Upon reflection of this thread, I find myself personally offended by the idea of an omniscient, omnipotent, eternal creator that, for some odd, divine reason, suffers from severe insecurity and low self-esteem in that He constantly needs the praises of His creations to know that He is "good". I praise my dog. I praise my cat. I praise my children. All of these are creatures that require praise in order to develop suitable mannerisms for life in my home. Yet I also have trouble with deism. The idea that some supernatural creator made our entire Universe....then abandoned it. That begs the visual of a small child who, bored of his new pet, neglects and discards it in favor of more fascinating toys. Militant agnosticism? I don't know and YOU DON'T EITHER! (Borrowed from Merlin, thank you dear) Mathmaticians and physicists can mathamatically trace the the expansion of the cosmos back to the "Big Bang". The difficulty there is when they get to Time = 0. At that point, something, someone or some force outside our laws of physics had to make the first push. In other words, something outside of our cosmos had to start the ball rolling. (The previous paragraph is based on discussions I had some years ago with a group of mathmatics professors. New information MAY have come to light since then. If so, please politely inform me of it and don't jump down my throat, okay?) Psychologically, most humans have a hardwired need for some form of religion and/or spirituality. (If you are interested in the specific studies on this, e-mail me off list and I'll send you the full bibliography) This need that is shared by most of humanity begs the evolutionary question: What racial survival necessity was/is filled by religion/spirituality? Some have said that religion itself is shrinking. I have to disagree. I concede that membership of the MAJOR religions is shrinking, but that is in favor of smaller, gentler belief systems. Christianity, Islam and Judaism are shrinking exponentially as people turn to Buddhism, Paganism and Kabbalism. Mysticism and meditative religions are growing while the rigid, older systems are loosing their followers. This is NOT a new thing, as it has been repeated throughout history in different cultures. I do not think that religion itself is what most people object to....I think it is the religions that they feel are forced upon them. Most of the people I speak with do not object to the idea of God (or Goddess), they object to the idea of Hell...or worse, of Heavan where one spends eternity singing "Hosanna" over and over again. ( Okay, someone remind me, WHICH place am I supposed to be aspiring to? The eternity of screams and Hellfire....or the eternity of musical boredom?) Peace, Caliann *Owned and Operated by the Grand Poohbah Cheese of the Universe* "Offense theives. -- they take it when it isn't offered." --Tom Digby --------------------------------- Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Mail Plus - Powerful. Affordable. Sign up now