Excellent post, Steph, and I hope LucidTruth responds just as excellently!

One small clarification, though:

Quote Originally Posted by StephL View Post
No - the central message of Christianity is that you have to obey god's rules or face the most horrible punishment for eternity, and that there is a reward for unquestioningly obeying as well. The most precious human delusion - promise of life after death.
Actually, that's more a caricature of Christianity then a central message. Yes, there is a resurging crowd of fundamentalists who believe this (and also that bit about a very good atheist going to hell but a last-minute repentant psychopath being saved), but I don't think that reflects the central message of Christianity.

In fact, I believe that one of the reasons Jesus showed up in the first place was to dispel messages like this, to urge us to be good to everyone, and to tell us that every person has God in him, whether she believes it or not. That so much of Christianity has embraced this odd "believe or be damned" tenet is quite sad, and more than a little disturbing.

I'm not sure this really has much to do with your general arguments, but I figured it was worth mentioning.