So there have been questions and speculation about my  personal religious affiliation. Am I a Christian or a Pagan? Can’t I be both or neither? My personal feelings about religion are very private, and I do not really discuss them much, to anyone. I feel that the First Amendment in the Bill of Rights gives me the right to be or not be whatever I choose. Can I not have a very personal and spiritual relationship with God without the stigma and restirctions of labels? 

 But, for clarification purposes, I will ruminate a bit about my philosophies.

I DO believe in God. I DO NOT believe in Hell as it is written about in the bible. I believe that we manage to create our own hell on earth through negative thinking and action.

I DO believe in the Golden Rule. I DO NOT believe in being mean, cruel, or hurtful, although I can and have been at times.

I DO pray. I DO NOT pray in public or within view of anyone. 

I DO like to have items of spiritual meaning around me. I DO NOT like to worship any type of graven image. I do not know what that makes me, but as far as I am concerned I do not need a label.

I believe that religion should bring joy into your life. I feel that faith of any sort is meant to answer questions and not to put you upon a pedestal to lord your “righteousness”. I choose not to affiliate myself with any organized religion because I do not feel that any of them are correct. I do not feel that most Christians truly find joy in their faith, they seem to be a moody, depressing, dark lot. I do not feel that to say there is no God or no creative force gives me much meaning, so I tend to not look at life as a cosmic stroke of luck. I would like to think that I do have a purpose, that I do matter, and that there is a meaning to all of this. I would also like to look at the good in humanity and I would like to think that as a global culture we can get over the religious and racial differences and come together to fix all of the damage that has been done to our world by those that refuse to admit that we are ruining the world that God gave us to take care of……I have many more views and thoughts, but again I am very private about those things and I feel that each person must choose their OWN path to GOD……

Dawn Marie