Do any other atheists see beauty in the message of Jesus?

of course. Love, respect, humanitarianism, peace, helping each other. They are all great messages. Unfortunately the followers of the christian faith who preach these things, dont follow a single one of them, so they taint the positive messages with the hatred of the organization of the christian faith. Oh, and the bible does a good job of that too. But, some parts are really good ideals, but not just christianity teaches those ideals, lots of religions, and other groups <including non religious ones> teach the same thing, without the biggotry, murder, violence, rape, incest and stuff.

As others have pointed out, there is just as much ugliness in the New testament as there is beauty. All of the positive philosophical points (including the Golden Rule) had been stated by far more erudite minds for over a thousand years before the time of the NT. The negative points are typical of any Iron Age culture (such as Jesus dvising his slavery-boudn followers that they must obey their master as if the master was Jesus Himself). There is no positive aspect of the Bible that cannot be found in simple human reason and compassion. No deities needed.

I do not respect those who refuse to reciprocate and respect me -- that would be most of Bible thumping fundamentalist Christianity.

I do find great value in Christ's message of forgiveness, but only on a voluntary personal level.

For the record, Secular Humanism is a religion Bertrand Russell and others created specifically to appeal to atheists. Very few atheists want anything to do with Humanism because, ultimately, it is just another man-made religion.

Personally, I'm repelled by the very notion that any particular set of arbitrary rules should be considered appropriate for all possible circumstances. The fundamental problem with all religions is that they are inherently inflexible. I also reject all forms of mandatory altruism. The bottom line is I feel no compulsion to systematize "acceptable" human behavior, beyond obeying necessary secular laws.

The first question in response to this question is: Which message? But of course you go on to say "Treat all with respect" (which is hardly Scriptural), "Forgive others their trespasses," "Turn the other cheek," etc.

So my answer is: yes and no. I certainly don't think "Turn the other cheek," for example, is always the best policy; and if Christianity as an institution thought so, it would hardly have made it out the gate.

I'm a "moral relativist." (Pause for horrified shrieking.) I don't believe that there is a single moral code applicable to all people in all circumstances - in fact, this seems to me to be a matter of the most basic common sense. So each injunction of Jesus needs to be evaluated on its merits relative to a given situation. In other words, you can take Jesus' teachings as "tips," but it's no substitute for actually thinking about a situation yourself and making your own judgments. The Bible is not (or shouldn't be) your surrogate brain.

I'm an agnostic and I see the validity of it. In fact, I know a few people who treat him as a spiritual role model and choose not to follow the parts involving judgment, damnation, etc. Even though I think cherry picking is hypocritical and almost religious person does it, they're one of the few people I can stand to discuss religion about in an intelligent manner

However, mostly every other part especially Old Testament I disagree with

Sure, I absolutely see the message as being a great thing to live by. I just don't believe Jesus was the son of a god, that any gods exist, that Jesus had to die to atone for the sins of mankind, etc etc etc. His message is great except for the "the only way to God (and thus escaping eternal torment) is through me" part.

There is no 'fundamental message of Jesus'. In one passage, Jesus is depicting himself as the prince of peace, and in another he is depicted as saying "i come not to bring peace, but a sword'.

The Golden rule is the only useful thing in Christianity, and it isn't even original to Christianity.

Much of it predates christianity. And much of the positive message of the bible predates it,

Heck even the 10 commandments were taken from the Egyptian book of the dead.

I do. I wish more Christians would listen to what Jesus actually said and the values he taught.

Treat all with respect unless they are Canaanite women, and in that case make them admit they are dogs before helping them.