From the Richard Dawkins website:

Greetings,

This is the story of how I escaped religion.

I was raised catholic. Mass was a wondrous experience to me. The music, the vestments, the ritual, the stained glass, my Sunday classes with the nuns, were all things I looked forward to every Sunday morning. Even as I grew older, I was always bitterly disappointed when I was unable to go. When I finally made my first confession and first communion, I was ecstatic. I loved reading tales about the saints and the Virgin Mary. My great-grandmother (even though I only saw her rarely) was the only relative who was able to keep me indoors on a gorgeous summer afternoon with her stories about the saints, miracles, and the time she saw the pope in person. She predicted that I was destined to become a nun. When she passed away, she left me her rosary that had been blessed by the pope-her most treasured possession.

Five researchers take science where it's never gone before.

Three years ago, the British evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins became a guinea pig in an experiment. Neuroscientist Michael Persinger claimed he had induced religious experiences in subjects by stimulating specific regions of their brains with electromagnetic pulses. Dawkins, renowned for his biological theories as well as for his criticism of religion, volunteered to test Persinger's electromagnetic device—the "God machine," as some journalists dubbed it. "I've always been curious to know what it would be like to have a mystical experience," Dawkins said shortly before the experiment. Afterward, he admitted on BBC that he was "very disappointed" that he did not experience "communion with the universe" or some other spiritual sensation.

Holidays stink! Work stops, and everyone expects a major outpouring of consumer rewards expressing love and affection.

Most holidays are born of religious traditions and inclinations. Thanksgiving, for instance, holds the idea of thanking a deity as a dominate part of a feast. Born of a nationalistic attitude of being thankful for a new land to conquer, the thanks are given to a particular cultures god.

I do not celebrate any holiday, except maybe National Eat A Banana Day, because everything that is behind the holidays is absolutely meaningless to me.

I also do not believe in the idea of buying presents in abundance to give to a person on a specific day. If I see something in a store that looks like something that someone I love would like, I do something that might seem a little odd. I buy it for that person, if I have enough money, then give it to them. No holding onto it, no hiding it.

"Do you believe in santa?" That is what my little sister just asked me. Yes she is little enough to have that belief, but I'm not going to lie to her so I told her no. She responded with slight shock and asked me why to which I was a jerk and said, "because." I didn't really feel like I debating her on santa when I'm hungry so I gave her a bit of a run around.

As I walked up the stairs she asked, "Well what happens to the cookies?" I said, "What happens when you eat cookies?" We did the same thing with the milk and she asked, "Can you prove santa isn't there?"

I stopped at that and acting confused said, "Why should I do that? Can you prove the cat isn't there?" We have two cats and a kitty so I just used that as an example. She said, "Well I can look there and see a cat," one of the cats was in the room. I pointed out that I didn't see a santa so she now wants to film him christmas eve.

Why why why does everyone (friends, I don't try this on strangers) get so pissed at me when I attempt to politely explain that saying bless you when I sneeze bothers me. I know and acknowledge that they are trying to be polite but I would rather nor have it. Must I suffer so that someone can feel better about themselves and their manners. I don't get upset when people continue to use it as an unconscious gesture but people become angry with me for even suggesting they try to find an alternative. Also why am I not allowed to refuse to celebrate christmas, I am not christian, it is not my holliday.

If one has something mundane to say, one goes to a mundane place, and says it to a mundane group of people, in myspace or something. If one finds a place that is interesting and is full of interesting people, why would you continue to say mundane things?

There are few opportunities in life to voice your considered opinion and actually have it listened to. There are even fewer places where a disagreement means a discussion, or a friendly, intellectual arguement rather than an exchange of insults.