On Fitness Singles, a 54-year-old man from Washington D.C. has been pestering me to give him a chance. "I don't want to move to Washington, D.C.," I replied. "I love the mountains of Washington State. I don't want to leave my daughter."
"If it's meant to be, things will work out," he replied. Reminds me of the old saw, "Distance doesn't matter when it comes to love."
"Looking for a woman that we may have an amazing connection, spiritual, emotional, romantic, and loving," his profile says.
Curious, I asked what he means by spiritual. He got defensive. I think it's funny that he made it a requirement, yet cannot say what he means. "Going to church together?" I asked.
“How can you be a moral person and be an atheist?” I get asked by Christians who don’t know me. Friends who are atheists get asked the same thing. It is rude and tiresome.
"Being a kind, honest person is a series of choices every day," I reply. "I learned this at age four. I never needed the Bible or church to realize that."
Christians who don’t know me insist that I explain:
Spirituality is a mixed bag that can run a pretty wide range. For some it's a term for quantum entanglement connectivity of things ... how about worshipping rats....but for most it's a big building, a bunch of mindless rumination and a lot of cash ( with rampant publicly excused pedophilia).
Makes you wonder why someone would not want to discuss something they deem important.
I tell you what.
Fancy moving to north east Scotland? (we've got a National Health Service, free at the point of need)
We could spend Sundays not going to church and instead wonder at the universe and I can tell you that my late wife is tree fertilizer then we could get spiritual with whisky, gin or rum!
I'm still not going to show a picture of my naked bum though!
The phrase "meant to be" implies intent from a "higher power". We would never say that about gravity - gravity works without intent.
The phrase "Spiritual but not religious" also makes me curious.
And when asked, "How many hearts have you broken?" You reply, "How much time do you have?"
Probably more, how many men in lust have you disappointed then broken hearts.
Surely one of the most asinine and offensive Christian lines: “How can you be a moral person and be an atheist?” As we have come to see all too clearly in so many ways, "How can one be a moral person and be a Christian?" is the bigger question. With the answer being that the lion's share of immoral and degraded behavior is indeed committed by Christians.
What's that old line?
'No one can sincerely go to seminary school and come out believing in god.'
Once you learn the origins and implications of all those biblical texts, if you're honest, you can't believe it any more.
My retort to that question is, "Wow, I didn't know all followers of other faiths were immoral".