Hi WritingReptile, and welcome back. As far as I can tell you last posted here in 2003!

I, too, can live without the religious threads which have on occasion dominated the discussions here - but I can assure you that for a good long time they have faded into the background somewhat. Please stick around!

No matter what anyone may or may not believe, Ray knows the answers now!

And I'm sure he's chuckling.

Was tickled pink when Garrison Keillor referenced on this week's A Prairie Home Companion the exact passage from Matthew I posted. Not so thrilled that he failed to mention Ray and said so.

Perhaps this has been asked before, but why would a Biblical literalist or Christian fundamentalist of any stripe take interest in Ray Bradbury in the first place (his writing or his life)? I doubt that his work is sold in Christian book stores (sadly), but such places have shelf after shelf of pastor-approved fiction available.

And just what sort of mind considers a beautiful life's work, filled with awe and wonder and, yes, spirituality, seeking only to look down on it? "Judge not, lest ye be judged".

Neither Bradbury nor I ever said or will ever say that you folks are required to observe Halloween, or any of the other "awfulness" you apparently find in his work. You're free to do or not do as you wish. It's your loss.

It wasn't my opinion that any of the Christians found either Ray or his work awful. They wanted to see him saved because they loved him. In their viewpoint belief in Jesus Christ as the only human incarnation of God was the only way to get into Heaven. They seem to forget there are "12 Gates Into the City," and Ray probably has friends in every section by now!

Indeed...."My Father's house has many mansions", "Consider the lilies of the field", etc. There are also the words of Paul in Romans 14, and who knows how many others.

"The creator of the ostrich, the camel, the platypus, and man? Of course he laughed!"

I'm going to regret posting this (because it prolongs the life of this religious thread!), but this particular thread was started by the late Nard Kordell, who was concerned that Ray's utterances on the nature of god and man might exclude him from the appropriate hereafter (or whatever you want to call it).

I think Ray wrote eloquently on this and a number of related topics in his afterword to "Fahrenheit 451". While referring most directly to "political correctness", he attends nicely to any and all who criticize his life and work not for its contents, but out of their own belief systems.

“All you umpires, back to the bleachers. Referees, hit the showers. It’s my game. I pitch, I hit, I catch. I run the bases. At sunset, I’ve won or lost. At sunrise, I’m out again, giving it the old try.....and nobody can help. Not even you".

Will add another quote which I discovered recently: “We are the miracle of force and matter making itself over into imagination and will. Incredible. The Life Force experimenting with forms. You for one. Me for another. The Universe has shouted itself alive. We are one of the shouts.”

I see nothing in those words which attacks, opposes, or excludes any religion.

"Yes, we'll gather at the river..."

There you go.

For the record, I begrudge no one their faith, whatever it may be. If your path is similar to mine, we will walk together. If it is not, we will walk separately. But the journey is shared by all. Provided someone sincerely believes they are on the right path....that is their right. As long as they are not harming anyone else, let all believe as they wish.

In an attempt to keep this lighthearted (I am not about to enter into a theological discussion on this board), here is a joke:

A man dies and goes to heaven. He is met by an angel, who asks him a few questions about his life, interests, and faith, then says: "ah....we have just the right place for you--come along!"

The man and the angel walk down what seems an infinitely long hallway lined with doors, each with the name of a different faith or belief system or interest or combinations thereof. They walk on for a very long time, when suddenly the angel stops in his tracks, gesturing to the man to do the same.

"I have to ask a small favor. Could you be very quiet as we go past the next door?"

"I don't understand", the man replies. "Is something wrong?"

"Oh no," the angel says with a chuckle, "it's just that the (insert faith or denomination) are in there. They think they're the only ones here, and we don't want to spoil it for them".