Originally Posted By: Amaranth Rose II
I think somewhere along the way someone needs to remind the fundamentalists that freedom of religion also means freedom from religion....
I heartily agree.
BTW, this I why I coined the acronym GØD--goodness, order and design (regardless of the source). I did it to help myself get away from the god-ideas as spread by all the fundamentalism--and there are numerous forms. I now find it impossible to think of GØD as a father or a mother.

Think of these questions: Is there anything beyond the physical edge of the cosmos (the macro)? If so, what is it? I believe there IS, and I call it GØD.
Is there something at the very heart and center of the atom (the micro)? I believe there IS. I call it GØD.

A brilliant scientist I dialogue with (at Brainmeta.com ) who abhors organized religion--I prefer to say, sick religions--but does not want to call himself an atheist, calls it Nature. I have no problem with this. We have dialogued for years. No problem. He is the one who told me about the math-symbol Ø I use it to symbolize that in and through all things there seems to be a divine order which is ours to explore (the role of science), uncover and put to good moral. use

We always need to keep in mind that children, before they reach the age where they can think rationally, and people with child-like minds tend to think objectively, literally. This is why some children will ask questions like: Who made? Or, how big is God?

IN MY 30's I BEGAN QUESTIONING TRADITIONAL THEISM
Years ago--trying to explain to my five-year old son (now 47) something about the idea of God I said: God is in all of us. A few minutes later, he asked: "Dad, if I cut you open, would I find God inside you?" laugh We had a great laugh, and a good talk, about that question. Soon he was on the road to thinking rationally. As Paul, in 1 Corinthians 13, puts it: "When I was a child I thought and spoke like a child..."

This kind of child-like thinking is not necessarily a bad thing in its place, as long as we recognize the limitations of this kind of thinking and can help ourselves and our children mature.