The other night, while simultaneously drinking beer, watching “Tour of Duty” on DVD and playing around on the Internet — yes, I am good at multitasking, thank you very much — I stumbled onto the following opinion someone had posted on Facebook:

“I’ve always thought of religion as man-made spirituality.”

I’d never really considered it in those terms, but I guess I pretty much agree with that.

I grew up in a family that went to church every Sunday and, I would have to say, did an overall great job collectively living the lessons about compassion, forgiveness, etc. that were taught there.

For a handful of reasons I won’t get into here, I’m no longer a regular churchgoer (one of those reasons is not, I can assure you, that I think it’s a waste of time).

The farther I go in life, however, I find myself less and less “religious” — i.e., attached to dogma –  yet more and more “spiritual,” as in actually connected to other people and the earth and heavens in general.

(I still have a core group of what you’d call religious beliefs, but I won’t get into those here either. I still try to live in such a way that my beliefs are reflected by my actions, and if people want to know more than what they see, they’re welcome to ask  me; otherwise, I usually keep my mouth shut about them.)

Here’s one belief I will share, though, just because this was one of the topics in a conversation around here the other day, because it’s a simple precept, and because it’s something I feel strongly about: Pets in the hereafter.

In my mind, beyond any doubt, there will be dogs and cats in heaven, and probably lots of other animals too. How do I know this? Same way anyone knows anything when it comes to God, heaven, etc.: Faith. Just can’t imagine heaven without Bingle, Amanda, Candy, Checkers, Shag and all my other departed pets being there, running around and having fun.

Disagree with me if you want; that’s my position and I’m sticking to it.

You may want to consider, though, something that Gilbert K. Chesterton wrote roughly a century ago:

“Earth is a task garden; heaven is a playground.”

In my playground, along with basketball hoops and swing sets, animals are more than welcome.