tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13589532.post4613426142185903339..comments2023-10-09T04:11:47.358-07:00Comments on Not A Potted Plant: We've Got Spirit Yes We DoBurt Likkohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16060980744675990412noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13589532.post-4995203820896677382009-04-10T08:36:00.000-07:002009-04-10T08:36:00.000-07:00Mordechai Kaplan (the founder of RC Judaism) start...Mordechai Kaplan (the founder of RC Judaism) started the branch because he felt that Jewish ideas and practices as traditionally conceived were incompatible with naturalist western thought, but he nonetheless found the rituals and practices meaningful (he reconceptualized Halakah, for example, as a "folkway"). <BR/><BR/>I certainly empathize -- I'm indifferent to the existence of God (I don't actively disbelieve, I just don't find it a terribly interesting or meaningful question), but I still am connected to many of the prayers or practices for a variety of reasons: I grew up with them and they're familiar to me, I value the connection they give me to my ancestors and traditions, many of them express moral principles or sentiments I want to affirm (and affirm as embedded within my own social history), and I do genuinely feel the pull of <A HREF="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_614th_Commandment#Do_not_give_Hitler_posthumous_victories" REL="nofollow">the 614th commandment</A>, etc.. Given that Kaplan's view of God was essentially just Jewish-flavored <A HREF="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Dewey" REL="nofollow">Deweyist Pragmatism</A>, it's not too difficult to reconcile RC Judaism with a lack of belief in anything approaching a traditional God.David Schraubhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04946653376744012423noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13589532.post-31901218944848115642009-04-10T06:00:00.000-07:002009-04-10T06:00:00.000-07:00What exactly are these religious Jews doing when t...What exactly are these religious Jews doing when they attend temple services, then? If they don't believe in God, then do they just kind of zone out during the parts where the rabbi talks about God?Burt Likkohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16060980744675990412noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13589532.post-11842189486209844542009-04-09T21:07:00.000-07:002009-04-09T21:07:00.000-07:00There are plenty of religious Jews that don't beli...There are plenty of <I>religious</I> Jews that don't believe in God too. Many Reconstructionist Jews, for example.David Schraubhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04946653376744012423noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13589532.post-67132649574054870072009-04-09T06:42:00.000-07:002009-04-09T06:42:00.000-07:00"My brain, it explodes!"I imagined this in an Ital..."My brain, it explodes!"<BR/><BR/>I imagined this in an Italian accent and could not stop laughing. Very interesting blog by the way. You provide a lot for all of us to consider.Pamelahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17413556391724480871noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13589532.post-10202205449970489672009-04-09T05:44:00.000-07:002009-04-09T05:44:00.000-07:00Some people view being Christian as sort of like b...Some people view being Christian as sort of like being Jewish. Something you're born with.<BR/><BR/>People who talk about being spiritual without being religious tend to annoy me. I see nothing wrong with that being someone's stance per se, but it seems to attract the sort that want the benefits of believing in God without the accountability of the social institution. It also gives you the opportunity to become across as all individual and deep-thinking and better than those sheepling... but without actually abandoning faith in a higher power.trumwillhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03156143676616919381noreply@blogger.com