I only know about the heterosexual side of things, sorry.

Hmmm?

Wow.
I was just reading the remarks and wondered how they all fit into "History of Religion."

I'll accept the "Hmmm?" Zada. At least that fits.

Elf,
I think that you have a good handle on things.

JoElle I like the way that you think. I choose to beleive that the world and people in it are doing their best with what they have and with what they know, for the most part. Our time here on the planet is short, but our footprints are big, and so I want to do the best I can to prepare if for the people who follow after us. Not just for my own kids, but other folks' kids too.

Good point Rick! We do tend to lump people together. In the United States, people from the North (especially New England) regard people from the South as inferior slaveholders and people from the South see the Northerners as elitist, snobbish, and greedy.

There's still a "north and south" divide in the UK. Northerners(south of Scotland) are seen as being lazy, hard-drinking, long-term unemployed, working-class "Geordies" who are all children of former miners. Southerners are referred to as effete, decadent "southern poofters" by comparison.

Forgiveness doesn't come come easy to any of us and the Jews have been persecuted for years -- hence the tag about fogiving and forgetting. It's a myth but ethnic humour reinforces common misconceptions.

I've fomulated a few impressions about religion that control my beliefs, and therefore my life: Things accepted or proven by science refute everything I learned about creation in Sunday School. Man created God in his own image, and not the other way as we are conditioned to accept. Organized religion is crowd control in the most basic of systems. The Christian Bible, and similar versions devised though belief systems by different names, are anthologies by chosen authors. And those published authors, then as now, serve at behest of the Editors. Weeds and people and lower animals live and die, and eventually become extinct as they are replaced by more adaptable species. And beliefs in parallel universes, or Heaven or Hell or Purgatory, are conveniences for those who so choose to believe them, and those beliefs should be honored by all and rediculed by none. And these are my beliefs.

Jim Woods
www.ultrasw.com/jwoods

I just skimmed most comments and am not responding directly to any. Just to reiterate my position, let me say that I believe in God but not in religion. Religion is man-made. I believe there is but one God - an universal intellingence. I don't believe that this intelligence is in human form. The God I believe in is the same one that Moses prayed to. The same one that Muhammed prayed to. The same one that Jesus prayed to, etc., and the God that most people worship. God is called by various names but it is my belief that it is the same substance or force of energy. All the philosphical forms of worship has caused wars over the centuries. Each dogma praying to this one God to destroy their enemies - enemies being those who don't believe in their particular faith. Not much has changed over the centuries. There is still conflict/strife over the various forms of religious worship and wars continue. It creeps into politics. Politicians spout their support for their religious friends seeking favor and at the same time creating animosity with others.
And so it goes....

These comments are very interseting. All the above points have value...good questions should have simple, and provable answers.

Abe, why not start with the first question: "What is the purpose of the human race?"