Steph, that sounds so difficult. I wish you very good luck with that.

I am SO glad my parents and in-laws are midly, if at all, religious. My mom is nominally, casually Christian; my dad thinks God, if he exists, is kind of a dick. (Sorry, religious Buffistas!) He's very bitter about my devout-her-whole-life Grandma dying the exact way she was terrified to die, of senile dementia in a nursing home, slowly.

I don't even know what my in-law's are. I think they belong to the church of wine.

M's mom is Jewish and M's being raised Jewish, and I think it's an important part of his cultural heritage; I'll support him if he decides to embrace it. However, D's an atheist and I'm agnostic; I have no plans to bullshit him about our beliefs when he gets to that age.

His faith, or lack thereof, should be an informed, personal decision.

I just rotated a Queen mattress all by myself. Fuck yeah spatial intelligence!

part of me thinks, "Wait, you don't go sit down with a priest to say, 'Yeah, uh, I'm not really on board with what you believe and have dedicated your life to...so, how can I tell my dad that?' "

Ultimately it probably depends on the priest, but given the discussions I've had about family with various pastors over the years, he may have some good advice and insight. Dealing with people is kinda their bailiwick.

Picture of the Preakness finish line.

I grew up Lutheran. Even if I still believed in that(Which, eh,) the ones I belonged to aren't Rapturish.(I think there are some scary ones that are.) I used to think I was an atheist, but now I think I'm just secular. Although I'm interested in other people's religions.

So the message of High School Musical 2 seems to be that you should care more about what your friends think than about your own life and goals.

People who have made the pioneer woman's cold noodle salad, would it be crazy to make it 24 hours before serving? I have already sliced up most of the veggies, but have not cooked noodles or put the dressing on.

My atheism has become more hardline over the past year. I've found my tolerance for religious people has become strained. It's kind of isolating.

My atheism has become more hardline over the past year.

Why do you suppose that is?

I think my atheism has intensified in recent years, but pretty much just the nutjobs I read about on political blogs piss me off.

I really don't discuss my atheism that much with my friends. And I'm still not out to my family about it.

Me too, Allyson. But one of the very best things about living in Brooklyn is that there are a LOT of other atheist Jews around. (Granted, there are also a lot of ultra-orthodox Jews around. But they mostly keep to themselves.)

Preakness winner - relaxing after the race.

Do you think it's in response to the craxy from the religious right that gets craxier all the time?