At the end of one of my lectures at the university, a student came up to me to ask if I wouldn’t mind taking a survey on the campus radio station.  I told her to go ahead and fire away and ask her questions.  Well, at the end of the survey, she said she had one final question and that was "What is your religion?"  I looked her straight in the eye and said, "put down NOYB . . . None Of Your Business."  She was taken a bit aback by this as the idea of privacy in terms of religious practice was a bit alien to her.  I then told her that for me my religious beliefs are a private matter and that even if I told her what they were the list of possible choices on her survey didn’t have the "correct" choice for me as I’m not Christian, Buddhist, Taoist, Agnostic, Athiest, Muslim, Satanist, or any of the other -ists usually listed for such things.  Most folks here assume that I must be Christian as the default assumption is that any random white person living in this country is probably Christian and that Americans are extremely likely to be Christian and if they are not then they’re probably Budhists studying Chinese.  Since I teach a university course in Bible & Literature which I pursued with zeal, the assumption is even more so that I must be Christian (after all, I did attend a church-affiliated university and earned a minor in religion as an undergraduate and I guarantee that I know more about scripture than most of the folks walking around claiming to be Christian).  However, while I was indeed a Christian during most of my formative years and my first vocational choice as a boy was a dream to one day become a preacher and I certainly would have made a pretty damned good one . . . today, I am most definately no longer a Christian . . . that monkey sailed long ago.  I enjoy religious studies, particularly comparative religion.  However, I don’t put my relgious views out there when I teach the material nor do I wish others to make assumptions that are erroneous.  So . . . when the question comes up, and it does, quite often, my response is usually NOYB . . . although, once in awhile, I will indeed be honest and open and tell some folks what my views really are . . . but those are usually the folks who don’t push it and who are naturally within my comfort zone.  Hint . . . there are no ritual chicken sacrifices but there is a great deal of personal experiential bliss and communion involved (no, not that communion, no flesh-eating cannibalism or blood thirst satiation) . . . n . . . o . . . y . . . b.