Don wanted to make sure we pay some attention to the one his finger is pointing to above. His feeling is that having less certainty about the existence of god would make him/her/it something that wasn't worth dying for. Since he shared the idea with me, I've talked about it with a couple of other people that found the concept interesting.

  

Hello, visitor #903 do you ever wonder if atheists know something?

Visitor #2 answered the above question with this:

What supports religious terrorism is not the belief in God, but the fundamental belief in scriptures or dogma, an intolerance of other points of view and "multiculturalism" in general. Scriptures (the Word of God, as it were) are as open to interpretation as is, apparently, the Constitution of the United States. It cannot be the end of the argument. It should not even be part of the argument. Whether Christian or Muslim, if you want to believe in a book, God bless you. But if you want every other person in the world to believe in that book, God damn you. You are fighting a losing battle, a battle that you can never win.

Some Christian fundamentalists are equally as dangerous of Islamic fundamentalists. No, Christians don't blow up buildings (yet), but their belief in the coming Rapture and the Armageddon belies attempts to preserve our world. What's worse? You decide.<>

In my humble opinion, fundamentalists of all stripes have had their day already. It was called the Dark Ages. Would you want to return to that time in human history? It's time to step aside for a new brand of spirituality, a spirituality that doesn't exclude anyone, a spirituality that draws on the best of all religions and ways to worship. For an example of just such a spirituality, turn to http://www.suryaprogram.com/. That's MY "church." Among its many teachings is the idea of a reality gradient. This is stuff I think you'd be fascinated with, Tian, but it's difficult to convey in an e-mail. Anyway, take care, and don't give up on God, because God is Man is You is Me is This Desk is Einstein is That Tree, etc.