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Life, Death, Heaven, Hell, and God

7/24/2016

16 Comments

 
Hello Papa.

I don't know what to say or think any longer... Not long ago, I accepted atheism as my worldview even though I desperately want to believe in more spiritualistic worldviews. The main problem is that atheists claim that their beliefs are rational and all other beliefs are not; it sounds right, but I don't agree with their militant behaviour and disrespect.

I'm so confused and don't know what to do, it's a huge dilemma :'(

Please help!!

Aurel (age 15)

* * *

Dear Aurel,
 
Religion, God, Life, Death have all been very much on my mind lately, so your letter is timely. I thoroughly enjoy discussing philosophy and spirituality with my readers. I will write more soon, but if you don't mind I want to send you a link to a PDF that you might find fascinating (a little academic, hope you don't mind): http://www.cogsci.uci.edu/~ddhoff/ConsciousRealism2.pdf
 
I'm not sure which atheists you are talking to. My sister is an atheist, and she's a very kind and wonderful person. Not in your face at all. That said, I do believe in more than just the physical world. 
 
How about you ask me a few specific questions about spirituality or other "Big Questions" and I will write you back? Now, these answers are based on my personal beliefs, so take them with a grain of salt (they are worth the price you pay for them). I will tell you that I am not a Christian, Muslim, or Jew. I am also not an atheist, Satanist, or Wiccan (although I respect Wiccans). 
 
Cheers,
Papabear

* * *

Thank you for your time but I'm not in the mood for ... anything, let alone philosophy, religion and spirituality. It's just.... I don't know, the whole atheist worldview isn't what I'm comfortable with in the slightest. I know that you once said that we have to stick with a view that we are comfortable with, and that's spirituality, but I'm always afraid that they might be right. Maybe the physical world is the only world? Maybe there is nothing after death? I don't agree with any of that since I do believe that there's something out there and that the universe simply cannot be a product of randomness and chance.
Sorry, I didn't mean ALL atheists, just the militant, in your face ones like professor Richard Dawkins. You know, the ones that don't respect other religious beliefs and that think religious and spiritual people, people different than themselves, are deluded and in a way crazy. I want to be kind and respect people different than myself and I don't think that spirituality and religion is just stupidity and delusion.

I'm not in the mood for anything because I don't think that the physical world is the only world but if I do think otherwise, I'm not rational and intelligent (judging by what many anti-theists say). And then there's death. Many atheists say that their decision to become atheist was the best thing that happened to them but I don't think that's true. They say that they appreciate and enjoy their lives more due to the fact that this is the only life they have. They say that they are generally more joy-filled and happier than when they were religious/spiritual. I don't agree, since the only emotions I could experience since I "decided" (unwillingly) to "become atheist" are sadness, fear and anger. I don't find my hobbies more enjoyable, my sex drive is almost gone, I don't have anything to wake up for and I have trouble getting asleep (I cried myself to sleep this night and had woken up two times unable to sleep). Without spirituality, everything loses its soul. Love doesn't make sense anymore if it's just a chemical reaction, and that sex is just a drive to reproduce. Nature isn't beautiful like it used to be, I don't feel like exercising, I don't find art interesting... Ironically, Dawkins (recently I watched a lot of his documentaries) said that this is more beautiful and interesting than "poverty-stricken religious views.”

I don't want to believe that we are just biological computers, I don't want to believe that there's no purpose to life. I refuse to believe that religious people are stupid and that religion and spirituality should just die.

I refuse to believe that this is "reality." I really, really don't.

I used to be optimistic... Now I just don't know. I would love to be spiritual again, to not worry about death every other minute...

I don't know anymore. If this is supposed to be rationality and reality, then I'll gladly chose ignorance.

I'm going on vacation tomorrow morning and I will possibly be home from said vacation in 10-11 days. Here are some specific things I wish to know, from your perspective.

1) God
2) Heaven/Hell
3) Life after death?
4) Did you follow more than two religions in your lifetime?
5) Were you indoctrinated and or baptized into Christianity?

Feel free to write back while I'm on vacation, thank you for reading my letter. You're a great guy!
 
* * *

Dear Aurel,

If you’ve read my column, you probably have seen me write that I feel that anyone espousing a religion and asserting that they “know” their religion is right and is the only correct way to believe is either lying or deluding themselves.

