Noble Seeker Blog: Update 1

I started writing a month ago at the encouragement of several friends.  I decided to write about religion because politics is too contentious for people to listen to one another right now and I'm not sure how to go about explaining my thoughts in the intersection between technology, geopolitics and economics.

The first time I had the idea to do a blog like this was in 2014, which I visited Chapel Hill UMC in San Antonio, TX

I knew I wanted to tell the story about how I became a Humanist and possibly where my thoughts have led me since.  I also knew that in telling that story, I'd want to talk about some of the churches and other religious organizations I visited that had opened my mind.  I saw an opportunity to return to a practice I had maintained during the years I went to Emanuel's House, that of visiting religious communities with the hope of learning something new.  So, I did that too.

I didn't expect the response I've gotten over the last month.  So many of you have thanked me personally since I started writing.  You've shared my work.  I'm surprised to find more and more people reading and returning to the site every week.  Google Analytics suggests that several people were using my communion thoughts in church last Sunday (at exactly 11:30 am).  I would never would have imagined.

Me around the time I became a Humanist (2006)

I intend to keep writing for the foreseeable future.  Life may get in the way of me posting as frequently as I currently do.  If I could, I would do this for a living.  In an ideal world, I'd turn this project into something much larger.  I'd create interfaith dialogues and interfaith service projects.  The dialogues would be panel discussions followed by fellowship rather than events where people get up and give a speech representing their faith's values.  These events would be accessible to lay people.  I'd work to create healthier conversations between theological liberals and evangelicals too; and also between religious and non-religious people.  So often, these labels divide us more than they should.

Today, these goals are a long way off.  I don't know if I can achieve them.  For now, I'll keep writing.

From my visit to Holy Land Franciscan Monastery in DC (2/9/2017)