The benefits of cross-racial adoption - a caring family, increasing racial acceptance - outweigh any drawbacks, such as "identity confusion."

However, if cross-racial means Somalian orphans, I think the parents would definitely need training.

Might traffic jams be caused by too many cars attempting to move through too little space? Expanding roads would seem to be a good solution.

The "mythological fiction" advocates can cry "there's no evidence! No evidence!" and they're completely right. They cannot prove that something doesn't exist. The "historical figure" people have to prove that Jesus existed. So if there are secular sources for the existence of Jesus, as were stated at the beginning of this debate, that would be evidence that Jesus existed. That is not evidence that he performed miracles; it also does not mean that those "miracles" were not performed. Jesus could indeed have done great things that were misinterpreted as miracles and expounded upon by oral tradition. He also could have been the son of God and performed the impossible with the power of divinity. Or, he could be a complete fabricated lie.

Sherlock Holmes is a "mythological figure" who is referred to by many other "secular" sources (read: sources other than Arthur Conan Doyle). As somebody else mentioned earlier, Ghandi is a real man who became a myth, and is also referenced in many sources which would be considered secular. I am a real person who, unfortunately, has not ascended to mythology.

I must also wonder if any public person - Jacques Chirac, Bono, Tom Brokaw, Osama bin Laden - does NOT have a sort of mythology.

Very Parmenides. Jesus did indeed exist because we are talking about him-- whether that existance is physical or simply an invention of the human mind, or both. The concept of Jesus exists, Jesus exists, because we are talking about him and we think about him.

In this same way, the dear Flying Spaghetti Monster exists.

I suppose I can't know if the child believes s/he led a heavenly or hellish life, but I would do anything I can to make his passing easier. "Compassion," that's the word. The child doesn't need to be burdened by my personal beliefs (or non-beliefs).