jesus Christ” I meant my cat*, I think a lot of Christians would question the validity of my Christianity. And in subtler version of that space there is a lot of room for people to quibble (or kill one another).
The conclusion I arrived at after thinking about what @albill said was that essentially it is a term that seems to be reserved for religions we feel uncomfortable with. I agree that sometimes it is worthwhile to indicate that you are letting someone else speak for themselves rather than putting words in their mouths, but I’m not going to do so with that particular descriptor anymore, because I think it imports a meaning that I hopefully don’t mean.
It’s funny how these things work. Whenever you are in a conversation I try not to say too much because you actually seem to know what you are talking about and so I’m afraid of being exposed as a fool who just knows how to talk a big game. Not fishing for complements, I would destroy myself in an argument, and it’s like I’m always nervous that someone else will notice all the problems with what I am saying.
* There is no goddamned way I’d ever own a cat
