I like him, a lot. His simple humility is genuine. He seems very progressive-minded and is a departure from the old tradition. I wish him well. I've waited a long time for the chance to say something positive about the faith I was raised in. Well, near, anyway; I don't think I was ever "in" that flock. The Catholic nuns who taught me for eight long years insured I would never partake of their belief system. I was never abused, much, but I saw a lot of it (I mean corporal punishment, not the other, much worse kind many priests committed). Being taught science by nuns was...weird and hopeless. They didn't seem to know anything at all about the subject. I didn't discover how interesting it was until public high school. And even there, in Biology class, not a single reference to Darwin or to evolution was made. My dad died (I don't use 'passed away') when I was 15. A few months after his death, a black silhouette in a very dark bedroom was seen by me, standing beside my bed as I awoke from what seemed a deep dream state. Lying on my side, my eyes could clearly see an utterly black figure. From that position, I could not discern anything but its midsection, unable to see up any higher. So sure was I of it's realness, I spoke to it saying, "What do you want ?" With that, the apparition vanished. I broke out in a cold sweat wondering what in hell had just happened. I had a vague sense of my father's presence, shortly. So, was I being visited by the ghost of my dad ? As I began to calm down I pondered it. My dad did, as a habit in his life, go around and peek in on his kids a night, true. The figure did not speak, either, and my pop was a man of few words, as well. But, I figured out what had happened and the lesson has served me well. I missed my father very much; his loss was painful to me and to our family. Maybe I'd been dreaming about him, I reasoned, and projected my subconscious wish to be with him onto real space and time. The whole experience lasted but a few seconds and my dream state had been transposed into my bedroom, for a moment. This was the one 'supernatural' experience of my life and it turned out not to be supernatural at all. Others would have interpreted such an occurrence as other-worldly, when it was only human feelings which produced the phantom. I still like to think it was my pop, but I cannot accept that it was. When we're young our parents are god-like. In adulthood, this inherent urge makes us want to find another model; we have come to realize that we love our parents, but not as gods. As people.
A few months later I read Desmond Morris' "The Naked Ape". It opened my eyes wide. Humans are animals ! Of course, and very much a part of the animal kingdom, not divine beings! I could not refute this and wasn't interested in trying. My epiphany came soon after; lying awake in bed I compared my religious teachings with my newly discovered interest in science and began to imagine a universe devoid of a creator. I wondered what would keep the earth form falling; what would support the order of things ? Then I remembered the laws of nature, and realized, God or no God, the earth would still obey the laws of nature, of Newton, and that the earth has orbited our sun for billions of years. In a flash, I saw that all the theology I'd been exposed to was wrong. It was a defining moment in my life.