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'Is it possible that you experience with Mormons has adversely colored your entire view of "religous people"?'

Excellent question, thank you for asking.

My view of religion and religious people stems from my entire lifetime of experiences, but started most strongly when I was 10 years old. I went to a "non-denominational" Christian private school for one year, in Florida. My mother put me there because she feared the public schools (she's conservative).

Living as a teenager in Utah was hell, and I've met several others who felt the same way, but it's quite cleanly attached to the Mormon church and society. When I first got out of Utah, I was delighted to meet Catholics, Muslims, Buddhists, etc., for the joyous opportunity to speak with someone who was just not Mormon. Next to a Utah Mormon, most anybody qualifies as a "free thinker".

I've read a few religious texts (the Bible included), a few historical texts (ancient Greek writings), a few political texts (our Constitution and much Ben Franklin included), and several philosophical classics to come to my conclusions about religion.

My opinion is by no means "formed". I'm open to the existence of a God, or several gods, or spirits, or UFOs, or the power of magic crystals. But I've spent a good portion of my free time trying to find proof, evidence, or a reason to consider those extraordinary things as real, and I have not found it. Therefor, I do not expect to find such evidence in the future.

My view of religion and religious people stems from my entire lifetime of experiences, but started most strongly when I was 10 years old. I went to a "non-denominational" Christian private school for one year, in Florida. My mother put me there because she feared the public schools (she's conservative).

In what way do you describe her as "conservative"?

When I first got out of Utah, I was delighted to meet Catholics, Muslims, Buddhists, etc., for the joyous opportunity to speak with someone who was just not Mormon. Next to a Utah Mormon, most anybody qualifies as a "free thinker".

Yes, that was my point, that other faith traditions are not as restrictive or clannish as the Mormons might be. The present Pope, for example, has published an encyclical outlining the relationship between faith and reason (fides et ratio), and no Catholic is expected to have to choose between the two of them. They are not regarded as opponents, but rather partners in the pursuit of truth.

But I've spent a good portion of my free time trying to find proof, evidence, or a reason to consider those extraordinary things as real, and I have not found it. Therefor, I do not expect to find such evidence in the future.

But you should not logically rule out such a thing. If an intense experience with God (conversion experience) can be likened to a bolt from the blue, then past experience is no more predictive than it is for lightning. That I have spent 34 years without getting hit by lightning does not mean that I am immune.

Just something to think about.

Are you aware of the "intelligent design" theories that argue the existence of a Creator from the evidence found in creation?