[Blarg]

That you even try makes you in your heart among the best of people, and I thank and respect you for it. A lot of us are trying with everything we have in us and everything we can hope to eventually find within us, and it's not always easy. I don't think that struggle is any different for Christians than it is for atheists than it is for buddhists or Islamists or anyone. It's basically our life's mission on this planet.

And I wish we would all forgive and encourage each other in that mutual, basic human mission and wish each other the greatest possible success and understanding. I am sure some failure is as inevitable as some success, but I believe we can all find and claim our own individual will to make things better and more in the spirit of Christ as I understand Him. I believe the Christian mission even more than that of other revealed religions makes central and demands the exercise of our own free will to embody the spirit of Christ, and I can't imagine that spirit as one of exclusion, ignorance, or hate. I don't believe Christianity could possibly have gained a foothold in the world, much less preeminence in the Western world from the start of a few scragglers, if it were.

Anyway, I am rambling. I respect the sincerity of your thoughts and goodwill, and it is refreshing that I feel at ease with the idea that you may respect the sincerity of mine. These ideas should be traded back and forth so much more freely, and it is one of my greatest sadnesses regarding public life that they at best have little currency.