But the same goes for atheists. To say, “We know for a fact that there is nothing beyond what the scientific world can explain and that all we are is biological beings and death is the final word” is also an exercise in hubris.
NOBODY knows what life, death, the universe, God/Not God are. NOBODY knows their true nature. In that spirit (pun intended) I will tell you here and now that Papabear doesn’t know, either. I have my theories, my conclusions, my beliefs that I have come to after 50 years of thinking about such things (even as a little child my thoughts were on this matter), but all of them could be wrong or just partially right, or right but only in a limited way.
To answer your questions, I’ll start with the less philosophical ones and work my way up.

  • Was I indoctrinated and/or baptized into Christianity? I have never been baptized, which is a little ironic because I was raised Southern Baptist. This is to say, my father took the family to Southern Baptist churches, but he never forced me to be sprinkled with water or dunked; he married an agnostic, and this tempered my gullibility quite a bit. I will always remember my mother losing it one Sunday when the minister declared that “Jesus wants the church to have a new red rug.” That was the beginning of my understanding of what a tax-free racket religion is in this country.
  • Have I followed more than one religions in my lifetime? Well, I was raised Christian, as I said, but quickly became agnostic, after my mother. Even so, I craved a spiritual grounding of some sort. I briefly turned back to Christianity in my college days (I went to a college associated with the Methodist church and we had a very kind and loving minister named Jon Powers who restored my faith in Christians quite a bit, and then when I had my first real job in Detroit I met a couple other very good Christians). I’ve read my Bible (I own three, actually), but over time began to see how much in the Bible is contradictory or just plain incorrect, which made me doubt that it could genuinely be the work of an infallible God. I started looking around at other faiths (my best friend is Jewish, and the Jews I’ve met are wonderful people; but it’s always seemed a rather exclusive club to me); I find some very good things in the Qu’ran (I own a copy), especially how Islam keeps things very simple compared to the ridiculously complicated beliefs and rites of the Catholic Church, for example. However, as with the Bible, the God of Islam is too violent for my tastes. I believe that if there is a God, then God would be superior in every way to Man, which means he would not have the failings of Man, such as hate and a desire for vengeance or to punish people. I mean, if little ol’ me can have a heart and forgiveness and love, then wouldn’t a Superior Being be a billion times more compassionate and loving than I?

So, I started exploring other beliefs. Some, such as Hinduism and Zoroastrianism, seem too tied up in mythologies. When I found out about Wicca, though, I found much to appeal to me. Wicca doesn’t judge people and believes in kindness to others and to Earth. This is all great stuff, and I did some reading about it and considered myself a Wiccan for a short time, but I just couldn’t get into the ideas they have about “magic.” I don’t think there is such a thing as magic, really (again, I could be wrong), but I do admire that Wiccans make very clear that black magic—magic to harm others—is forbidden and if you practice it you will be harmed seven times over.

Next, I got into Shamanism, especially that of the Native American people. Even consulted regularly with a friend in Oklahoma named Blackbear Bright (wonderful person). I love the interconnectedness to the natural world that Shamanism has (similar to Wicca, which is a form of shamanism, really), but I still felt it was not exactly for me. I haven’t abandoned it, but now I flavor it with my pursuit of Buddhism. Buddhism is not a religion, of course, but it is a philosophy that is very spiritual in nature. So I guess you could say I’m into Shamanism/Buddhism but I also add to this my interest in quantum physics, which has become like a third religion to me.
  • Heaven/Hell: I can cover this briefly by saying that traditional views of Heaven and Hell are created by religions as models for a punishment/reward system to control their flocks. Be good and do what we say and you will go to Heaven. Be bad and God (who’s such a bitch on these matters) will make you burn in Hell forever and ever with no hope of every escaping. So, I call bullshit.
  • Life/Death: As you may know, I lost my love, Jim (Yogi), last October very suddenly when a pulmonary embolism killed him. Now, the topic of life and death has always interested me, but now it is at the forefront of my thoughts. I have been terrified (like you) by the notion that when we die that is it. Everything that we were is lost (except for those who remember us, but it is really lost when they die, too), and our consciousness dissipates as well. Death, following this model, is an absolute and there is no hope of escaping it. Some people find this comforting, I’ve heard, but I find it horrifying. For one thing, it means that Jim is truly gone and I will never see him again even after I die. For another thing, it means that everything we do in life is, ultimately, completely without meaning. Oh, sure, you can have a bit of fun in the present (and, actually, if you believe death is the final word why not just go have an orgy and commit crimes and eat anything you want and don’t worry about it?) but, in the end, nothing at all matters.

