This is my first time on any type of commentary website and it's been an eye opener, also a time sponge ! What I wanted to say is that I just had a conversation like your post yesterday. A dear sweet friend of mine woke up at 5 AM because God had told her I needed these two giant religious books that she had on a shelf. What prompted the whole thing is that she's had a re-awakening of her faith, has met a man she likes and respects and has high hopes for the future although they haven't actually gone out on a date yet. When she asked him if he was a Christian (bad move!) he said he was agnostic and she didn't know what that meant. I've always been her listener, so after hearing her tale, I said that I am agnostic but almost an atheist. Long story I won't go into, but she asked how I became agnostic, I said it has taken me my entire life to get to this point. How? By doing lots of reading about all kinds of things, especially philosophy. Also by studying other religions, history, biographies, cultures, myths, creation legends etc. I started questioning when I was around 10 or 12. My friend has never been a reader, so I can't possibly give her a crash course on how I got here because so much goes into who each of us becomes. I have no idea what this point system is about and I am merely exploring the site, but I'm pleased that I haven't run across ridiculous, just-for-shock type of stupid comments. It did start to look like a kind of dating site, though. Guess we feel a need to connect with others who think and feel as we do. I'm secure in my beliefs, but my family and friends have not traveled paths which brought them to the same belief system as I have. They can't understand my political views, so religion, or the lack thereof, is definitely off the table. Sometimes I think the stork dropped me off at the wrong house. Thanks for your comment about philosophy - it was exactly what I needed to hear at the time I needed to hear it.