The source or germ of something tends to color later versions, knowingly or unknowingly. He is a thoughtful and broad thinker, and I think he brings all his analysis and influences to bear on his projects, is seemingly uninhibited about doing it, and I appreciate his results. The statements of religious affiliations don't bother me, but they don't specifically interest me either. (Not that there's anything wrong with that :)

I believe it is certainly true that PerlMonks seems to have attracted some of the most thoughtful and well-spoken writers, commentators and members among all such interest groups I've seen (which might be an admittedly small sample.)

The 'atmosphere' and demeanor of PM, to me, is astounding considering the diversity of participants. And, for the most part, the tolerance of many 'agree to disagree' participants works to my advantage in that I get to see a more full presentation of many sides of an issue, rather just a simple fire fight among egos. (Although one could find exceptions to this around here somewhere...)

The original root of this thread actually led me to think about the 'spirituality' and general thoughtfulness that I find here rather than the actual religious issues.