[Sparks]

1. What are your views regarding sex outside of marriage?

No problem, as far as I'm concerned. We have this little thing called birth control nowadays.

2. What are your views regarding homosexual or lesbian relationships?

I don't understand why this is a big deal for some people. Who cares? I think it's pretty obvious that people don't choose their sexual orientation, so everyone should do whatever floats their boat.

3. Wht are your views on abortion?

Should definitely be avoided if possible, otherwise, I think it should be an option.

4. Do you believe in moral absolutes (ie: that there are some things that are always right or wrong regardless of culture or religion)?

I think that something is morally wrong if it would hurt our species chances of continued survival. Personally, I think this is where our morals come from. For example, harmonious social relations are essential to our survival. Things that hurt these relations, like theft, sleeping with your friend's wife, etc, are therefore wrong. Murder is obviously not condusive to our collective survival, so it's a baddy. Helping others is good for our survival, so it's good. And so on. But are these things universally right? Well, what if the human race is bad. I mean, we're ruining our planet. If that's the case, wouldn't the annihilation of our race be the right thing to do? Wouldn't it be wrong to let us stay around? Maybe that's a little crazy.

As for absolute values like you're talking about, would it have been right to kill Adolf Hitler? It's murder. It's one of those situations where it would still be a bad thing to do, but it's the right, moral thing to do, you know what I mean? So, from that perspective, I don't think that there are really moral absolutes, per se. That said, as I've explained, IMO people in all societies, regardless of religion, are members of the human race, so they are bound by a moral system, one based on our survival.

5. What, in your view, is the purpose of life?

I think life is what we make it. The purpose of life is to discover your own purpose of life.

6. What is your view of the Bible and what role should it play in our lives?

I don't think it should play any role in our lives. I've read it a few times, and it's pretty interesting in its own right. But, there's a lot of really brutal stuff in there, especially in the old testament. A lot of extremely questionable morals. I think we should throw that one out the window. The New Testament, on the other hand, is mostly OK as far as I'm concerned. You could definitely pick a worse role model than Jesus Christ (as depicted in the Bible).

I don't believe most of what's written in the bible, though. But, that's a whole different discussion.

In my opinion, the negatives outweigh the positives with regards to the bible, especially because we should be trumpeting reason and critical thinking these days, not dogma.

7. Do you go to church? If so, how often?

I haven't been to church in a long time. When I was 18, I spent a few months really thinking about it and decided that I couldn't believe in Christianity. It wasn't because I had a bad experience as a Christian or something like that. I had serious disagreements with some aspects of the faith (eg. the concept of heaven and hell) and many other things which I simply couldn't believe were true and not just added years after the fact by followers (eg. the factual accuracy of the Bible - Jesus actually rose from the dead, etc). Anyway, I've been really happy I made that decision, and have felt much more clear-headed in the years since.