The Not-so-elephant In The Room

[God of Mr. Hanky]

Live and let live. If a person is a good person and isn't harming anyone, then I don't see why it should bother you whether or not they believe in God.

Catholic Lady, do you have children?

     If so,

• What do you teach them about "sin"? Do you define it as acts of consequence with other people and/or their own health, or as things which your holy leaders dislike, and are able to convincingly tell you are "displeasing to your God"?
  
• Do you teach them that they are natural-born sinners who cannot possibly live wholesome and morally right lives, not even in this one life which is certain without the grace of their god, or that they make mistakes and sometimes do wrong things because this is how children (as do adults in later live) learn to get along better in this life and enjoy good health and happiness? You cannot teach them both - if the latter is true, then there's no need for any part or version of the former.
  
• What would you rather have for them - the belief that they have a primary obligation in life to please what cannot be proven to actually exist, which demands their allegiance, their income, and their obedience on certain issues which are moral issues only because their religion makes them so, and the constant fear that this god is watching them and may be unhappy with them...or would you rather they live free and without such fear, free to explore their world and face whatever they learn of it, and free to decide for themselves, according to their own good conscience what is right and fair in their society?
  

    
     If not, and you plan on having children, now is the time to seriously reconsider just how good and healthy it is to raise children religiously. Because most religious people today are so because they had their ideas drummed into their heads before they developed the reasoning capacity to decide their veracity for themselves, and that is not an example of "live and let live"!