Quote:
Originally posted by Radar
I consider anyone who thinks dietary restrictions are vitally important in their final judgment to be ignorant about the nature of a supreme creator of the universe and the motives of such a being. Clearly an all knowing, all powerful, omnipresent being would care about how well we treated each other and not about what we ate
|
All they may be ignorant about is YOUR understanding of the nature of a supreme creator of the universe and motives of such a being.
Religion is belief, which is effectively a special, often impereable to change, OPINION about the world, how it works, and what meaning is assigned to it and to the individual participants in it.
I'd be wary of issuing a proclamation to all the peoples of the world on the right and wrong way to worship until you've walked a mile in everybody else's mocassins ...
You get a very different sense of a religion from the inside, vs. even a very critical look from the outside.
I can read Torah, Talmud, Kaballah ... and I will never have a full understanding of what it truly means to be an observant, or particularly, an Orthodox Jew. Ditto for any understanding I may gain of Islam by reading the Koran. However, despite my "lapsing" I do have an understanding of what it means to be Catholic.
I'm not being a cheerleader for religion here. I'm quite the happy heathen, as it happens. Just because you think some practice is silly or outdated or nonutilitarian, does not invalidate it.
I'm just suggesting that just maybe you come up a few answers short of omniscience yourself, is all.
**Oh shit, where'd that soapbox come from, and how did i end up standing on it??**