I've been an ordained minister since about 1997, through the Universal Life Church of California. Yes, its an internet ordainment. But first off, I've been to the county courthouse a few times to have my credentials checked in order to perform weddings and such for close friends, and its legit. Secondly you have to understand what it means to be ordained. To be ordained through a "normal" church, all you really have to do is take classes on their belief structure, and how to teach it to others properly. And though this may take longer in some faiths than others, once you have proven you have attained this knowledge, then send you on your way to teach "their" word. Well, what if you have your own set of beliefs you want to preach? You find a church that believes everyone has the rite to preach their own beliefs. Sound logical?

My old family church, back were I grew up, just recently changed from a presbyterian church to a lutheran church. Was this because the whole congregation changed faith all at once? No, it was because the preacher retired. The new preacher came from a different church, a different ordainment. But, in the end the name on the church doesn't really matter does it? Nor does were the preacher received his ordainment. The belief of the people hasn't changed. The belief is the important part. Enough said.

So, what do I believe? Well, first off, if we want to understand our selves spiritually, and our place in the universe, then we first must understand a little bit about the universe we're in. For this, I think a small physics lesson is in order. I forward you to another site. This simple video explains a bit better than I can. Just pull out the "navigation" bar on the left of the screen and then click on "Imagining the Tenth Dimension" to view the video. Imagining the Tenth Dimension - A Book by Rob Bryanton

Now that your brain feels like jello, lets forge on, as tough as it may be. The next step is to look at religion from a very general point of view. In a nut shell, religion as a whole, is a set of beliefs about a number of specific things. The topics of our creation, our spiritual being now, and what happens to us when we die, are the most commonly shared within almost every religion known to man. All of these topics are dependent on one key belief. The definition of the soul. If we look up the definition in the Catholic Encyclopedia, we find that this definition has taken multiple forms in the different cultures and religions through out history. And in many ways, most religions are structured around this one definition. So lets start narrowing it down there.

A fairly popular belief is that the electrical energy that resides within us is our soul. This theory was even captured in the 1995 motion picture titled Powder, and is popular among many. Even some who claim devotion, to religious factions, which denounce the idea. The main reason for all the debate is mentioned back in the Catholic Encyclopedia (though greatly lacking detail). The problem is, that scientifically speaking, energy can not be created or destroyed. This means that your energy was some were else before it was in you, and will still remain long after your gone. So when a new life is created, were does its energy come from, and were does it go when we die? With the basic energy theory, most answers lead to some form of reincarnation, and though this just doesn't fit into some religious structures, it is the most scientifically sound theory.

Now, about this time, I'm sure your wondering just where exactly I'm headed with all this. You see, my big problem when it comes to religion as a whole, is that when I was young, and bouncing between mom's, dad's, grandparents, with all of them going to different churches, I really started to wonder where it was I belonged. So I started to read anything I could get my hands on about any religious sect I could. And after everything I read, the only thing I was sure of, was for all the ideas and hundreds of religions out there, not one of them agreed with another. And, for the most part, they all take math and science, and throw them rite out the window.

Now I'm not saying that any religion is wrong. I think that the end goal of any religion, is to teach a set of morals and ethics in which to live by. And to that end I believe that the general decline of faith in modern society is the leading cause for the rise in the number of horrific acts seen in the news today. No "God fearing child" is going to take his dad's guns and shoot up his school, because he would be to afraid of going to "hell". But at the same time, I thought if I was to not just go, but to actually believe in something, it had to make sense to me. I really think this is where most people loose religion these days. It just dosn't make sense.

In time I started taking all the parts that seemed possible and put them in one pile, and all those that didn't in another. And when you look at just the ones that made sense as a group, they started to look like the outline for beginning of a new religion. A religion based in science, fact and reality, not myth and blind faith.