Most of us define ourselves as left or right or somewhere in-between. Some people start out as one thing and eventually become the other. Many things can influence our political identity such as our parents, our education and our life experiences.

In my case my mother is an conservative and my father a liberal. I took after my father and my sister took after our mother. I was raised Catholic and became an Atheist. My sister remains a Catholic. Needless to say there are some pretty interesting and heated discussions that take place when we are all together.

My education played a part as well. I became a liberal when I was quite young but remained a believer until I was in college. I feel higher education freed me from the chains of religion and I consider my atheism as part of my political identity as many theists consider their religion as part of their political being.

My life experiences have taught me that conservative politics and religion [especially when they are mixed] are harmful to humanity in general and deadly in cases such as religious wars. For me at least liberalism offers a much more humane and decent world than conservatism offers. Others of course have different views. What are yours on the subject? What was the largest influence on your political/religious views? Care to discuss it?