I'd just like the thank Cary for his response, and everyone else who took the time to write letters. I'm really kind of blown away at everyone's thoughtfulness and good wishes.

Although I doubt that I will ever become a theist, or even a believer in any non-material reality, I think that Cary was right to suggest that I need to "freak out" a bit. I've been a pretty buttoned-up guy my whole life, and maybe that's why I've been so successful at pushing troubling thoughts to the back of my mind for so long. As many have noted, I'm nearing forty, and I have had more than my share of deaths in the family. I suppose that confronting unpleasant possibilities and confounding questions is natural at this point in my life.

I think it's important to add that I am a real atheist, and my letter was not a ruse by some clever fundamentalist Christian. When I spoke of the "consequences" of my atheism, I wasn't referring to any potential punitive response from God; I merely meant that one consequence of abandoning religious faith is losing the comfort that comes with the idea of everlasting life.

Thanks again to everyone who has taken the time to respond. You've given me a lot to think about, and a fascinating reading list to tackle.

<<If man disappeared from Africa, Weisman notes, the big mammals would flourish, with the elephant population, which now numbers half a million, returning to perhaps 10 million, where it stood before the ivory trade.>>

Somehow the thought of this doesn't fill me with awe. You think any of those elephants might be able to write a piano sonata?

In the LW's own words, "my conclusion has been that god probably exists (but doesn't really play any sort of essential role in my life and is just some sort of vague entity out there)"

Yet in the very next paragraph, she claims that "my Jewish religion/culture was important to me."

These two statements are so utterly irreconcilable that they lead me to think the LW has very little respect for her own religion. If she did, she might spend some time reading her own holy book, and realize that the god described in the Old Testament is certainly not just some "vague entity out there," but a very purposeful and well-defined being who demands that his people obey very specific sets of instructions about how to live our lives.

It certainly sounds as though the LW's Jewishness is more a matter of style than substance. She's more concerned about how her husband looks to the rest of the congregation than she is about understanding the core tenets of her faith. In fact her husband, by refusing to pretend to be something he's not, is showing more respect for that faith than she is.

"Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. I tell you the truth, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished" (Matthew 5:17-18).

Sorry, but Jesus IS the god of the Old Testament, despite a few "kinder and gentler" pronouncements in the NT.

"I like and admire both Clinton and Obama. I strive for balance in our coverage and in my personal blog posts. "

That one had me rolling.

Joan -

It's actually quite impressive how every day you discover a new, passive-aggressive way to attack Obama. Today's was one of your most creative.

Joan writes:

"On this topic, though, Obama is far more courageous, for continuing to oppose the gas-tax holiday even though pandering to fed-up voters might help him politically."

So if Obama had supported the gas tax holiday, he would be "pandering," but when Hillary supports it, she's courageous.

Wow.

"The destruction wreaked by the Bush administration leaves little room for indulgence in factional fights and identity politics between today and Election Day."

Can someone post that in Joan Walsh's office please?

"Hillary Clinton did everything she needed to do in Saturday's Barack Obama endorsement in Washington"

Well, no. What she needed to do was explain how she could endorse a man who, a few short weeks ago, she described explicitly as unready for the office of president.

Perhaps these Pumas should imagine themselves reading this list of grievances face to face with a soldier stationed in Iraq, or the family of one. Think they could do it without feeling deep shame?

"Sorry, but you'll just have to stay here indefinitely, because the media was unfair to Hillary.."

Taking some commonly held stereotypes and riffing on them for two pages is supposed to be funny? I might as well watch an old Will & Grace episode.

Thanks for your clarity on this issue. Allow me to quote you, just because I want to see this in print one more time:

"The fact that transgendered people associate themselves with homosexuals and bisexuals is indicative of the confusion even they have about their own gender."

Not saying this will do it for you, but you might give it a shot.

I have suffered from weekly migraines for several years, and had resigned myself to taking Relpax and beta blockers for the rest of my life to control them. However, about 6 months ago I decided to lose some weight. I stopped eating junk food and drinking soda and coffee, and I started a moderate exercise program. The first week of my new regimen was very difficult, but since then I haven't had a single migraine. It's been an unexpected but fantastic bonus.

If religion were just a matter of listening to soothing music in a beautiful cathedral while humbly pondering the unknowable, I'd be all for it. Unfortunately, the picture Mr. Cares paints is far from the reality of real world religious belief and practice. I'm sure there are millions of believers around the globe who would be shocked to hear their deeply held faith (for which they would kill or die) is merely a form of benign navel-gazing.