I think all religions represent the cultures from which they arose. There may or may not be a spiritual dimension to life, and various religions might reflect that spiritual dimension in some way, but I don’t thank religion is the same thing as the spiritual dimension.

I think it’s a mistake to equate a tradition and dogma and our conceptualizations with something that is mysterious and beyond our comprehension if it is real at all. And I think if we have any connection to a spiritual dimension, it would be a mistake to discount our own intuition and our basic desires. I think it’s more likely that our own gut feelings are more in tuned with transcendent reality--if there is such a reality--than our thoughts, words, rituals and laws.

If there is a god, I think that god is speaking to each and every one of us directly in some way, and it’s okay if we don’t all hear the same thing. Maybe our different opinions represent our limited capacity to understand. Maybe we each of us get a message tailor-made for our specific needs. Maybe we each hear a little bit of the truth, but not the whole truth and not the same truth. Maybe the message gets mixed up with our own confusion.