[Zerbie]

I will not address those quotes. They are sick. I cannot even speak about them without saying sick things myself.

Rick, when you tell of the thunderstorm approaching as you walked to the supermarket, of your fear of lightning, do you mean to say your fear of lightning was causal? Fear that if you questioned the form of religion you had believed, your questioning would result in a punishment via lightning?

That's huge stuff, and I see how new this is for you. 2006 is like yesterday. For you to come out from the mental box it sounds like you were in is a huge victory and I'm glad for the process. I also think it's perfectly okay to be angry at christianity, generally speaking.

For what it's worth, and I'm not sure you want to hear this right now - I know I would like it if you could disentangle the religious persons who post here from the 'christians' who write the vicious, violent, and non-sensical diatribes such as you quoted above. They are a completely different brand of person. I'd bet (IF I were a betting type) that one could even find functional brain differences between the folks who wrote those nasty things and the religious folks who post on here. They are two very different types of person.

I am glad this is being a safe place for you to voice your anger at christianity, and religious traditions in general. There is a lot of reason for anger. ( We could spend days discussing how ironic that is.) I had no idea that you were mostly keeping your worldview to yourself in 3D. To play devil's advocate though, beliefs being personal do not HAVE to be publicly stated. You're under no obligation to share your personal views with anyone. Why should one be?

You and I are marching along the same path in precisely the opposite direction. I spent most of my life strongly professing atheism, and unlike you I had no difficulty whatsoever in expressing that openly anywhere and everywhere. I thought it was the christians who were (definitely and without exception) lost. What I'm finding now is that there are all types in both categories, theist and non. It's how one lives, not what one says one believes, that reveals where the heart is. Ie, you will know what path someone is on by the fruit of their actions. . . is it good? Does it heal? Educate? Encourage? Inspire? Or is it negative? For my part, that's all I'm interested to know.

Glad you're finding a safe space. Don't let the ugliness get into you; there will always be someone ready with a negative word.