... to check ourselves, to step back and expand the horizons our lenses are focusing on. Let me explain:

I am not a believer in god in any way, and pretty well fit the definition of "atheist". Religion makes no sense to me; I vastly prefer the light of reason over the light of god. I think ID is a complete and total farce, and I am dismayed that a few people in positions of power consider their intolerant perspectives as somehow more correct than the general populace.

That being said, i've also a lot of friends who are believers. We think differently, they and I, but we're still close. My experiences with them, combined with a lot of the stuff I read here, make me feel the need to write the following:

Most believers, at least in my experience, don't take themselves anywhere near as seriously as we unbelievers seem to take ourselves. I'm speaking to myself as well as everyone else here -- most believers I know respond to my atheism with "oh ok, no problem as long as you don't try to force it on me", and when asked if they think i'm going to be punished for my lack of faith in god, they answer with "it's not my call, and I don't pretend to know how god thinks." Yet, so many of us nonbelievers are _convinced_ that believers generally hate us, consider us infidels, and would rather see the streets run red with our blood than interface with us.

Really -- we should get over ourselves. We're humans, first and foremost. Sometimes I think they understand this better than we do.

Regards,

John, 'nuff said

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