Title   : A note about religion and philosophy.
Date    : 12 June 2005
Updated : 06 September 2011
Author  : Stian Skjæveland
Thanks  : Thanks to Kjetil Nes for some help with this document.

I am a christian, by which I mean that I believe in God, Jesus Christ 
and The Holy Ghost. I pray to God, and I also believe that what's 
written in The Holy Bible is true.

There should be no doubt that I am a christian. Still I admit that in 
many periods of my life, I find it somewhat hard to believe in the given 
dogmas. I'm a philosopher, and have many concerns with and 
critiques of a lot of conventional christian morals, etc. That 
- in some senses - makes me an agnostic. I used to struggle with 
depression, but now feel much better, thus not gives me quite that much 
of a nihilistic point of view.

I don't think any of this makes me a "less of a christian" human being, 
but it may make me an unconventional christian human being. I'm now 
roman-catholic, and feel comfortable about that.

Being a philosopher to me includes asking the right questions, and not 
necessary in all cases find the right answer. That's mainly because I 
think if I ask myself several questions about an issue - I will probably 
find answer(s).

Being a christian, politician and philosopher doesn't always match that 
well. I have been wrong before about christianity, and although I don't 
think it will happen again - it _could_ happen.

And a note about politics: Yes, I believe that social liberalism is a 
very good way to run a country. That's mainly because I favor that small 
bussines should be able to earn well (because that will decrease 
unemployment), a good welfare system, give anyone a chance to study and 
make the schools better, and that it's important to care about the 
environment. I vote for the liberal party of Norway (a center party), 
but earlier in my life was a member of the christian people's party, and 
one good reason why I do not vote for that anymore is because I think 
that the state should not run churches.

That's the short story.