I definitely feel a need to define God once that becomes the topic of discussion. The question "Does the Biblical God Yahweh exist?" is a very different question from "Is there a universal energy that binds everything together and causes there to be something rather than nothing?" And there are nearly infinite other ways to understand or define the noun "god."

I love the LoT.

Honestly? I don't put too much thought into it.

I feel a deeply spiritual connection to nature, and to other people.

Love, and the power it has, makes me feel stronger and I've seen it do amazing things. And my Catholic family brought me up believing that "God is love." I don't think they were exactly trying to say "God is another name for that everything-is-big-and-connected feeling," but that's sort of where I've landed in my spiritual journey. Is that actually a higher power? I dunno. It feels high and powerful to me. Is it more likely that feeling is a construct of man? Sure, I guess. But, you know, it feels divine to me, in its way, so I remain open to the possibility that it is.

Man, I've never been so honest about how I feel on the topic. Well, in writing. It's hard - my family is so very tied to their religious beliefs, and with my mother's health in particular, I'm not willing to waste the little time I have left with her on a conversation that will truly break her heart.

I can very much relate to this concern. I had a period where I felt it was very important to let my family know where I stand, mostly so I wouldn't have to lie to them when this stuff (inevitably) comes up. But now, it's so much more important to me to simply love them and enjoy their company.

Hey, I saw this on a Billboard off the 710 months ago - it made me smile and visit their website - but that was the non-Christmas version without the "be good for goodness sake" tag line.

God is love.
Love is blind.
Ray Charles is blind.

Ergo: God is Ray Charles.

I think the ad campaign is kinda cool.
I love promoting the idea that just because you're not religious it doesn't mean you're a bad person.

I'm glad you have been. It's pretty much precisely where I am spiritually myself, and it somehow gives me that everything-is-big-and-connected feeling to know that you grok it that way, too.

This is worth repeating. It's become my exact view on my family. It has to be.

Dig the ad campaign.

This about sums it up for me:
I post it a lot. It's on my Facebook page.
:)

CNN just did a story about Jim Jones and the Guyana mass suicide and that tragic bit o' history is enough for me wanting never to be involved with an organized religion ever again. The story creeped me out as a kid and it creeps me out now as a big kid. I remember watching the movie Guyana Tragedy as a kid and then going to church later on that week. I remember thinking 'how is this different from Jonestown?' I just can't put myself in a place where I'm supposed to speak and sit and stand just like everyone else and feel good about it. I like thinking for myself.