The Pitch: Banning All Religion

[Zophia]

Like I said, its ability to change is its greatest beauty. Perhaps we need to find a sphere of moral philosophy that is capable of testing and changing its answers.

Do you think Humanism would work here?

Nor could it answer questions of ethics and morality, that has to be up to other fields of philosophy.

Absolutely right!

I'm sorry that you had a bad experience with religion when you were growing up. I was fortunate, in that I had parents who, though they are christian, allowed each of my siblings and I to seek our own answers when it came to religion. As a result, I am Deist (after a time bouncing between atheism, agnosticism, and Wicca), my sister is Rastafarian (I think for more than any other reason because it allows her to justify smoking pot), and my brother, after a stint with Buddhism, is now Christian.

Also, I grew up an still live in the inter-mountain west, which can be conservative in parts . . . but it is a small government, "mind-your-own-dawned-business" type of conservatism.

Ah, one of the lucky ones! My current boyfriend was raised that way too. And... he is also a deist. I can't say that deism bothers me much, nor pantheism/panentheism. It leaves the window open for people to make their own choices.

I was raised by a preacherman... my grandfather. Church was everything. We went even on "off" days, if we could find a service or revival, and I went to a Christian school. I even helped write sermons (and still do, sometimes), focusing on positive teachings (and I've written up a wedding ceremony). But I've had to deal with some very dark family stuff (I thought about divulging it but changed my mind)... and a whole lot of religious guilt. We definitely were not given a choice when it came to religion and were judged harshly and as defective human beings if we turned away from any teaching, even if not from the faith itself. My family is just crazy. That's all that really needs to be said.

I don't believe in either, personally, but "it neither breaks my leg nor picks my pocket", to quote Jefferson, for others to believe so.

I absolutely adore Thomas Jefferson, probably to the point my boyfriend is jealous. You've quoted him twice -- I was wondering if perhaps you also respect him quite a lot? Because I think he's a BAMF.