I am a Christian. In some respects, I'd even say a devout Christian. In other words, I've thought about it a lot, gone through various "phases" of belief/disbelief/agnostic belief, and I've come to my conclusions by contemplation and consideration. I believe.
But it's the Glen Beck types that make it difficult for me to attend church on a regular basis. I should ignore them, but it's hard.
The average congregation is full of some of the most wonderful, giving, and genuinely good people you'll ever meet. There's certainly an aura to these folks that I do believe God has a hand in.
However, the church is also a magnet for extremely addictive personalities, as well as the bipolar crowd. For many, they simply trade their addiction for alcohol, drugs, gambling, or porn for another more "accepted" addiction, which is the church. And instead of letting it be a spiritual rudder for their daily lives, it becomes all-Christian-all-the-time. It becomes an incessant need to pick every facet of everything to pieces, railing against anything with even a hint of anti-Christian meaning.
And what does that do? It runs people off that are looking at their faith and wanting to find a spiritual meaning to their life through Christ. Then, the soulless media feeds that perception, constantly, by letting these types represent Christianity altogether. In fact, Christian churches do more good and provide more charity than any organization in the world.....by a mile.
When you meet a truly grounded devout Christian, they have a positive effect on you. They don't preach to you, they don't even bring it up unless you ask. They carry themselves and live their lives in a way that draws you to them and makes you want to emulate them in ways that may or may not have anything to do with their faith. Then, when you learn how important their faith is to them, you naturally want to learn more about it.
Glen Beck is the other type. He's a recovering alcholic and drug addict with a massive propensity for the dramatic. He gets a wild stare in his eye, which is a product of his emotional instability. Now, a lot of what he says is true, but he just can't settle for the truth, he has to take it to absurd levels too often. That's what people like him do.
He's not a bad person. He's just too much to take in large doses.