- OT, religion and beliefs

[Guest guest]

> OHHH!! Guys, I'm sure that you all accept me for who I am, and I';m

> pretty sure that if my religious choices were a problem, I'd have

> been removed by now!!! Please don't think that I will take offense at

> anything!!!! I was raised christian (souther baptist to ba exact) and

> I'm pretty sure I won't mind. Thank you all for accepting me, and

> being so welcoming!!!!

>

Hey, !

If a list which includes many many Christians can be totally accepting of a

forthright, unashamedly and outspoken atheist list moderator, it is certainly

NOT going to be unaccepting of someone who HAS a faith, whatever it may be!

My rule of thumb is: as long as noone takes offense, and as long as noone

debates the validity of another's view, then all views of faith are perfectly

acceptable to talk about in the context of one's own experience!! After all,

faith plays a BIG role in the lives of those who believe, and to disallow anyone

the right to talk about it is not acceptable. And sometimes, living life with

an autistic child, faith is the only thing that holds it together!

A note about me and my lack of faith: Christian was never an option. I was

raised by an atheist father and a protestant mother who lamented that because I

was not bapized I would be going to hell... I explored Bah'ai breifly, because

I liked their view that all prophets of all religions were sent by god at times

when the people of the earth needed the message they had to give -- but it still

required a belief in god I found I just didn't have. So then I realized I have

a very nature-centric belief system, and explored druidry and wicca -- but found

that I could have a belief in the Lady no more than I could in god... Then I

discovered Humanism, which is a belief system based on science and the belief

that as part of the ecosystem people have an ethical obligation to others and to

the earth they inhabit. This is what I believe, but unfortunately as a group

Humanists do not seem to practise what they preach; they are a devisive,

arguementative group of people. So I am a solo Humanist!

(note: I do believe that all the prophets of all the religions DID exist, and

that they were very smart people who had something very valuable to say to

humanity - whether or not they WERE sent by god. Just because I don't believe

in god doesn't mean that I don't take wisdom and strength from the words of

those wise people - Abraham, Jesus, Mohammed, Buddha, Zoroaster...)

Jacquie