I can’t accept that. I can’t accept that all we are is an organ in our skulls and that we are, in essence, just machines that happen to be self-aware. There is increasing evidence that death is not the end. Some call it a transition, some a rebirth into a real world.

Aurel, you know that little voice inside your head? That’s not Jiminy Cricket—that’s your connection to your spiritual conscience. Pay attention to it. It is saying that although you don’t believe Christianity is your path, neither do you feel that atheism is the right choice because you feel in your heart that there is something more. Instead of ignoring or pushing away that feeling, make yourself more open to it. Listen to it. It is, in my opinion, your connection to the Godself.
  • God: My conclusion has been that God is not a separate Being. Rather, God is literally EVERYTHING. God is omnipresent and omniscient because the universe is the body of God, and everything it contains, including you and me, is a part of God. Furthermore, evolution is more than biological, it is also spiritual—an awakening. Each of us has a bit of the Godself within them, and this includes the ability to create, imagine, and dream, but only if one has been awakened, not if one is consumed by the idea that the visible world is “reality.”

I believe that we are like eggs within the Womb of God. As we experience this life, we grow spiritually until we “die,” which is actually the release from the Womb when we are born into ourselves. Like eggs in a woman’s body, however, some of us do not become fertilized, so to speak, and are reabsorbed into the womb. Those eggs do not mature to the point where they are born. Those that do, become like baby gods, able to create their own reality that is based upon what they experienced in this life. Those that learned to be loving will create new, loving universes, and those that did not will create universes that are less than happy. I have a suspicion that we are in one of those less-than-perfect universes, but we have the power within us to overcome this rather ugly world and generate something much more beautiful.

Aurel, the key to finding happiness and hope again is to trust in your feelings that there is more to us than mere matter and energy. You are turned off by religions, I understand that completely; and I feel that you are also right not to trust the atheists, so certain in their denial of the spiritual.

We are each a piece of the Creator, gifted with the power to create new realities if we allow ourselves to awaken from the Womb and become born as our true selves.

And those are my conclusions … for now. Whether or not you believe them is certainly up to you, but what is more important is for you not to give up. Do not give into the hopelessness of the atheists, and do not be fooled by the dogma of the religious. In other words, while it is okay to listen to what others have to say, don’t let them dictate your beliefs but discover for yourself your own reality.
​
Hugs,
Papabear
16 Comments
Critter link
7/25/2016 07:19:38 pm

These are big topics, things humans have talked about (and unfortunately too often fought over) for thousands of years.

Respect for other views should be the bedrock of any discussion.

I usually describe myself as an atheist with a close personal relationship with god. No, it's not a joke, but this isn't the place to go into it.

Aurel, there's something that troubles me, though, about what you wrote. You spoke of not being able to sleep, of having a low sex drive, of strong feelings of sadness. There may be something else going on that you should think about sharing with an adult in your life that you trust.

Wishing you the best in your journey,

- Critter

Reply
Aurel
7/26/2016 01:12:02 pm

Dear Critter,

First of all, thank you for your wishes and concerns, it means something to me.

No, surprisingly, there is nothing else that's the problem other than this. To be honest I'm sad and dissapointed because I used to fool myself (and let others fool me) that there was beauty and purpose, true love and a brave world full of possibilities, action and adventure. That there was someone watching over us and protecting us when the time is right. That there is someone to cling to once everything goes wrong. That there is a special "meant to be" person out there, just waiting for me to find her. That I used to believe that national pride, borders, culture was important. That I was, in some way, special and improtant.

How desperately had I wished that it was all true. How eagerly I denied that this is reality. "They are just cold and pessimistic" I often told myself. I was wrong.

I have learned, that if you're optimistic and have wishful thinking, if you have hope, that you'll only be deeply disappointed in the end.

There is no true love, there are no heroes. There is no higher meaning or purpose (I feel like this is the case) to life other than our own small purposes. I feel like there could be something after death but I don't want to delude myself again so I'll say I don't.

I used to enjoy having my breath taken simply by looking at the forests of the meadows, looking at beautiful urban sceneries of the amazing tropical beaches and seas. I used to enjoy looking at the sunset sky... Now that I know that what the trees really are and how they function, it doesn't seem beautiful nor fulfilling anymore. Same goes for the sunset, just a massive chemical reaction, and the cities, nothing more than rock, cement, bricks and glass.


