Would love to know the "right" things religion has to offer. Feel I'm a pretty good person to my family, my friends, and others though I have unshackled my belief. I'm almost, but not quite offended that my fraternity with my fellow humans is seemingly voided to some because I have no dogma. Have to shrug.

That's what you took away from what I said?

I don't believe I said a thing about the kind of person you are as an atheist. I think that atheism is the right "religion" for some people. I don't think you have to have "dogma" or religion to be a good person. Jim is about as far from religious as you can get, and I find him wonderful in every way.

I do, however, feel that you are just as dogmatically atheist as others are religious. Which is fine – that's your prerogative. Nothing wrong with that.

Let me remake my point from above in simple terms. Religion ain't all bad. Neither is atheism. It is how you use it that makes the difference. What's wrong with "to each his or her own" as far as a relationship with God and relationship with the universe? I have no pressing need to have you believe as I do. You seem to think I should believe as you do, however, and you imply that if I don't I am less than intelligent.

Live and let live. That's my philosophy when it comes to belief. It's what makes the world go 'round.

I think you may have read too much into my post, still, I am far too tired to examine that, perhaps tomorrow.

Here's the thing. If you believe that the world is against you, that is what you will experience.

I doubt most people could give a crap that you are an atheist – because that is your own personal business. If you are a good person and they judge you because of a belief or lack thereof, screw 'em.

I have members of my own family who judge me harshly because of my beliefs. You know what? Their judgment says tons about them and not a **** thing about me. I love them anyway. They are my family. It doesn't have to bug me that they judge me. And so….it doesn't. I know the truth.

The only thing I can posit on this now is that some try to tell me how to live, try to legislate it in fact, according to a book they read, or might not have, depending. I simply won't have that. I require more than this to acquiesce.

Yeah – legislating morality is another topic for another day. There are many who would do just that.

Too many in fact.

politics is a whole different story.

It is a good question – what makes one thing inherently good while another thing is inherently evil. I tend to think that most things that have relativity to one another are ticks on a scale. So – for instance, many would say love is good, hate is bad. And yet – although they are opposite ends of a spectrum, they are actually degrees on a scale of human affection.

Here's a silly example of that. Jim hates to be hot. To him, hot is bad. He would rather be shivering and snow camping up in Alaska than golfing in 80 degree weather. I am the opposite. I love hot and I hate cold. I can't stand being cold and, even in the summer, I sleep under a down comforter. I'd rather be sweating while I sleep than shivering. We each have a relative interpretation of what, on the scale of cold to hot, is good and what is bad.

I told you it was a silly example, but it illustrates a larger point.

To some extent, morality is highly individual. The reason it is so individual is because people can – and do – justify their behaviors. I have seen people do absolutely horrible things and think nothing of it because they were able to justify it to themselves. Even things that society says are wrong.

I've seen an equal number of people who believe in God do these types of things as people who don't. It is human nature to want to see ourselves as being "right" and being "good people". When we behave in a way that is in direct conflict of these views of ourselves, cognitive dissonance sets in and we re-write our story in a way that protects that view we have of ourselves.

I wold submit that morality is a) of the moment; b ) societal and c) highly individual.

Does God enter into morality? In some cases, yes. Certainly the Ten Commandments are moral codes passed down through the Bible, as is the Golden Rule. And "blessed are the cheesemakers." No – wait – that was Monty Python.

That said, I know many, many people who believe in God who regularly break some of those more nit-picky commandments. So obviously the Ten Commandments aren't actually a deterrent any more than the laws of a society are a deterrent to some.

I believe that as long as people aren't tromping on the rights of others (stealing, killing, – the big ones), that we have no place judging what is right and what is wrong. When we do it becomes a slippery slope. If either Jim or I were able to "legislate temperature morality" in our home, one of us would wind up totally screwed.

Okay – enough rambling. Not enough caffeine in the system to be terribly coherent yet.