I don't take myself as some kind of authority. I just enjoy talking about things that interest me. None of us is an authority on these matters, as far as I can see.

Yes, I do deliver little jabs sometimes...but we all do that, I think. It's human nature to do so when caught up in the heat of a debate.

I find it genuinely intriguing that I might now disagree totally with someone about a matter which I would have agree with them entirely on at another time in my own life (regardless of what age I was at the time). It shows just how capricious and changeable human beings are.

The people that really puzzle me, in fact, are the ones who never change their minds about anything from the time they are children till they time they have one foot in the grave. Is such extraordinary consistency indicative of steadfastness...or just sheer stupidity and lack of imagination? I wonder. ;-)

I think the fact that people change their minds as time goes on is good...it shows they are willing to be flexible and adapt. I've met people who went from being religious to being atheists, and I've met people who did the exact opposite. In either case it could indicate either a step forward into a greater understanding...or a step backward into some kind of disillusionment or an attempt to find security and "cover up" against further hurt. It could be good or it could be bad...and that would depend entirely on the specific personality of the person in question.

In other words: there are both wise and stupid ways of being "religious", and there are both wise and stupid ways of being atheistic.