Hi Dan I'm a little late in this discussion but I wanted to commend you on your attempts a critical thinking. As I've said before, I'm the daughter of a crazy evangelical who thank goodness is dead now, good riddance. I've been an atheist for a very long time and I study Radiant Mind (secular buddhism) My beliefs are simple: My life is better when I exercise, eat well (favorite things to do) make art, music, be nice to people, make my friends laugh, help others, go on adventures and stay away from crazy people :)