I open my eyes in the middle of the night to find Beare (my favorite cat of 4), settled in on my chest.  I start to fall back to sleep, but she has something on her mind.  "Are you a Christian?" she inquires bluntly.

"I would say 'yes', but I firmly believe that would be an insult to Christ.  It depends on how far you would bend your definition of 'Christian'.  I think we have discussed before that someone said that the 'only true Christian died on the cross'.  I think it was Nietzsche.

"No matter", she persisted.  "Are you a Christian?"

"Well, no.  I think that would be an injustice to Christ.  I use the ethics he put forth as guidelines, but I fall short of adhering to them 100% of the time.  Why do you ask?"

"Just curious".

"Hmmm.  Curiosity killed the cat & they say BBQ'd cat tastes just like chicken," I said, just to throw in a cheap barb.

"Well, I think that most Christians are basically good people but not quite as honest about their commitment as yourself", she replied.

"That's a tough call, how is it that you think that you can make that judgment."

"I just think there are a lot of people that claim they are Christians because they are afraid of hell", she said, almost sarcastically.

"Well, it would be nice if they approached the notion to enhance their love for God, rather than be motivated by their fear of hell.  However, each person has the right to cultivate a relationship with their creator that gives them the greatest peace of mind."

"Why do you cut them that much slack?"  She was getting irritated, I could tell.

"Well, the freedom of religion is the freedom to develop the kind of relationship with God that gives you the most peace of mind.  So, I think that any relationship with God will evolve as the individual progresses".

“They’ve started adding a fragrance to the cat litter.  Can we find something fragrance- free?”

“Sure.  File a complaint with the management.”

“I just did”.

"I think I'll look into BBQ recipes for roasting cats.  Times are tough."