Yes, Nick. Every male being is a son of Life itself...therefore a son of God. Every female being is a daughter of Life itself...therefore a daughter of God. That's my take on it.

I don't think Jesus ever intended to be set apart from everyone else as the ONE and ONLY Son of God. I think that was an idea spread later by some of his followers, and by the churches they founded in his name. He wasn't there (in the physical) at that point to set people right about it, so they went ahead and arranged it the way they wanted it, for various reasons.

Just my opinion, okay? It's what seems most likely to me.

Amos, no, I haven't gotten around to reading Mr Dawkins yet. Why? His general premise (going by what I hear about him) just doesn't interest me enough to bother looking into it. There are a lot of other things I'm more likely to read before I get around to reading him. I mean, hell, I went through the "religion is all a bunch of crap" mindset when I was a teenager...and that was a long time ago. I think I've outgrown such crass and prejudicial attitudes, hopefully.

To quote what Janie quoted, "atheist thought split into two traditions: one primarily concerned with the dispassionate pursuit of truth, the other driven by a visceral contempt for the personal faith of others".

I have no objection to the former attitude. Bill D exemplifies the former. I am very annoyed by the latter attitude...and it is what I refer to as aggressive fundamentalist atheism...as it is based not so much on a desire for truth as a desire to attack other people, discredit them, tear down their beliefs, and dominate them.

It is that same attack and dominate impulse that often poisons discussions on this forum...and it's a function of the warring ego, not of the dispassionate search for truth.

It's the desire to promote one's own identity at the expense of someone else's, for nothing other than gratification of one's urge to "win", to crush, to conquer, and be SEEN by everyone as having won...to symbolically destroy another person. It's warfare, and warfare has two objectives: murder and victory. (in this case, the "murder" being a psychological murder, not a physical murder)