"Dale, what do you believe?"

This post is definitely personal-- very personal-- intended entirely for our little girl, Anna, when she reaches the point in her life when she asks herself the same-- "What do I believe?"

An old friend, Chuck Johnson, whom I've known since the third grade, asked me on Facebook, "Dale, I was curious-- are you a Christian? If not, what do you believe?"

Below is my response... it took me the better part of a day, thinking and contemplating, before I could put it down in writing.

"I was raised Christian-- Methodist-- and I consider myself a Christian, but I'm not a Christian to the exclusion and judgement of other religions. I learn, borrow from and appreciate other religions, too. I believe that there is a pervasive energy and intelligence that we call God which is the source of the Universe and all Creation. I believe that the notion of human evolution and the notion of human creation as orchestrated by God are entirely compatible. As stated in the First Law of Thermodynamics, energy is neither created nor destroyed, so the physicist in me believes that the spiritual energy of a human being is eternal. In one form or another, our spiritual energy has always existed and will always exist, even after the death of our physical body, but I have no clue if that implies the existence of heaven or reincarnation. I believe that God is an energy and power beyond our human ability to completely understand, which envelopes all of us with love and is the origin of all goodness in the Universe. I believe the flaws of humankind, especially ego and greed, are the source of all evil, as we know it. God created only love and goodness and beauty; humankind created evil as an external excuse for our own bad behavior and humankind can eliminate evil from our own behavior, if we choose to do so. I do not believe that we have to be Christian to hold a close relationship and connection to God. The Christ and God that I believe in could care less what particular religion we practice or whether we practice any religion at all... or whether we believe in them as God and Christ. What matters more is being good to fellow human beings; treating God's creation, Mother Earth, and her creatures, with the respect that Her beauty deserves; and maximizing your blessings and time on Earth in service to both. The means and beliefs we follow to achieve those ends do not matter.

Thanks for asking, Chuck. That's what I believe right now; it could change and evolve."