That is rather unfortunate. I fortunately had some rather rational
parents, both technically degreed, who practiced partly from family
tradition, and a need for a solid moral upbringing for their kids. One
thing I would be adamant about defining two different types of religious
behavior: The difference between religious theology or theosophy, and
religious mythology. The former in my opinion tends to have a bit of
extropic potential, while the latter is highly entropic. Seems like
you've been tortured by quite a bit of mythic superstition. I've seen
both types of behaviors by people in the church I was raised in, and the
idiocy of the mythic superstionists made me not wish to continue formal
practicing. Rather, I tend to live a proactive life under the guise of:
" "God" helps those who help themselves". I also, unlike
supertstitionists, have no idea of the location or nature of whatever
caused our universe to come into existence, so rather than atheist, I
tend to be agnostic. I have no convictions either way, and demand proof
of both sides, religious or atheist for their postion. My mother for
example considers herself a Catholic Agnostic, if you can believe it!
Mike
-- TANSTAAFL!!!Michael Lorrey --------------------------------------------------- President retroman@tpk.net Northstar Technologies Agent Lorrey@ThePentagon.com Inventor of the Lorrey Drive Silo_1013@ThePentagon.com --------------------------------------------------- Anything I say can and should be used against me.