What a load of rubbish, Joe. Just focus and cut the straw man stuff. I get accused of repeating myself but I'll take a risk and try again. I don't care what you believe. What goes on inside your head is your business alone. Now try rereading your long post bearing that in mind, and it's hardly as if I've never said it before, is it now!   But I do care what people of faith DO with their beliefs. I especially care what you do with those beliefs apropos of CHILDREN. Are you getting this yet, Joe? Joe Offer is a rare breed, a Catholic who spent eight years getting a theology degree. I don't know whether he's one in a million Catholics, one in a thousand or even one in eight or one in twenty. But one thing's for sure. His educated, measured take on what he told his kids is NOT representative of what goes on in Catholicism. He absolutely NEVER addresses this. He seems perfectly happy knowing that nearly all Catholics around the world go around with the beardie-in-the-sky image of God, and, by the way, everyone forgot to remind them that you're allowed a dose of Joe Offer free thinking in order to ditch it all if you wanted to.

And just get this:

"It's the principle that underlies all bigotry: find the wost individuals in a group, and then attack the entire group on the basis of the conduct of that minority.

And then there are all the condemnations based on the born-ageain atheists' concept of what they think people believe. Steve Shaw provides a wealth of examples..."

Wow, I didn't even have to snip. The irony of that is completely lost on you, eh, Joe?

You talk about non-negotiable beliefs. You spent eight years studying theology and you talk about "non-negotiable beliefs!" Well, non-negotiable means that you are not permitted to ditch them. You are not allowed to think for yourself. Eight years doing theology and you can't think for yourself. Well I pity the hundreds of millions of other poor buggers who didn't have your opportunities, that's all I can say to that. Get off yer knees, Joe!