Is the concept of sin only derived from religion, though? Because, if you do not believe in any sin AT ALL then, hmmm, things get REALLY tricky!

You mentioned:

“certainly have values that I want to pass on to my children, but I want them to understand that those are my values, those are not THE right values. Other people believe other things and value other things and that is fine.”

and

“I respect everyone’s right to pass on the values that they think are important to their children. But as soon as they start saying that something is bad or sinful for everyone, versus just being wrong for their family, then I think this starts to create barriers.”

If a family encourages cannibalism because it is something they value and believe is right is it still okay? If a man believes it is entirely in his own right (and has no ill-conscious or moral questioning) about molesting YOUR child, would you still think he was not sinning? Is it perfectly acceptable, just because someone was raised to not feel badly about it, to torture pets?

You say, “Other people believe other things and value other things and that is fine” and “But as soon as they start saying that something is bad or sinful for everyone,” so I’m assuming that the above scenarios are OKAY with you because, if not, it would be BAD and/or SINFUL for…EVERYONE.

I’m very curious to hear your thoughts on this, especially after reading one of your latest posts on what constitutes a “bad mommy” (because, according to this post, no one can be a bad mommy–they are only being the mom they want and try to be!)

This is one of the reasons I do not follow any religion. I do not like to be told what to believe or have someone else’s belief systme imposed upon me.

Great post.