you know..I was just thinking how very bloody hard it is to straddle the fence and try to see all sides of an issue! I KNOW Jerry, and I KNOW he is not pressuring me to "get right with the Lord"....but so many other have, and certain phrases set off 'tilt' lights in my head, like when you hit a pinball machine just a bit too hard.

There are infinite gradations of proselytizing...both pro and anti Christian, and everyone has their personal threshold of 'irritation'. There are people I have known for years without having any idea what their metaphysical beliefs are, though we can argue endlessly over other stuff....and in a lot of ways, that's kinda neat. Others, I know basically what church they go to, but the subject never arises except as an aside when some event causes a schedule conflict...etc. And then there are a few (not many these days)where the religious pros and cons color every aspect of our relationship, because they can't speak two sentences without some reference to 'blessings' or 'the Lord's will'...and yeah, I have known atheists who were just as bad--acting as though they had a divine mission ...ummmm...'personal goal' to DISprove every religious comment they hear.

Me...I just like clear, reasonable thinking...and in spite of what I often write in here, I have known some very religious people whose explanation of, and way of living their faith were no problem for me at all! The one thing I cannot argue with is when a person says "well, I just can't imagine a universe without a first cause, and it comforts me to put a loving intelligence behind the idea."

I can explain that I don't need to imagine a 'cause', and that I get my comfort other ways...but I can't dispute the urge to resolve the wonder with a decision.

I can poke at Little Hawk and his rhetorical flights of metaphysical fancy about "universal spirit" and such with my own references to "Occam's Razor" and "The Law of Parsimony"...but I'm not gonna sway him, I'd guess... I suppose I just like to see both sides of the argument presented in case any 'fence sitters' are reading...*grin*