Hey Bigbill
Ah, although I frequently refer to myself as an evangelical atheist, I'm not
really that evangelical. And I'm also wondering how the discussion about using STOP in telegrams drifted to where it did! I suppose religion, sex, and politics are always topics that arouse the passions and inflame the rhetoric.
I suppose what I mean - and I apologise if I was less than diplomatic or came across as abusive, which I certainly don't intend - is that when Dwight mentioned that fundamentalists are different from "regular" religious folks, that's a degree issue. In contrast, I'm saying that although religiosity may exist on a spectrum - from very religious to mildly religious - the ultimate dichotomy is between belief in a god or not. Although folks' conception of god can range from the very concrete (he has a physical presence and can intervene in wordly matters) to spectacularly wooly (and here I would place the New Age thinkers), individuals still have to make a choice between having a god or not. I don't think there's an inbetween on this issue - or if there is, you really need to make your mind up because if you get it wrong...!
So hopefully the playground discussion can be reinterpreted as a bar room discussion; similar but with more beer.
Siggy
