I have come, after much thought, to the realization that there is (for me at least) a fundamental flaw in the atheist-theist debates that rage on Wondercafe and elsewhere. The problem, as I see it, is that both positions, especially in the extreme forms that tend to start and get involved in these debates, are based on an old-fashioned notion that one's faith is binary: one either believes in God or doesn't. In computer interface terms, it's a checkbox labelled "God" that you click or you don't.

As some of the WC regulars have noted, I am back from my travels. I spent about 18 days in China all told, divided among Shanghai, Xian, and Jiuzhaigou National Park in Szechuan province. I’m still sorting through my pics but will post some of them in a Windows Live album or Flickr or something and link it here later. Here is a quick rundown of my adventures.

I'm currently drafting my creed as a personal exercise in response to some reading and contemplation that I've done over the summer (and am itching to take the more formal route of completing the UU Building Your Own Theology course). And I'm finding that the word "God" isn't appearing in it. Nor is it likely to. And that doesn't bother me in the least. It's not that I'm becoming an atheist. As I read through the statements I'm making in it (I'll post it in a blog someday), there's more than a few that suggest a kind of pantheism or even panentheism.