It's not like there was a vote.

True. And it's true of so many things, really: the loudest voices get the most attention, even if they don't actually represent the beliefs or attitudes of the people they claim to be aligned with.

Guess it's another instance of "Don't be on my side: you make my side look bad."

"Your" spokespeople is putting it strongly. It's not like there was a vote.

See my tagline from Trudy.

But I think there is legitimate non hate-filled argument to be made that in the current century religion is a net evil. The bad things outweigh the good, and often the good replace secular institutions that could do a better job. Think of Catholic hospitals that gain a local monopoly while refusing to provide abortion or birth control. I'm not saying religion is the greatest evil or an unmitigated evil. Bu, in spite of all the good it does, religious belief is on net an evil and a major enabler of many greater evils.

Watching the singing of "Maryland, My Maryland" at the Preakness. Good lord, that was an awfully high key for that glee club.

I'll sit on my damn fence and watch the birds, find holiness in a well-crafted sentence and sanctity in kind acts and laughter.

I love this, Erin! May I tag?

"Your" spokespeople is putting it strongly. It's not like there was a vote.

There hardly ever is. We live in the media age. The loudest asshole with the best press agent is the spokesperson of whatever they identify as. You're SOL if you belong to said group and think s/he's full of it.

Some people scoff at agnostics as fence-sitters.

I think agnostics are the bravest of them all. It takes nerve to stare into the infinite and say, "beats me".

Of course, quester!

Truds, I'm a little more profane: "Eh, WTFF? Ooh, look, John Barrowman's naked!"

Wow, that's an unhappy horse in the starting gate.

I usually dodge around this by just talking right to the baby: "Aren't you cute! You are such a little muffin! What a smiley-puss!" and any other non-gender-dependent endearment that comes to mind.

This reminds me of what the NICU nurses would say (not gender-related) when they had to deal with an ugly baby. They'd always say, "What a sweet baby!"

We had the NICU reunion today, which is fun but super draining. One of the families that had been there with us was there. And all I could say when I saw the daughter is, "Oh my! She's so big! How wonderful!" She was a very unfortunate looking child.

Dana - that really was a high note. Difficult to listen to - too.

There's always the Southern route to that: "Look at that child! Bless her heart!"