Actually, Big Bill may have said it best.

It takes me six months to tend to my business and six months to leave other people's alone, It takes me six months to tend to my business and six months to leave other people's alone, Lord, by the time I do that, I declare the whole twelve months is gone.

I'm certainly as highly opinionated as the next person, maybe more so. The thing is, I learned a long time ago that my answers are simply the best ones for me right this minute and may have no special value for anyone else. That's why it's rare for me to contribute to a non-mucic thread here.

A lot of disagreement stems from not carefully thinking through our own ideas before inflicting them on someone else. Perhaps most offensive is the attempt by one person or group to control another in the name of God. Within the limits of practical civil law, any time I am expected to change my beliefs, my behavior, my place of residence or the name of my country because someone else's god said I must, I'm pretty sure we aren't praying to the same god. Especially if my God hasn't mentioned the problem. If my God disapproves of your behavior or beliefs, I don't have to worry. That's a problem God can deal with in his own way. All I have to worry about is my own behavior and spiritual growth.

Good manners and modern civil law aren't handed down from God, they are generally the rules necessary for any orderly society to exist. Within the context of an orderly society, behavior that is also consistent with a particular religious doctrine must be considered optional.

      - Mark