Exactly the same goes for the opposite sex and "love" (just a set chemical reactions in our brain that make us want to reproduce and spread our DNA (see where I'm going?)), and knowing what "love" really is is really off putting and disappointing hence the low sex-drive. So, in the end, "love" is just an attraction to two chunks of fat on a female's chest (same for the wet crack between the legs). Why else are men always falling in love with beautiful women only? It makes sense now and it's not as interesting in the slightest.

It's not like I can try to "succeed" in life either. I already lost the battle since the beginning. I haven't won at something called the "genetic lottery" which means that I was born without no real natural talent, I'm not gifted in any area of knowledge, and my personality isn't the best, not to mention that my genetics don't make me the most attractive. So, yeah, great start. And to make things worse, I fall under the "I'm not passionate about anything in particular" category, I only wish I was passionate about something to make my life at least a little meaningful. Well, you can say that I always look forward to sleeping because that's the only time of the day when I'm not thinking about anything. Yes, I was wrong about my sleeping "problem" that just turned into a blessing (for the irony of it).

Before I was atheist, I used to think that everyone is gifted and special in some way but now that I understand how natural selection and genetics work and that everything is possible, I'm sure that my case is exactly how I view it.

I could go on and in but I hope you got the picture. So, no. There isn't anything else happening right now. Just me coming into grasps with reality.

Long story short: Nothing is guaranteed (success is not guaranteed and so isn't "love"), I'm tired of deluding myself with fantasy that will only make me more and more disappointed. That means that I don't believe in kindness or "true love", chivalry or basically anything else knowing it's just something as stupid as a chemical reaction. Although I am a strong believer of real feelings such as sadness, envy and anger. And contentment (not "happiness" but just... indifferentness).

But hey, at least I feel content with death now that I know that life isn't nearly as great as I used to think it was. That's a plus.

Sincerely, Aurel. (I hope this doesn't spark a debate :( )








Reply
Critter link
7/26/2016 09:56:24 pm

Dear Aurel,

I can see you are a thoughtful person - I don't think there's anything wrong with that. You have made some good points and I can see where you're coming from.

The issues you speak of have been part of the human experience for a very long time indeed. I can say from personal experience that knowing how trees work does not mean you can't be in awe of their beauty.

You might want to look into the philosophy of life that aligns with your views. For an overview, I can recommend "The Antidote: Happiness for People Who Can't Stand Positive Thinking" by Oliver Burkeman. He's a journalist, not a psychologist or philosopher, so his writing is fun and easy to get through.

I'm a little leery of the word 'happiness' because it can mean so many different things. The word I use is 'contentment' because that's what I feel. No, my life isn't perfect (oh how I wish I were better at music!) but I'm content with who and where I am, and can enjoy the beauty of the world and the companionship of other people.

It's a good place to be, maybe you can find your way home as well.

Blessings,

- Critter

Aurel
7/27/2016 11:51:42 am

Doesn't matter if I'm thoughtful or not, doesn't matter if I'm "intelligent" or not. The fact of the matter is that nothing matters like I used to think.

I'm not a thoughtful person, I'm a thoughtful bag of chemicals. Thoughts are just chemical reactions after all.

I don't know how anyone can find life enjoying AND acknowledge that every part of us are simply chemical reactions and a bunch of molecules and atoms.

Critter link
7/27/2016 05:25:45 pm

I've tried and failed before to explain The Way of the River Otter, wish I could do better. I can say it's independent of religion or of life circumstance (like having a mate, wealth, or a good childhood as I have none of those).

It's entirely possible to realize we (and everything else for that matter) are bunches of molecules without a higher purpose or being while living an ethical life and experiencing what Christians call "the peace that passes all understanding" which is a step up from just enjoying life.

May you find peace, experience joy, and know love.

Take care.

- Critter

Reply
Papabear
7/28/2016 05:04:46 pm

Aurel,

Allow me to address some of your concerns. First of all, love. You say that love is just a chemical reaction because we need to breed to perpetuate the species. How, then, do you explain gay love? My sister loves her wife dearly, and they sure as heck are not breeding. I loved Jim with all my heart and soul, and there was no way we would have kids (at least biologically). And how about a man and woman who meet late in life, fall in love, and marry in, say, their 60s? Love is not about breeding. Even sex isn't about breeding. They are both a need to bond with others, a social bond. We are social creatures. Frankly, I take umbrage in your assertion that my deep feelings for my late partner were just the result of chemicals. My grief for him is not about chemicals.

