well, I suppose I should have read in this thread before I posted in another one, but I had been avoiding this one, trying to stay OUT of serious controversy...but...

...."Would you like it if I came in and posted stuff mocking your faiths or belief systems? ".....

happens to me all the time. Or rather, they mock my lack of a rigid belief system..(in several areas..not just religion). I get caught in situations where I want to avoid mentioning that I do not attend a regular church, but I get asked directly... (Can you imagine what it is like to run for public office and have to FIND a church to have any hope of being elected?) I get two different denominational groups knocking at my DOOR and telling me that I am going to hell, and that I M*U*S*T adopt creed 'X' if I want to have a happy afterlife. (and by the way, they are OFFENDED if you mistake them for each other!...as I found out the hard way)...

if I was at a party, or festival, and some conversation came round to these subjects, it would be MUCH easier to analyze the situation and decide to wait to make a joke or remark until I knew there was no one to take it badly. In here, it is different...it is much like being a writer, or journalist...your words are out there, and you can't easily explain the 'tone' of your remarks. And, in 'real life', you do not expect to be 'friends' with everyone you meet...some you just try to be polite to and avoid certain subjects.

One of MY pet peeves is shallow and gratuitous use of 'explicit' language in jokes, remarks, etc...(I ain't no prude..just a gourmet)...but what good would it do to say so? I simply shrug when MY sense of humor is offended by lousy, crude jokes..(and no doubt there are those who think MINE are out of bounds)

One of my favorite forms of reading is the Murphy's Law type of book...and one of my VERY favorite laws is this:

"You Have Taken Yourself Too Seriously
"