Police... Cocaine... No problem...

I think you're in a serious video game/rpg withdrawal funk, Stone. Or something similar. You haven't been yourself lately. Hehe. You need to play Soukyu some more. But yeah, I think that person might have been the guy who got The Bloodmeister in trouble with the police for having cocaine in his car whose initials are D.C. Since we're keeping this somewhat anonymous, I can't use his name. But anyway, yeah, I think you'll find this interesting - something overheard after meeting with a Miami Archbishop:

Archbishop: "I'm from the great State of Florida, which I know is near and dear to your heart."
Georgie: "I'm about to name my brother the ambassador to Chad."

Damn the Senate.

Anyway, my remarks about religion were taken out of context. I did not say that I know there isn't a higher power because of things our ancestors did. I used the actions of our ancestors as an example. I know there isn't a higher power because everything that is attributed to "God" has been recognized as either something that any human can do if they try or as something natural. For instance, what the Sumerians thought the "Shepherd god" Dumuzi did (bring about good harvests, fertile land, etc.), was really a function of nature and, later on, people learning and using better farming techniques. For another example, God supposedly chooses when it's time to "take" someone (a.k.a. for them to die). Obviously, life and death are all part of a natural process which occurs in all living beings, whether it occurs naturally itself (long life) or unnaturally (car accident). A man running over a girl on a bike was because the man or girl or both were not paying attention, not because God "chose" the girl to leave. This goes on and on, up to whether God created the Universe. And no, I'm not anxious to find this out. Personally, I don't care. I'm sure it will turn out that God did not, but I have no way of knowing so I don't care to think about it instead of assuming that some divine being did.

Also, my using Lio as an example for my willpower argument was misunderstood. I was not criticizing Lio, as I stated. However, he chose to accept a feeling as God while he was going through a mentally straining time, which illustrates my point. This does not make him deluded or a moron or anything else, and I'm sure that if he were offended he would've ranted about me in return. I'm saying that I can find no other excuse to accept any sort of higher power other than even the briefest lapse in a person's willpower. I've never had faith, so I wouldn't know what drives a person to believe. I'm simply stating that the way for me to would be to ignore my willpower, and that's silly to me.

Lastly, regarding Alcoholics Anonymous, my comments are not made in ignorance. My sister goes almost nightly to AA meetings and this isn't because she's being stupid. She actually had a problem with drinking and could not find any other way out than to turn to AA, which was a very responsible thing to do. What they do as part of their twelve-step program, however, is require you to realize that "the drinking problem is not your fault, that outside reasons drove you to it, and that you are strong enough to overcome those outside factors with God's help." This is one of their paramount rules. They require you to "accept the things you cannot change" and pray to God to "help you through this tough time". These are quotes from an actual AA manual. I know a cadre of people who have overcome alcoholism on their own, without Alcoholics Anonymous or anyone else, simply because they knew they had to and they had the will to do it. I know people who have overcome hardcore drug addictions without any help because they knew it was necessary for themselves and for any family they might have. I know people who have gone from smoking two packs of cigarettes per day to quitting cold turkey and never touching any tobacco product again: and they did it on their own.

I respect other people's beliefs, but if those other people try to force their views onto me or anyone else who doesn't share them, I find that very dumb. Telling me that "a little faith wouldn't hurt me" when you don't even know me is insensitive, especially when I attempted to be nice to you. Just like any other human, I will attempt to defend myself from an attack. I find certain things silly which pertain to having faith and I made valid observations about them, backed up by evidence. I fail to see how that counts as "slinging insults at those with different beliefs", but like a couple of tracks back... whatever. What it comes down to is that I shall never believe because I have no reason to. And that should be respected by people, as well, along with my reasons for deciding that. If someone wants to believe in God, that's fine. Silliness to me, but fine. Who really cares, anyway? As long as the person doesn't base any of their views for important matters like politics on something dictated to them by their religion (coughJohncoughAshcroftcough), it's all good, baby. Peace.