What are your views on Religion...

What religion are you, if any?
Do you question your faith?
Have you ever have a crisis of faith?
How does your faith shape your views on the poor? The homeless?
How do you view the respect of life? Abortion? Capital Punishment?
Any thoughts on the other religions you don't subscribe to?

What religion are you, if any?
Atheist. I was Catholic for my first 23 years on the planet.

Do you question your faith?
Not now, but when I was Catholic, I questioned it a lot.

Have you ever have a crisis of faith?
I've had 3 major crises of faith. When I was 12, I began to doubt god because I didn't think he'd do these things to me. When I was 15, my behavior caused me to lose faith, and when I was 24, I lost all faith.

How does your faith shape your views on the poor? The homeless?
My philosophy is that we are here to help one another. Mammals are here to nurture--it's what sets us apart from other species. We learn, we emulate, and we empathize. We are not all given equal opportunity. We should do everything to stamp out hunger and homelessness in our grasp. It celebrates our humanity.

How do you view the respect of life? Abortion? Capital Punishment?
I believe that every life is precious. This is probably the most difficult question posed on here. I am conflicted. There are two lives in abortions to consider (mother and child) and two lives to consider in capital punishment cases (victim and perpetrator). These are the issues that tear my belief system to shreds and make me a hypocrite. But the easiest answer to these questions would be to outlaw both and say everyone is served. However, there is quality of those lives to consider.

For societal benefit a man can be put to death. If he shows no remorse, promises to do it again, and the crime is heinous enough. It should be rare. The same can be said for the mother in the case of the child, rare. It is not birth control or women’s rights, in my estimation. The life to consider is the one that has no voice. If that child’s quality of life is not served, I think we can abort.

Any thoughts on the other religions you don't subscribe to?

I find religion to be an outdated practice when we didn’t have modern science to know the origins of the world. It was the initial information passed from generation to generation. It is important by the shear number of people who subscribe to a faith. It affects our decisions. It affects history and culture. It’s the power to change men. I happen to believe this is within the human animal and has no relevance to an image of god. However, it has changed men. It is the power to do great and terrible things.

I respect it, I just don’t subscribe to it.

What religion are you, if any?

If any, I'd say Buddhist. I was born a Catholic.

Do you question your faith?

I questioned Catholicism plenty.

Have you ever have a crisis of faith?

Catholicism never resonated with me in the beginning. And after reading Gore Vidal's novel "Julian: A Novel," which tells how the last polytheistic Roman emperor tried to preserve traditional Graeco-Roman culture from an early Church that was more interested in wealth and power than in promoting spirituality and good will among the common people, my doubts were solidified.

How does your faith shape your views on the poor? The homeless?

I believe people should help the poor and homeless to the extent of their means. A strict Buddhist would emphasize making the best of one's lot and being at peace with a cycle of rebirth.

How do you view the respect of life? Abortion? Capital Punishment?

I believe abortion is murder. As for capital punishment, if the crime fits...

Any thoughts on the other religions you don't subscribe to?

I respect other people's right to follow their belief, but I dislike it when others go around telling others they won't know God unless they convert to their particular faith. It's presumptuous and arrogant, IMHO.