http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/11/opinion/sunday/americans-and-god.html

This is an interesting essay about Americans' views about God.

Here's what rings true about a lot of exmos (and nevermos) I know:

"Nones don’t get hung up on whether a religion is “true” or not, and instead subscribe to William James’s maxim that “truth is what works.” If a certain spiritual practice makes us better people — more loving, less angry — then it is necessarily good, and by extension “true.” (We believe that G. K. Chesterton got it right when he said: “It is the test of a good religion whether you can joke about it.”)

By that measure, there is very little “good religion” out there. Put bluntly: God is not a lot of fun these days. Many of us don’t view religion so generously. All we see is an angry God. He is constantly judging and smiting, and so are his followers. No wonder so many Americans are enamored of the Dalai Lama. He laughs, often and well."
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Amen to that. Garrison Keillor on A Prairie Home Companion routinely makes jokes about Lutherans. He has done it for so long, Lutherans would be insulted if he stopped. Catholics are a close second. Unitarians take their licks as overly earnest and kind of geeky. Mormons come up on occasion, but it feels like he is walking on eggs.

The Mormon god in particular is not a lot of fun. The Dalai Lama, OTOH, is a hoot. Ironically, his website was set up by an exMo - Joe Firmage, great grandson of Hugh B Brown.

How's that for cool karma? :)