I'm reading Dan Brown's book "Angels & Demons," which is kind of a prequel to "The DaVinci Code," and I'd like to see what you all think of these quotes:
"I did not ask if you believe what MAN says about God. I asked if you believed in God. There is a difference. Holy scripture is stories . . . legends and history of man's quest to understand his own need for meaning. I am not asking you to pass judgment on literature. I am asking if you believe in GOD. When you lie out under the stars, do you sense the divine? Do you feel in your gut that you are staaring up at the work of God's hand?"
"Religion is like language or dress. We gravitate toward the practices with which we were raised. In the end, though, we are all proclaiming the same thing. That life has meaning. That we are grateful for the power that created us. . . . In the end we are all just searching for truth, that which is greater than ourselves."
Do you think this is a valid summary of mankind's need to worship? I think it's pretty close to what I believe now that I don't have a bunch of manmade rules cluttering up my horizons. Seems to me to be a very balanced view of the universe around us and within us, and a viewpoint that would allow for a diversity of opinion without the need for fanatical "them & us" attitudes.Nina