Doesn't the word heretic mean "someone who thinks"? I'd be proud to be called that!

I'm a Unitarian Universalist - although I don't believe in either principle in its name - and I feel a bit awkward at the way he's so sure of himself. Not that I'm an agnostic, I'm a signed-up member of the "man created god" clan, but because I realise that's only what I believe. It's not something I choose, it's what I have to believe based on who I am. And I gladly acknowledge that it's the same for him and anybody else (with the proviso that they must have thought about it and not taken somebody else's word for it, I also have nothing good to say about Pascal's wager).

But his enthusiasm rubs me the wrong way. I'm a member of a fellowship that mostly derives its fresh blood from people who move here from the US or who lived there for some time and were already aware of, if not involved in, UU before. I'm one of only a few exceptions and it may be because I can't shake the sober Dutch Calvinistic tradition that still permeates society and in some ways was very strong in my agnostic parents that I have a heard time accepting anything this guy says because of the way he says it.

Also, I don't think it's very uplifting to say gays are going to heaven because all the other sinners are going as well.

In a way I am a unitarian and a universalist, in that I also believe the father, son and holy ghost are one: one intricate fairytale pieced together from scraps from all over the ancient world with lots of imagination and hope; and that everybody's going to the same place: nowhere. Which, to me, is all the more incentive to take control of our destiny and make the world we live in a better, cleaner and fairer place for everybody.

However, I do believe his ideas would be a step in the right direction for those people who don't subscribe to my ideas.

I'm sorry, the Dutch Calvinist in me has started preaching again, hasn't she? I honestly believe everybody must believe what he or she must. And if it leads them to something like this, it's a lot better than some of the alternatives.

PS. He doesn't say he's going to heaven in his size 12 shoes, does he? He could just be going in his bare feet...