What are the 3 most important considerations in real estate?

What are the 3 most important considerations in religion?

Well, believe it or not, I went to a business meeting this
morning, on the 22nd floor of a 25-story building, and gaz-
ing out the window as the meeting was rather mundane,
what do you think I saw?

An airplane flying by with a banner waving behind it, saying

SINGLE? CHRISTIANITY
713-???-LOVE

Now, I didn't catch the middle 3 numbers but I can only
guess that the number had something to do with some chris-
tian matchmaking service -or- perhaps, some solicitation to
meet with fellow christian singles in a fellowship of some
kind.

So, no biggie, we live in a religious culture with churches
galore so what's the big deal about a christian banner in
the sky? Nothing, really, as it seems to be accepted in our
culture.

Speaking of christianity in the sky, I recently returned from
a mini-vacation in the midwest, and on one part of the jour-
ney, a minister-in-training sat next to me (actually, he sat
next to a young lady he had apparently begun talking to prior
to boarding the plane and he ended up between the young
lady and me).

He had the traditional cross necklace (saw quite a few of
those on my trip) and he talked about his beliefs on and
off to the young lady on the short 1 hour flight. He mentioned
salvation and the young lady was not really into his Mormon
beliefs as she was raised Catholic but she was polite and
mentioned she felt guilty about not attending church, she
didn't agree that Catholicism was the top religion, but she
would feel bad if she went to a non-Catholic church. She
also mentioned she felt churches that thought they were
the top dog (perhaps, referring to the recent Catholic
position as stated by the pope) were wrong.

Ironically, on the same exact part of my journey going the
other way, two young ladies sat next to me, both of the jesus      
christ faith they openly discussed for the first part of the hour,
with the remainder of their discussion having to do with one
of the young lady's romance adventures, choosing between
two or three boyfriends, as best as I could tell.

The romance adventuress was quite an item, discussing how
fickle she was, how she had dated some poor guy who had
fallen in love with her but she didn't want to get serious, and
basically deciding she just hadn't met the "right" man but
she was going to have fun trying.

My comments to the faithful sojourners on both trips - nada
as I was deeply entrenched in reading a couple of science
books (one of them was simply superb, "The Endless Uni-
verse", and I'll be posting details later today or tomorrow)
and didn't perceive that there was an easy or welcome open-
ing for assisting them with their life views - next time, I may
wear my

"FREELOVER?
Yes

God?
No"

t-shirt ... that might provide an opening of some kind.

---

Oh well, to sum up, christians in this country are not shy
about openly discussing/pronouncing their views and in
my opinion, disbelievers should not be shy about looking
for ways to express our views when the opportunity arises,
in ways that are conducive to thought and reason.

Of course, places such as funerals, churches, weddings,
family gatherings, those I'd consider to be off limits
when it comes to non-faith (although, certainly, some
of those places, Unitarian groups come to mind, might
not be so difficult venues in which non-faith could be
easily discussed and certainly, some are fortunate in
having non-faith families and friends with whom non-faith
discussions are welcome).

Other places, when the opportunities are available, in a
mutually respectful manner, with due recognition of the
nature of the perspectives to which most in our country
have been indoctrinated, may offer us, disbelievers, ways
in which our views may be considered as meritorious and
worthy of consideration. Certainly, sharing and caring
about people, when done in a way which comes across as
pro-human and pro-truth, has the potential to be of benefit
to others, but one would be well-advised to proceed with
tact/caution when discussing disbelief with persons who
may not be prepared for such views.