Gran, you might not read this, but nevertheless I will write it. I would like you to understand that I view AB as a discussion board only, it is never my intention to 'fall out' with anyone on a personal level, and my claims relating to the lie that is religion can be easily verified by anyone who wishes to seek the truth. I'm not making it up - or believing it because I want to believe it - I say what I say because I have no alternative. The evidence is there before us all.
It's not arrogant to admit that I don't know if a God exists, and I do actually believe that man possesses an innate sense of spirituality, but it takes relatively little research to discover that the stories surrounding the God of Abraham are contradictory, and that he certainly wasn't the perfect, loving, entity that religion claims him to be.
I understand what you say when you talk about 'simple faith', but unfortunately if that 'simple faith' is applied to the God of the Bible, rather than to a potential universal, impersonal, spirit, it falls at the first hurdle. The Christmas story, albeit ambiguous and highly debateable, is sweet, but then we come to Easter when your God (who we must remember can do anything he wants to do - allegedly) demands an unspeakable blood sacrifice in exchange for forgiveness - and we're told if we don't accept that, we are doomed to eternal damnation. 'Simple faith'? I don't think so. Now if someone like you, who claims to be a Christian (a claim which is, incidentally, at odds with not only your anger, but also with your penchant for taking pleasure in another's discomfort) objects to me highlighting the obvious errors and the appalling cruelty, separation, and hatred, that organised religion necessarily brings with it, there's nothing I can do about that. The most important thing in this world is that we love not an idea - but rather that we love each other - but that's just my opinion. x