Taking it on faith.

In a bit of thinking mood this morning (it's grotty out and likely to stay grotty, so the forecast's fairly easy) and while trawling the net I began thinking about faith. Mainly because of the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster and the whole intelligent design debacle out in the US.
Now, I have faith.
I have faith in a number of things. My Gore-Tex jacket, my Pukka (the link is to one like mine, but with a smaller blade), physics and other such things, but I mean in something less physical.
I am a Christian, which surprised a number of my friends, I guess because I don't appear to live like a Christian (not sure what they expect...) but I do try to.
Thing is, I'm more of a Taoist Neo-Pagan than a Christian in many ways. Which I see as no problem. It's like I said to a friend that classed himself as atheist (actually he's agnostic), I believe in, as was said in a film, "a unifying spirit that animates and binds all living things."
Whether you call that spirit God, gods, Gaia, the Force, whatever, to me it's the Divine and there's a part of it in all of us, indeed, in all things. We should respect each other because there's a part of ourselves in them, and anything that damages a part of the Divine damages the whole.
All major religions have this at their core, as Bill and Ted put it, "Be Excellent To Each Other!"
You might think that this is an odd philosophy for someone in the MoD but in this case it's the greater good.
I believe that this Prime Mover was at the core of the creation and may be guiding us, but if so, it's subtle. And here's where intelligent design and myself differ. I can't understand how they can look at evolution and not think it a miracle. How they can look at the wonder of creation and not think, "this is Divine, this shows us the movements of God." No, they look at it and say, "All was created by the Designer directly and evolution is false." Seems inelegant to me. I'd rather think of a Prime Mover that created a system for life to find a way to overcome it's own problems.
I'm not trying to say that my version of faith is better than anyone elses and I can see the reasoning behind those who say that no religion would be better, in that if we had to justify our actions here and now rather than having something else excuse them then maybe things would be better, but not always.
Sometimes though I do find that people don't so much have a religion as a routine. I'm fortunate that I know alot of people for whom their faith is a living part of them, and it matters to them, but I've met quite a few that it's just a reassurance that there is something bigger than they are. And to be quite honest, mostly that's not a bad thing. When people start to twist the message of love into one of faith, then I have a problem. When people look to religion to excuse their actions, or to provide a solution that is within their own power, then I have a problem.
There were some wrist bands around with WWJD on (you know, I used to think they meant Whisky, Water and Jack Daniels rather than What Would Jesus Do) and those I liked, make the person think about what someone they hold in the highest regard would do in that situation. One I wasn't so keen on was PUSH - Pray Until Something Happens. I didn't like it so much because like the man drowning, you have to do what's in your power.
Only one I would have thought of wearing was GATMNFM. God Act Though Me, Not For Me.
The prayer I say more than any other (excepting the Lord's Prayer - yes I still say it every night) is one I found when I was chaplain for a day on a Boys' Brigade camp.
"Lord, I pray not to ask that the path ahead be made easy, but that you will help me to find the strength to walk it."
I don't think we should seek someone else to find a solution for most things, although there is a limit. Course, I have trouble living these ideals, but I'm getting better, I hope.
So, given the fairly wide definition of faith stated above, why do I consider myself a Christian? Because I believe that two thousand years ago a man was born with more of the Divine in him than any other, that he showed us a different path and that the core of those teachings is still valid. And I've had some personal experiences that put me firmly into the Christian camp. Just on the edges, hanging out in the tent with the interesting smells, laughter and funky music, rather than in the middle, in the big tent with the chanting.