"Do we gotta do it in Heaven though? :~)"

well, ummm.. I'll go along with whatever you can arrange. Sagan and Kaufmann...and I.. will likely be surprised. ;>))

-----------------------------------------------------------------
Little Hawk: "One of the main tenets of any relatively mature spiritual faith is the essential unity and harmony of science and religion."

*sigh*..yeah, sure..**tenets**... THEY say they are in harmony. Scholars differ.

------------------------------------------------------------------

Amos: re: "...a narrow definition of religion ..."

... I am mostly dealing with a practical definition/view. I am sure it is possible to have a religious doctrine as you describe, and some standard doctrines are quite non-confrontational and self-referential in their beliefs. Many religious individuals also are content to 'believe' without attempting to convert & proselytize, but like Catholics who practice birth control, they are usually just ignoring or 'gently interpreting' certain awkward 'tenets' of their faith. (" And he saith unto them, Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men." Matthew 4:19)


-------------------------------------------------------

So, Susan: re: "Please add your #3 answer.)

Remember...I started as a Methodist, then became a Unitarian...then a card-carrying philosopher. When I reflect, as I often do, of my path to 'reasonably congenial skeptic', I remember each step as "reason driven", usually as a reaction to some generalized claim that I couldn't reconcile with fact OR curiousity. I tried, at every point, to base my decisions on where some combination of logic, common sense and attempting to avoid linguistic equivocation led me. Even my partailly done Master's thesis was along this lines of "This paradox may not BE resolvable, but if it is, it must be along lines X, Y or Z."

What this led me to was no deep expertise in ANY disipline...not Metaphysics or Phenomenology or Logic or Religion. I can't argue arcane points in any of those...certainly not after all these years.

I remain a Generalist, who resorts, when I must, to Pragmatism or Utilitarianism for basic guidelines.

A Congenial Skeptic...(wonder if I can found a cult based on that?)... needs only to be able to say..."Hmmm.. that seems pretty hard to swallow. I think I'll wait....and think."