About trees, sunsets, buildings: Aurel, if you study these things and learn how freaking AMAZING it is that they exist and work.....! Well, for me, they are actually evidence of a higher power or spirit working in the universe. Did you know that if the universe had formed with just a little more or just a little less hydrogen in it, then stars would not have formed and life would not exist? Do you realize the incredible odds that human beings exist? That we live on a planet that is just the right size and just the right distance from a stable sun and has water on it? This isn't just a bag of chemicals, elements, equations. These things are WONDROUS! And what about buildings? To create buildings, people had to come to understand mathematics and engineering and physics and metallurgy. They had to discover electricity for the lighting. They had to create the art of architecture. Human beings, as I tried to explain to you in my first response, possess a creative force within themselves that is literally a piece of god.

And you? So what if you're not the most attractive person. So what if you do not have some incredible talent or even a passion for something. More important than any of that is having a loving heart and being kind to people. I am constantly astounded just how rare those things are in the world. THAT can be your gift to humanity and to your life: being a good, giving, loyal, loving human being. You'd be surprised how far that can take you.

Reply
Aurel
7/28/2016 11:31:58 pm

"Frankly, I take umbrage in your assertion that my deep feelings for my late partner were just the result of chemicals. My grief for him is not about chemicals."

This tells me that I was wrong and should leave. I can't scientifically explain any of the cases you mentioned.
Sorry.

I should take my leave now, thank you for your help.

Reply
Aurel
7/29/2016 04:17:49 am

"More important than any of that is having a loving heart and being kind to people. I am constantly astounded just how rare those things are in the world. THAT can be your gift to humanity and to your life: being a good, giving, loyal, loving human being. You'd be surprised how far that can take you."

In the end, it DOESN'T matter since it wasn't I who made this decisions. There is increasing evidence that free will is an illusion which completely destroys everything I ever believed in. It makes me feel like I shouldn't even bother living since I'm not making the decision to do... ANYTHING... due to the fact that scientists say it's all our neurons and not something I consciously chose to do.

I'm no longer afraid of death, I'm afraid of life and what the next giant disappointment is going to be.

Reply
Papabear
7/29/2016 08:17:52 am

What "evidence" shows we don't have free will? We all have free will, hon. It is time for you to take some personal responsibility and realize that you have the ability to change your life. Asserting that you don't is, quite frankly, a cop out.

Critter link
7/29/2016 09:20:44 am

Aurel, you seem to be getting hung up on some extremely philosophical questions, to the point of making yourself unhappy.

Maybe you should take a break, and just live life. Have fun, hang out with friends or make new friends. Go to a furmeet. Get out in nature.

As Omar Khayyam put it:

Myself when young did eagerly frequent
Doctor and Saint, and heard great argument
About it and about: but evermore
Came out by the same door where in I went.

Aurel
7/29/2016 11:23:40 am

Papabear, check your email. I have managed to write a something there.

Critter, this isn't only about religion anymore. It is about us and our very existence. I hope you understand that I cannot "take a break, and just live life" knowing that literally everything I was taught and that everything I i knew was wrong and that I was deluding myself all my life. No, I don't use this as a "cop-out", I am genuinely TERRIFIED and am terribly confused. I never thought that a world without love can exist but now I'm questioning even that! Our very free will is in question, what if our consciousness is just an illusion and all we really are just a product of this huge messy ball of neurons aka the brain? This is all very unsettling, maybe it's just a phase?

Long story short, I can't simply live life not knowing if I'm delusional or not.

Critter, I hear that you mention love frequently. What are the arguments for it?

Papabear
7/29/2016 12:28:46 pm

From Aurel: "What "evidence" shows we don't have free will? We all have free will, hon. It is time for you to take some personal responsibility and realize that you have the ability to change your life. Asserting that you don't is, quite frankly, a cop out."

Are you implying that I'm afraid of change? I'm not afraid of changing myself but scientific evidence clearly shows that we are not in control of our behaviour.

http://io9.gizmodo.com/5975778/scientific-evidence-that-you-probably-dont-have-free-will

http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/is-free-will-an-illusion/

This begs the question: "Why?" Why would our scientists and our biologists make up something like this? For what benefit?

I like the idea that love (both romantic and general), God, spirituality, life after death and an afterlife do exist. But I have learned something from science - that the point of rational thinking and science itself is not to believe in something just because it sounds good, but to learn and understand what reality is, even if it doesn't look good. And honestly our reality is really ugly.

