It has been quite humbling in many respects. I mean, it has helped me to realize things are far more complicated than "religion is the problem and everything will be great without it." It seems that "religious" thinking extends well beyond religion, afflicting many atheists.

I know what you mean. Many of them do seem miserable, and I hope it is just a temporary glitch because they haven't yet found their way. I probably went through a phase like this myself.

I do think we are long overdue for a multi-party system. We don't even see it at the state level, so maybe that would be a good place to start. But yes, I'd like to see it in Congress too.

I've probably voted for 3rd party candidates in at least half of the presidential elections, but we rarely have 3rd party candidates here running for Congress. It is unusual enough for us to have a viable Democrat running for some of these seats!

I continue to press this point, but it is clear that many on the left outright reject it and indicate that they are going to continue to do this regardless of the consequences. It seems clear that this is one of the reasons Trump won and is likely to win again.

Under the old rules, ISPs aren't permitted to make Facebook run twice as fast as your blog. Under the new rules, it is my understanding that they can do this. I think this is worrisome for all of us small-time sites. Now, whether they will do this isn't clear. I have heard that ISPs in other countries without net neutrality have multi-tiered systems similar to what cable companies do with TV. We already have that in the sense of overall speed, but I suppose we could see something different where one has to pay extra, for example, just to access YouTube or Twitter. I think that's part of the challenge - nobody seems to be sure what will happen next.

Hard to say. In the short-term, I expect most of us will end up paying more for Internet access and some of the Internet-related services we use. In the longer term, I expect the large companies that can afford to pay (e.g., Facebook) will get faster while the rest of us get slower. I imagine this will ultimately reduce competition and leave the consumer with fewer choices.

Glad to hear it. It sounds like it has been a positive experience for you.

Have you checked this group out yet? https://www.worldreligionnews.com/religion-news/r...

I don't know much about them, but I thought I'd mention them in case you hadn't heard about them.

I think you are right about a demonstrated willingness to discuss uncertainty and seek answers being a good marker for whether the interaction may be worthwhile. I imagine we've all been suckered into some pointless interactions. I try to steer clear of most of them these days.