By far one of the greatest aspects of Christianity is Christian liberty. Christian liberty is a fairly simple concept. Whereas most religions, including Judaism, have several restrictions limiting every day life, Christianity is permissive, almost to the extreme.
I say to the extreme because, with such liberties, it is unfortunately very possible to cause offence, and this may well be a stumbling block to faith. As such, with every freedom Christians have, we also have responsibilities not to use them recklessly. We are free, for example, to eat various foods, but if that offends you, we ought not. Paul goes as far as to say that he would never eat meat again if it makes his brother stumble (1 Corinthians 8:13). In step with this, I remember hearing of a Christian who became teetotal because his friend said "Well if preacher boy here can have a beer then it must be fine for me to have 6." The Christian poured it out right there and said "You'll never see me touch another."
This makes Christianity very different from many other religions. Take, for example, Mormonism (which inspired this article), which forbids coffee (D&C 89:9), among other things. Or Catholicism, which has its "holy days of obligation". Compare these with Romans 14, or Colossians 2:16-19, or 1 Timothy 4:1-4. These passages are rather explicit: no one has the right to compel your participation in, or abstinence from, any food, drink, or festival. You can set your own dietary restrictions, and you can esteem all days alike, or you can set special days apart. Even a Sunday.
Now, it would be tempting to suggest that, as Christians are so free, the appeal of our religion is similar to the appeal of atheism. We have the libertarian benefits of atheism without the intellectual deficiency*, or Nihilistic/Anarchistic implications. But that would be as weak as when atheists themselves use that argument. Just because a religion is libertarian doesn't mean it's true, it just gives it a stronger emotional appeal. But I will make two points.
The first, when it comes to pseudo-Christian religions (as well as religions built off of Christianity, like Islam), is that God is not capricious. He isn't going to give temporary restrictions, lift them when they've served their purpose, then put them right back on our shoulders for no reason what so ever. The law was our guardian until Christ came, and now He has come, we are no longer under our guardian (see Galatians 3:24-25). Put simply, returning to a ridiculously restrictive lifestyle is the spiritual equivalent of needing a babysitter when you're 48!
My second point builds off of this, because just as the law was our tutor, I contend that so also are the cold religions we surround ourselves with. The law ultimately teaches us one thing: We're sinners. If a man could perfectly keep God's law, that would save him in and of itself, but the point of it is, no one can. When we read the law, we are convicted of breaking it. Go through the 10 commandments. Have you broken any of those? Of course you have! So have I. So, none of us are righteous by our own steam, but these false religions give us the delusion that we are. "I'm a good person because I don't drink wine, haven't ever seen Harry Potter, don't celebrate Easter, don't have tattoos, I go to church on this day and that day, I've gone through this specific ritual, and...". But let's be honest here: None of us can even uphold our own standards. You think you're a good person? No you don't. Who are you kidding? It takes extreme levels of self deception to contend that you are. Not that the human race is incapable of such self-deception, of course. But deep down, and closer to the surface if we're honest about it, we all know that we're not perfect. So how can we expect to relate to a God who is?
Because He is. His perfection includes justice, but more importantly to us, it includes grace. Though God knows our imperfections, He wants to treat us as if we were perfect. Though we deserve death, He wants to give us life. Though we are wretched, He wants to make us clean. So what did He do? He joined our ranks! He sent Jesus, His Son, to be born of a virgin, live a perfect life, and die on a cross, bearing the sins of the world. After that, He was laid in a tomb, but on the third day, He got up and walked. God raised Him from the dead!
And that's how we receive eternal life. Because God punished Jesus, He doesn't have to punish us. If we confess Jesus as Lord, and believe God raised Him from the dead, we will be saved. And this is the only method that makes sense. We can't be saved by our own steam. No amount of abstaining from things, or partaking in rituals, will save us. As with all grace, the burden is upon the one offering it. God chose to be gracious to us. Therefore, the only way to be saved is to accept that grace through faith. Anything else is sheer arrogance.
*By intellectual deficiency, I am not saying atheists are intellectually deficient, but that atheism itself is intellectually deficient.