Swiper, No Swiping!

[Swiper]

I came to the realization that my introduction is way overdue.

I'm a 40-year old male (originally from Europe) who has been married for 16 years to a Mormon girl. We have one daughter (10-year old, special needs) and do not plan to get any more children. I work for the U.S. government and I'm involved in the military tribunals in GTMO. I do have a great affection for dogs and will adopt as many of them as I can afford and properly care for. :)

I'm a history buff and its my goal to one day teach history at the college level. I have BA in history from a Catholic university and I'm currently halfway through my masters in history. I hope to one day be able to get a PhD on the subject (Yes, I can always dream). I have a tendency to get obsessed about the importance of historical accuracy. Yes, I'm one of those people who would pause a historical movie to evaluate any anachronism in a particular scene. My absolute pet peeve is the use of maps not accurate for the time period (like a post-1920 map being used during a WW1 movie scene).

I consider myself a Pantheist and I do not subscribe to the idea of an anthropomorphic God. I believe that all existing religions in the world today are pure manmade constructs without any guidance from the devine. I do believe that Yushua ben Nazareth was a real person, but that his story has been so distorted through the centuries that its impossible to recover the truth about him. In general, I subscribe to the commonly accepted scientific ideas that exist today, such as evolution.

I currently active in a Unitarian Universalist church where I teach Social Justice to 6-7 graders. The fight for social justice, equal rights, etc, are very important to me and I have little tolerance and patience for that I consider to be bigotry or narrowmindness.

[Guest]

Oh man!

[Palerider]

Welcome