How I Lost My Religion

[DeistPaladin]

It's funny, I never would have imagined you as religious in any way, still less Republican, D-P.

Think Alex Keaton from "Family Ties" if that helps.

I have a hard enough time picturing you as a deist, to be honest. That's not an insult by the way.

Fair enough. If atheism were a city, deism would be one of its suburbs. I don't even correct people who call me an "atheist" anymore. Anyone who would use that term as a pejorative isn't going to understand the nuanced distinction anyway. One atheist in our local freethought group even caught me saying "we atheists...".

I don't know if I've posted this before but deism is for me a truce between my skeptical mind and sentimental proverbial heart. I see the universe as a machine and the human mind (along with all the other evolutionary advantages like the opposible thumb, walking upright, spoken language, sense of community, etc. that have all come together to make our civilization possible) as intended. Maybe the atheists are right that we won the cosmic lottery but deism helps me keep such sentiment grounded in the natural universe. Anyway, that's why I seem to talk and write like an atheist, my belief in "God" notwithstanding.

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Your ability to remake your stance in light of evidence is remarkably (and sadly) rare.

Thank you. It's strange that we should dread ever saying those three words "I was wrong". So many would rather die than ever utter them, sometimes literally.

What unifies us as skeptics is the truth matters to us more than our pride.

I wonder if you would mind if I may share this with people elsewhere? I would just cut and paste and refer to you as someone I respect on another forum.

This really gives me hope.

Thank you and go ahead.