... I classified God with the Easter Bunny, Santa, the Tooth Fairy, and other such fantasy beings. I went to church regularly when I was young, with my family, but I do not remember when or why we stopped going. I was about 7, or so, when I realized that people were serious about believing what they said in church. I thought that it was just a large weekly get-together, that people went to because they liked being around their friends and family. Once I figured that out, I began to try to believe, but much of it did not make any sense. I am not sure if I believed in God as an accepted fact back then or not. That is to say that I am not sure if I believed that it was wrong, or if I thought that I could not, yet, understand it.

When I was 8 I began to be home-schooled. I rarely did any work, I took the state-required tests every so often, but that was about it. That is when I started watching PBS. From The time I was 8 until I turned 12, I was home-schooled. During that time I had enough schooling to add up to about a half-year in regular school. It was because of the lack of things to do that I got interested in science. I watched PBS almost constantly. My favorites were Nova, Nature, Eureka!, and the occasional special with Steven Hawking. Before the state let me return to school, they made me take a test to see if I had at least a 7.0 score (7th-grade-level- 8.0 is eighth-grade-level, etc.) knowledge basis to begin 8th grade. My lowest score was in math (8.9), my highest was in science (16.0). Thank you, PBS.

"They seem to believe that since their beliefs come to them on a silver platter of blind faith, the same must be true for all people, scientists included; that is, they believe that evolutionism is an article of faith, and, all things being equal, we should choose the faith most pleasant to our psyche."

Why do you think that is a bad thing? I would like to know why you think that they think as they do.

Warm Regards,

Phillip Martin