Although I can see why many of my peers in the freethought community (atheists, agnostics, skeptics, and the secular humanists, aka SATAN if you're a fundamentalist) hold harsh feelings against religious dogma -- I feel that way myself -- I think it's a shame that so many of us automatically shut our minds the moment we find out another person is religious. Shouldn't freethought mean exactly that -- free thought?

I'd be lying if I said I liked Christianity -- although I can get along with liberal Christians very well, there's something about a martyrdom-based religion, something about the idea of eating another person whether literally or symbolically, something about the whole "God is good, and we're scum" mindset, against which my mind revolts. Sometimes it even turns my stomach.

But I don't let that get in the way of friendships with liberal Christians, or even conservative ones who respect my right to my own disbelief enough to not hound me over it. I live in the South -- if I cut off all contact with Christians, I wouldn't even be able to go grocery shopping.

It's more than that, though. We can learn from one another. It's not always easy, it's definitely not always comfortable, but there is stuff that Christians and freethinkers can share. The past few months with the Unitarian Universalist Student Associationhave reminded me of that. My friend Damon, a person I hold in very high regard, is a Christian. So are my friends Kim, Kelly and Alicia. So is my protege J.R. So is my friend, hero and godbrother, Stephen.

They show me love; I try to show them reason. We look for areas where our points of view overlap. Sometimes we hit a gold mine.

Freethinkers can learn from followers of Eastern religions, and they can learn from us. Theirs is a simple, yet profoundly beautiful, way of looking at the world. Our is simple, yet staggeringly complex -- as complex as science, as simple as a sunset.

Nature religions that view the cycles of nature as sacred -- I fail to see where that, in and of itself, contradicts the ideas of freethought. The natural order has a lot more to do with our being here right now than some bearded old man in the sky, and that's a fact.

That's why I'm a member of the Unitarian Universalist Association, as well as being an atheist. Because parts of me are inspired by one or another of these spiritual schools of thought. Being a realist does not necessarily mean being empty of higher thoughts or deeper emotions.

Freethought should be just that: free thought. Meaning, one has the freedom to accept good ideas, no matter what their source -- even from religion. And the same freedom to cast out the garbage that we already emphasize and treasure.

Can a freethinker be a Christian? I don't know. This freethinker can't. But can a Christian be a freethinker? I know quite a few of them.

God is Dead -- Now What?