Okay, what happened to the posts that were here? This is just plain silly. Barb

Hmmmm, My family is definitely an interesting bunch. My cousin and her family were there and they are JW's(not practicing now as she can't stay out of the bars or off of ecstacy long enough). My aunt and her husaband attend kingdom hall, but still celebrate holidays. My sister and her family are agnostic, and my mother is a still-in-the-closet Atheist married to a hypocritical christian who hates the world. She is one of those afraid to take that leap in case she is wrong. She still thinks being gay is wrong although she does not believe in the bible (go figure). I am working on her though through some education. We used to say grace, but no longer do. For my family, the holidays are just about the family, the food, and the presents. For me, it is just about the presents and maybe the food. Happy Holidays everyone!!!!! Terri

While I am functionally Athiest, I wouldn't clasify it as an 'interest', but I do read the board. Likewise, while I am a man, I wouldn't classify men as an 'interest', but I do read the board. I think you'll find there are thousands of nominally Christian folks on the boards that do not list Christianity as an interest. You must also consider the difference in mandates... The Christian God tells them to share and convert, so they are very vocal and visible in their beliefs. Athiests have no such mandate, therefore are less visible. It's not unlike Star Trek Fans... There are a lot out there, but Rodenberry did not command them to go out and convert everyone, so there actually tends to be very little discussion of things Trek outside of Trek circles. As for a smaller or greater proportion of God-fearing or God-less being obese... I doubt it ****il I see supporting statistics). I suspect 'support' boards draw a personality trait that is also one that draws people to religion. There are few men on the boards, but it is definately not because less of them are obese, but they react differently to obesity, and less of them look for AMOS kind of support. I would guess the same of Athiests who may be more used to dealing with certain stuff on their own. Tek

Hi Debbie, Welcome to the Godless board. I lived in Berlin, Germany for seven years so I have a feel for the 'ex-patriot' kind of life. Hum, why are there only 9 of us? I think there are more, but some don't like to join, others are too afraid to put the athiest label on and others are conflicted. I have a theory for why there are so few of us on the OH board. I have nothing to base it on except my many years of living and having lived all over the world and meeting people of all shapes, races, politics, income etc. Ok here it is....... I don't think athiests as a group are as obese as believers. Why? Because athiests aren't trying to fill an inner hunger that can't be satisfied by food or gods. I really feel that religious people are searching to fill some emptyness and they turn to food or god to fill it. They are desperately trying to deny the truth, we all die. To admit to being an athiest is to admit that one is mortal and that this life is all there is. I wasn't obese until my late thirties. I was physically active and ate moderately. My daughter's illness and my resulting depression packed the pounds on me. Obesity is the result of too many calories in and not enough calories out. Once the human body has stored those calories in fat, it fights hard to keep them. It is waiting for the famine that will never come. That is why losing weight is so hard. No amount of praying or hoping or even will power (since almost all diets fail) will get that excess weight off. We need a disease, a famine, forced confinement, or surgery to get it off. I knew I was killing myself and being an athiest knowing there is no reward on the other side, I wanted my remaining years to be productive. There was only one option to rid myself of the diabetes, high blood pressure and other health problems. I needed surgery. Anyway that's my opinion. Cheers Barb

We had a little Thanksgiving. I suggested a brief grace (which I realize is really odd for an atheist). My grandmother used to say a brief grace that expressed thanks for the gathering of family and friends and the food, and I miss her a lot. I do have some incredibly annoying fundie relatives. My insane aunt used to sign along with the prayer. She learned some sign language through a church friend and felt that she had to sign for us. None of us were/are eharing impaired. I reminded my sister of this bit of lunacy recently and asked her if she thought Auntie was signing because God is deaf. "Well, that'd explain a lot," she said. I was able to eat the usual Thanksgiving things (surgery is next month, liquid diet is a few days off). I won't go into detail, but it was nice. I didn't go crazy. I'm trying to be respectful of the leftovers without overeating. We really didn't need a turkey that big, or as many pies as I made. Oh well. At least pumpkin pie is a good source of protein.