A 'Shepherd' is, I believe, 'Sheep Herder'. If the Lord is my shepherd, that makes me one of the many sheep, or more accurately put as female, a 'ewe'. (note that ewe is spelled with an e- a double v-e). If we are to believe the Bible, Eve must have been a 'black-sheep' since she didn't follow directions. Some sheep follow directions through 'faith' and some make their faith through logic and experience... following no shepherd. Though I am not from Missouri, I certainly am among the 'so, show me' people. I have never found it possible to believe anything on faith alone, or because my religious mother tells me that something is holy because a priest said words over it.
In the last twenty or thirty years of my life I have talked to many people, like myself, who have learned that most religions require their congregants to be like sheep...'follow me and don't ask questions'. The reason I rarely feel as though I belong within many groups is that others feel alien around me. For centuries, people have been ostracized by the masses for being different. Often it was scientific men, but the witch hunts proved it was women as well that were punished for non-conformance. I believe I have been spared from being banished, most of the time, because I clearly have no capacity for casting the 'evil eye', .I try to live by the golden rule, am basically ethical and moral (though those requirements differ greatly as in the eyes of the beholder who also rule which laws get made). In fact I live pretty much within the ten commandments, at least those relevant to this century.
It occurs to me that the world would be a better place if there were no religions. It would certainly allow people to believe whatever they wish, privately. Now religious institutions occupy tax-free lands...giving back nothing to the community at large. Why should this be? If there were no religions, perhaps laws would have more meaning. As it is now, the phrase 'In God We Trust' is rather meaningless to the world full of various 'Gods' no longer fabled on Mount Olympus. Without organized 'religions' fewer wars would be fought for the power of that particular religion. We would be rid of one set of bullies as history has well recorded. Another set of bullies, now voted into the House Representatives should also go, for the same reason. Some are there to make Christianity the opiate of no-choice for the American people.
It is small wonder, then, that the number of Atheists on all continents is rising.. Too many people are under the delusion that they talk to God, or 'he' talks to them. They are running churches, mosques, temples or whatever and seem to be adding their numbers to our government. Within mental hospitals one finds them concentrated in even greater numbers!
