^ Oversimplified ^

I believe that weed & meth are both destructive and wrong. I have friends who use weed and/or meth, and I still treat them with respect and tolerance.

You keep equating the Bible with Grandma Sue who wouldn't let her kids switch a light bulb on the Sabbath. Need it be that shallow & black/white'ish?

I have an underaged friend that recently moved out in a big power-struggle explosion with his dad. "If you want," his dad said angrily, "we can take you down to the police station right now, and see what they want to do with you since you're not 18."

"Yes! That's what I want," said my friend, "I want you to take me to the police station."

Did he really want to go to the police station? I mean, most people don't just randomly say "Dad, can you take me down to the station so some cop can laugh at me and tell me I'm an idiot for dropping out of school?" No, no -- the situation is much more complicated and emotionally based.

Anyone who is angry, or just overcome my an emotional issue, will tend to make bold statements that they wouldn't otherwise make. "Am too!" "Am not!" "Am too!" "Am not!" the argument goes over who's going to play the PS2 next -- but the real argument started when one kid took the other's shoe.

Human emotion, intuition, and tendency to proclaim something as truth (or falsehood) is not plainly logical. I think we agree on that. I don't believe all atheists are as "Bright" as the world view's potential would imply.

Most of my agnostic/atheist friends left Christianity because they first became "angry" with God -- though some did rebel against the conservative traditions too. I'd like to think I left it for intellect -- but who knows, maybe I'm just another teenage rebel.

SigmaX