I am nowhere as high-powered on this subject as most of the posters on this thread are: I am not as well educated nor as clear thinking nor even as interested in the subject as most of the posters on this thread are.

However, having been reared as I was (in a fundamentalistic, don't-ask-too-many questions- being disrespectful to God is a sin- church and family) it is hard for me to take any church or any dogma too seriously.

But again: my daughter felt the need for religious certainty. By the age of 12, she was getting herself out of bed on Sunday mornings to go alone to church. I respected her for that, and still do. When she was 15 or so, I told her that I kind of envied people who were so sure of their beliefs but that it just was not me.

She is very bright and went to college on scholarships based on her grades and areas of interest. Today she is a pastor's wife and deeply involved not only in her church but in many causes from battling homelessness to combating domestic violence to providing access to higher education.

She writes essays for her church's website and sounds as though she has a personal relationship with her 'savior'. Maybe she has- I don't know, because I don't understand such certainty.

My point is that, agnostic as I assuredly am, I raised a child quite different from me. Did I 'brainwash' her to think as she does? I don't think so. My main virtue, to way of thinking, is that I taught her to think for herself. The fact that she doesn't think as I do makes me smile.