I don't agree with a lot of people. I'd say of the 52 different religious groups I encountered, I might agree with maybe 50% of what any given group said. Considering that we're talking about the perceptions of the nature of reality, or morality, I'd say 50% is a pretty good number.

There is a very firmly established belief in the United States in the concept of "freedom of religion." It could be said to be enshrined into the very DNA of the nation. Inside the Constitution of the United States, it states in clear language that:

It's probably the saddest stereotype of them all - in this case, Roy Ashburn, a California state representative who has campaigned against gay rights, arrested on a DUI after coming home from a gay nightclub. I really do feel sorry for him. Probably spent his whole life feeling that he was "evil" because of what his community/his faith told him that "if you like other boys you're bad".

As I've been doing this project, people ask me questions. Like "What's your most favorite religion?"

This is usually followed by "So what's the weirdest religion you've visited?" I usually blow that one off. People believe what they believe, and while I don't agree with everyone, I'm not going to be knocking people for what they believe.

Then - there's the time when you read something that is so ridiculous, I can't help but call it out.

It's odd (and flattering) when I see that someone has posted a link to my podcast (and thanks to Mr. Lord for pointing out a web site error(s) that I've got fixed.

Mr. Lord did highlight a question I've been asking quite a bit lately:

I had a friend of mine point out that someone linked to this project. Naturally, being the egotistical bastard that I am, I thought I'd check out what people were saying.

I was going through the comments, recognizing some valid complaints (some entries too short, who was I to investigate religions compared to someone famous, etc).

Then I ran across this comment:

"Doesn't this fedora wearing idiot realize he could just use Wikipedia or read a book?"

Gee. Why didn't I think of that.

That's right - I did.

Recently, a senior authority in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints delivered a speech at BYU Idaho, in which he said:

The other day I was interviewing a local Tampa minister for my podcast, and he started lamenting the dwindling numbers of people going to church. 

"They don't want the Word of God," he said. "They ask what bands are going to play, or if there's a kitchen for meals afterward, or other things. I don't do that - I just preach the Word of God. But people don't want that."

After the St Petersburg Times article about "52 Weeks, 52 Religions with John Hummel, I received a few emails and comments that go something like this:

"Just because the Mormon church is against gay marriage doesn't seem like a reason to become an atheist."

I don't blame the article - I did leave the Latter Day Saint (aka Mormon) church over their behavior in the gay marriage debate. But I had been an atheist long before.

When I started this project, or adventure, or quest, or whatever people want to call it, I wanted to show people that there's no reason to be scared of each other. That people have more in common than not.

The other weekend I was at a religious service - I won't say which one so as not to embarrass anyone. Usually between the service and the interview people people will ask me what I'm doing, what religions I've visited, so on and so forth.