I think that it’s important to subdivide religion into those who really experience it and those who believe in someone else’s experience. The former is a mystic (and you don’t need a religion founded in your name to qualify), while the latter may prove the sometimes put forth theory that the religious experience is neurotic. Though Jung noted from his practice that Catholics were far less likely to be neurotic than Protestants or Atheists; he attributed that to ritual and mystery (the Catholic Mass still being given in Latin at the time).

Another interesting tidbit is that when interfaith groups of priests get together, argument tends to ensue, but when interfaith groups of monks/nuns get together understanding grows. This is generally attributed to the latter living a mystical, rather than theological, life…they know from experience rather than believe. It gives credence to Gandhi’s statement that religions are like spokes on a wheel, with God as the hub.

But i’m with you, Ann…and it’s why i don’t trust political parties.

I’m not generally in favor of religion, though I appreciate the importance of ritual in human life, and understand (at least a bit) why we would build a wall of familiarity around the greatest unknown. I suppose I simply don’t trust groups of people with a system to potentially excuse their worst behavior.

And I admit, a Zionist under my bed would frighten me. What the hell would he be doing there?

And i’d like to add that i’m not of the school that fears Zionists under my bed. I also like religion and generally defend it (even if i’m not a believer). What i don’t like is using the highest of human abilities to rationalize the lowest of its activities.

Although I was raised an Episcopalian, my mother is Jewish and I understand exactly where you’re coming from.

Jeff

. . . some of us have grown a little tired of watching all the special people kill each other in an attempt to prove that God loves them best…because their centuries of cultural lineage are dependent on how they construe the wishes, thoughts, and desires of an imaginary being that they created in the first place.

But how’s this for clear:

Jews think that they’re special because they wrote a book in which they described themselves as special. They’re not, at least they’re no more special than anyone else. And every culture thinks that it’s special, the first people, etc. and whatever. Talk about myopic. That’s fine, but some of us have grown a little tired of watching all the special people kill each other in an attempt to prove that God loves them best…because their centuries of cultural lineage are dependent on how they construe the wishes, thoughts, and desires of an imaginary being that they created in the first place.

Or: “It says in the Book here that God made us all to be just like Him. So if we’re dumb, then God is dumb…and maybe even a little ugly on the side.” ~FZ

Maybe if you have a clear, cogent thought to express versus some rambling diatribe alluding to what makes jews ‘special’, your viewpoint just might carry an ounce of weight. Only your first sentence even relates to the article or my response.

As it stands, your poor attempt to promote your own blog through obtuse explanations of centuries of cultural lineage is myopic.

We can take this concept deeper into history and theology. The majority of the prescriptions detailed for Jews – dietary, social, etc. – were means to set them apart from the other people of the region. Obviously the uncleanliness of many things wasn’t about actual uncleanliness; i’ve eaten a fair amount of pork over the course of my life and i’m not dead yet. It was about setting the Jewish group apart, which generally leads to a belief of superiority.

A close reading of the New Testament shows Jesus, the practicing Jew, in open revolt against these types of prescriptions. Most people don’t realize that leprosy as we know it didn’t exist in Israel at the time; the word is a metaphorical translation and would have covered any skin disease. If you had acne you were unclean and hence not allowed to eat with clean Jews…and hence not really a part of society. Jesus almost certainly did not cure the actual diseases, but his behavior cured the social illness. He had a point, and we should remember that he never hoped to start a whole new religion but to reform the religion that he practiced.

So just maybe the self-proclaimed exclusiveness of Judaism is a root cause of this whole mess. Can the Israelis ever make peace with neighbors who they consider to be so far beneath them?

As an aside, Israeli cares not one whit for matriarchal descent when it wants settlers. The vast majority of Russian Israelis probably aren’t Jewish at all. Any “proof” from generations back was accepted, which is strange considering how far out of their way Russians have gone for close to a century to remove whatever trace of Jewishness their family might have.