From Papabear: Well, Aurel, the first article really is about how our brains and bodies have adapted to react quickly to situations (the "fight or flight" reflex). You see, in nature, if it took us too long to think over a situation that was dangerous to us, we could easily have a very bad time of it. To avoid this, we have reflex reactions that dictate to our brain--before we consciously think about it--to, basically, either run away or defend ourselves. What some people are evidently doing is taking that reflex to extreme proportions, which I disagree with--and many other scientists would also disagree with it, as noted in that article. The second article you have here is very vague and provides no evidence for lack of free will.

It is very interesting that you choose to believe these negative articles, yet the more positive ones I showed you are dismissed by you. You know what that is? It is a conscious choice on your part. And that, my friend, is free will. You choose to be negative. You choose to only listen to the bad stories about the world and not the good ones. You are a negative person.

There is a cure for negativity, of course. That is: choose to be positive. But the first step would be for you to accept that you have free will.

I can't do that for you. Only you can. But consider the consequences of choosing to live a dark and unhappy life over one in which it is possible for you to bring a little light into your and others' lives.

Reply
Papabear
7/29/2016 12:48:39 pm

The other thing you must consider is the media. I have a feeling a big part of your dark mood is you see a lot of bad news about the world on TV or the Internet. But the thing about the media is this: they are not here to report news they are in business to make money. They have found that, as the song says, giving us "dirty laundry" sells. Therefore, they report lots and lots of bad news to get people to watch and the good news out there is under-reported or not shown at all. For example, I just read a great story about how the Monarch Butterfly populations in Mexico have tripled this year. Great news! How did that happen? Well, a large part of it was people in Mexico getting together and stopping the illegal logging that was going on in the places where the butterflies gather. This is an example of people seeing something that needed to be fixed and doing it.

Don't give in to the dark cloud, Aurel. Hopeless people are easy to manipulate and control. It is the optimist and the free thinker that is truly free.

Reply
Critter link
7/29/2016 01:38:54 pm


Hmmm, well, I talk about love because it's a great part of life. All sorts: romantic, friendship, caring for and about people. I know it exists because I feel it every day.

Papabear and I have shown you two different approaches: one with a belief in spirit beyond ourselves and one without. But we both wind up holding some ideas in common: the importance of taking care of ourselves and each other, knowing that while there are many difficulties in the world we will make it through - both personally and as a group.

And that the world is a wonderful and amazing place.

As another poet (Mary Oliver) put it:

Whoever you are, no matter how lonely,
the world offers itself to your imagination,
calls to you like the wild geese, harsh and exciting -
over and over announcing your place
in the family of things.

Reply
Charleston Rat
8/1/2016 02:54:52 am

Papabear, I just wanted to congratulate you on how extraordinary your research into faith has been!

Whilst I know much good has come from religion, the biggest reason why I don't belong to any specific faith is because it seems like as if you say you believe in something, you're compelled to bury any doubt you have and believe that for the rest of your life ("Thou shalt have no other gods before me" anyone?) I believe that people have a fundamental right to explore all possibilities and come to their own individual conclusion as to what they believe on a spiritual level.

But by word, you own 3 Bibles, and a Qu'ran?! And you've explored Judaism, Hinduism, Shamanism, Buddhism, Wiccan, and Zoroastrianism (which I've never even heard of btw)?! I think the sheer number of faiths you've explored is quite phenomenal. And I hope, in time, I can explore faith in the most extraordinary level of depth as you have!

Reply
Aurel
8/1/2016 03:30:33 am

""Thou shalt have no other gods before me" anyone?"

Me. I understand you completely.

" I believe that people have a fundamental right to explore all possibilities and come to their own individual conclusion as to what they believe on a spiritual level."

I'm glad to hear that you're spiritual (or aren't?). That's a very objective and open-minded point of view if I may add.

Correct me if I'm wrong, Zoroastrianism is the belief of ancient Persians, right? It was later undermined by Islam.

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    An excellent article on coming out LGBT to Christian parents.
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    My Rainbow Ark is a site for and about LGBT furries and religion and how they are not incompatible.

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    A note on comments: Comments on letters to Papabear are welcome, especially those that offer extra helpful advice and add something to the conversation that is of use to the letter writer and those reading this column. Also welcome are constructive criticisms and opposing views. What is NOT welcome are hateful, hurtful comments, flaming, and trolling. Such comments will be deleted from this site. Thank you.

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