I have been a Christian all my life and come from a family of active Christians back at least 8 generations, which as far as I've gone in my family tree.
  I have been active in my local church for 20+ years.

  I'm an Abraham Lincoln, Theodore Roosevelt, Dwight Eisenhower Republican, but vote as an independent and have promised my Democratic friends to leave the GOP if the tea party people take over.
People like me are called RINOs (Republicans in name only).

  I don't agree with the new agers or the tea party people. However, the new agers seem to be espousing a personal spiritual belief as opposed to the tea partiers who are promoting a world view that they want to impose on others and are using religion to justify it. Most people would agree that a benevolent dictator is more efficient that a bureaucratic democracy, but I for one could not pick any of my tea party friends as dictator who I would trust.
  Use of the Bible to justify right-wing positions is not new, the KKK did it 100 years ago and the white supremacists/skinheads do it today.

  In Rob Bell's 2011 book Love Wins¹ he says,
 

"A staggering number of people have been taught that a select few Christians will spend forever in a peaceful, joyous place called heaven, while the rest of humanity spends forever in torment and punishment in hell with no chance for anything better. It’s been clearly communicated to many that this belief is a central truth of the Christian faith and to reject it is, in essence, to reject Jesus. This is misguided and toxic and ultimately subverts the contagious spread of Jesus’s message of love, peace, forgiveness, and joy that our world desperately needs to hear."

  Timothy Keller in his 2008 book "The Prodigal God" ² uses Jesus "Prodigal Son" parable [Luke 15:11-32 ] which was aimed at the Pharisees and teachers of the law to show that the hard working elder brother was just as lost as his brother who squandered his inheritance.
  Keller says, "Our big cities [Keller's Redeemer Church is in New York City] are filled with younger brothers who fled from churches in the heartland that were dominated by elder brothers."
  "There are many people today who have abandoned any kind of religious faith because they see clearly that the major religions are simply full of elder brothers. They have come to the conclusion that religion is one of the greatest sources of misery and strife in the world. And guess what? Jesus says through this parable -- they are right.
  The anger and superiority of elder brothers, all growing out of insecurity, fear, and inner emptiness, can create a huge body of guilt-ridden, fear-ridden, spiritually blind people, which is one of the greatest sources of social injustice, war and violence."
  Keller says that what Jesus is saying is, "Would you please be open to the possibility that the gospel, real Christianity, is something very different from religion?" That gives many people hope that there is a way to know God that doesn't lead to the pathologies of moralism and religiosity.

  Keller says, "If you have not grasped the gospel fully and deeply, you will return to being condescending, condemning, anxious, insecure, jouless and angry all the time."

  My current personal thinking is peoples inborn desire for significance leads to their ideological belief systems.
    If I learn to understand what drives people I will have more respect for their actions and beliefs. People have many different personality types and stages of moral development. These come from nature (genes) and nurture (upbringing) and have a strong influence on their understanding of the Bible. See some personality links at my society page
  Jesus understood this and different messages in the Bible are directed to people with different personality types. It isn't lack of faith that makes it hard for us to understand some of the messages in the Bible, it is they that were meant for people with different personality types.

  It's human nature to think that our personality type is best, but society may function better with this variety and we need to understand this.

  My personal statement of faith:
  God loves you regardless of how you screw up.
  He wants you to love him for his tolerance and grace and demonstrate that love by passing it on to the people around you who he also loves, no matter their deficiencies (greed, selfishness, self-righteousness, spreading hate and innuendo, bigotry, ..., not to mention any of the other ten commandment violations)

  "Shit happens", don't blame God for that (There are Books, Treatise, and countless sermons on why a loving God can allow suffering. None of them will help someone who has just lost their home or family members to a natural disaster, or people who are living with a loved one going thru a debilitating disease.)
  Years later we can look back at how he helped or is helping us recover and thank him for making us stronger, more patient, and providing hope, but none of the explanations on why it happened ever resonated with me.
 

  Some of my favorite Biblical passages:

• Greatest commandment - Love your God and your neighbor, Matthew 22:35-39
• Love one another as I have loved you, John 13:34
• Keep a tight reign on your tongues, James 1:19-26
• Ask for wisdom, James 1:5
• I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief. Mark 9:24
  See doubt in Faith and Reason and "Why Christianity"
• Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Philippians 4:6-7
• Suffering leads to perseverance which leads to character which leads to hope, Romans 5:1-5
• But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Galatians 5:19-24

  Books:

  1. Bell, Rob (2011). Love Wins: A Book About Heaven, Hell, and the Fate of Every Person Who Ever Lived. 2011, Harper Collins, Inc.. Kindle Edition.

  2. "The Prodigal God: Recovering the Heart of the Christian Faith", 2008, by Timothy Keller

  Links:

Why Christianity
Cousins who were religious leaders
Paying The Price For Religious Freedom
Roseville Presbyterian Church