It's good discussing this stuff on a reasonable basis, Steve. ;-) Thanks for the courtesy of your replies.

You ask, "But who's asking these "great questions in life"?" Well, all the great philosophers have. All the great mystics and prophets have (and many of their followers...or just interested parties who were intrigued by their work). Most serious artists, poets, writers, and songwriters have. I think that uncountable millions of ordinary people ask these great questions from time to time, when they're not distracted by the more basic problems of survival, earning a living, etc.

Regarding the Shroud of Turin: I went through a period when I was quite interested in that...about 20 years ago...and I read a bunch of stuff about it then, but I haven't though about it much lately. I'd have to go back and re-investigate. It's just a matter of available time and how much I want to devote to it at the moment, that's all.

I found it all quite interesting 20 years ago, but I never came to any really strong opinion about it one way or the other.

"All such roads lead to God-squaddery."

I'm not sure what that means. "God" is just a word that people use, a word they got from their culture, and they use it to mean a great many different things. Some people react badly just to hearing the word "God", but that has mostly to do with what they think it means. It might mean something quite different to someone else.

It's kind of like...most Americans seem to react badly to the word "socialism". I don't think they know what it means! Or...they ascribe a very different meaning (usually a vague and simplistic one) to that word than most Canadians or Europeans would.

You have to know exactly what someone else means BY the word God before you knew what you are reacting for or against. I've discovered that people mean so many different things when they say the word "God" that you have to discuss it with them for some time to find out what exactly they are talking about. If they just give you some fixed dogma that someone else has told them, then they're not doing much thinking about it at all. If, on the other hand, they themselves have many questions as to what the word "God" means...then you could probably have a very interesting talk with them which would lead to both people asking further questions about life, and they might end up talking about life...moral sense...purpose...identity...love...sense of "self"...ego...and all kinds of interesting stuff.

It isn't just a question of simple God-squaddery. Not if you're willing to look beyond just repeating set religious dogma and looking no further than the surface of that dogma. It's a question of the whole nature of conscious existence, life, love, and death, and that's worth talking about, I think. It's a universal subject...not limited solely to organized religion.