Have you ever heard an American Jewish organization make any of the claims that right-wing Christian groups make constantly, that everyone in America has to live like they do because their book said so?  I haven’t.  Have you met a Jew under 40 who is homophobic and ascribes his or her homophobia to religious pronouncement?  I haven’t met a single one, although I do travel in mostly liberal circles, and had my Bar Mitzvah with a gay Rabbi.  In general, even the ultra-Orthodox Jews believe that they should live the way they feel called by God to live, not insist that strangers also live that way.  Missionary work has just never been a real part of the Jewish spiritual tradition… I think all that “Chosen People” bull discouraged Jews historically from seeking converts.

The thing I appreciate about Reconstructionism is it understands the Torah as a product of inspired but fallible humans, and encourages us to find the parts of scripture and Rabbinic philosophy that work for us and use them, rather than taking millenia-old books as a set of detailed and unchanging instructions directly from a higher power (and ditches the aforementioned Chosen People concept that comes off really obnoxious and more than a bit racist in the modern world).  Growing up as a religious minority, I never saw any reason to believe my religion was more correct than anyone else’s, although I’ve always had intellectual and moral problems with people whose faith requires them to impose it on others, those who believe their faith makes them inherently better than others, and anyone who interprets scripture literally.

When I went to college, I thought more about my own beliefs, and incorporated a good bit of Quaker thought into my spiritual expression, primarily the idea that every person has intrinsic value and should be respected for it.  In that way, I agree with your point about pulling valuable concepts from all traditions, although it’s important to take them in ways that somewhat preserve their context and reasoning.

Religion gives people a reason to act despicably and then hide behind a label that they demand be respected. “It’s part of my culture! I was raised this way!” Meanwhile, homosexuals are scorned for genuinely being born a certain way. It gives people a reason not to think because you are expected to get with the program eventually.

To put my thoughts in perspective: Bruce Lee decided at some point in his life that no one martial art was better than all others. They all had their strengths and weaknesses, so what did he do? He concocted Jeet Kune Do, a philosophy (NOT a martial art, in itself) for approaching the martial arts where you pick and choose the best moves from all the arts you study, assimilating what’s useful and discarding the rest. Dedicated karate and wushu practitioners predictably baulked.

So tell me why you would follow one religion only. Tell me how, even. Do you force yourself to see it your temple’s way? What if you disagree with a part of your religion? Is there something frightening about being open to all philosophies and not clinging to a religious identity? I can’t understand anything about this when I look at my Irish Catholic family.

Don’t.

I’m sure there are are lots of atheists who are paternalistic/condescending and claim everyone with a religious affiliation is brainwashed and can’t think for themselves, but calling lay practitioners “evil” or “savage” is something I have yet to see.

Furthermore the fact that Syd seems to claim that her quote is on par with what the original person we are taking issue with said annoyed the shit out of me. Yes, she was uninformed and said some offensive things, but Christ.

For example:

http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2011/02/28/the_zoolander_effect

Jewish practice doesn’t generally involve being offended at other people wearing immodest clothing, but I can see it being offensive to Hasidic people to make what amounts to a mockery of their clothing in that it’s clearly based on their styles, yet blatantly disregards their modesty standards and standards around avoiding wearing incorrectly gendered clothing (unless one is actually trans).