First of all know the history behind the 'Other' category. Some time ago I asked Knight to expand the list of 'religious affiliations' to include some more 'options',...I believe I asked to include at least "Unitarian-Universalist' among the list, because I at that time could 'identify' within that 'umbrella'. Instead, Knight decided to make the 'Other' category, a sort of generic 'all-inclusive' slot for those who didn't want to identify with the extant options available. This was a compromise of sorts, but still shorted us in having other options like 'Unitarian-Universalist'.
Choosing 'Other' does not mean that the person is a member of any 'cult' necessarily (but to be fair, you have chosen or been conditioned to believe in your own
religious cult, so using the 'cult' word as a 'polemic' doesn't hold water, you're in the same boat so to speak, just sporting a different 'brand'). It would be cool if Knight put up a 'Theosophist' category too (I'd nab it at this juncture in my journey),...but only few people might choose it,....
my gesture was to be more 'all-inclusive' offering more options for people.
Your thread-title in itself is a bit
presumptuous,
since its just a 'label', just like the one you choose to associate with or identify as. Its just a thought, a concept. It would be narrow-minded to assume that an 'Other' is not your brother, or a child of 'God', since
we are all children of God, whether your 'pet-theology' assumes otherwise.
We are what we are. "I am that am", and am not ashamed of that truth of
being.
I think you're making this more than it is. A tree is know by its fruit, you can enjoy a cornicopia of goods, just recognize its all from one universal source. For instance, any are free to look up my bio, thread-history, blog-archive, post-archive, the extent of my commentaries, websites, articles to see what kind of 'religionist' I am, and of course the more you dialogue with a person, the more you see where they are coming from (their past religious history, studies, dispositions, philosophical outlook, etc.) - apart from the essence of who you ARE,...this is all just 'cosmetics'.
I suppose the
advantage belongs to those who identify as "Other" as a kind of positive rebellion against the 'status quo', cookie-cutter molds, or limited religious affiliation options which make up the list at present. While I'm not thrilled over the category-term (vague as it is), its kind of a sweet 'smack' back at the so called 'orthodox', - I could just as sure choose 'Pagan', and I did for a short season, - see
here.
I've given my reason for not using 'Christian' elsewhere (if it concerned anyone), since I did originally identify as a 'Christian(Other)', but now no longer choose that '
label', because of its definitions and misconceptions about the 'term' by some who affiliate as such here, having 'sullied' it IMO. I don't choose to associate with that 'brand' of 'Christainity' at any rate. The label 'Christian' can be just as arbitrary as 'biblical',...as debates can flair over who and what is a 'christian', or what qualifies as 'biblical' (cherry-pick as you please).
Now if you want to still assume that I'm not your 'brother', because of my current 'affiliation' (just a 'label' remember), there are problems with that, but you're welcome to your misconception.