Speaking of Religion

I am not sure that I was, but here goes:

Yesterday, I was in a conversation that turned to airports, and people who have airports named after them, and so forth. I said something like "except for Ben Gurion, the only other one may be LaGuardia". My answer wasn't taken seriously, so I had to explain that the secret of La Guardia's political success in New York City was his Italian father and his Jewish mother.

That led to a further conversation about how I know who is or isn't Jewish (which I really don't know, and don't spend that much time worrying about), and I said: "It's easy. I believe that everyone is presumed Jewish unless proven Christian." Isn't that the American way?

That's true. That is what I think (today), and this is my logic.

First, to me being Jewish, does not mean being orthodox, or necessarily observant. In this belief, I am obviously mainstream, but I begin to divert from mainstream because, as people grow ultra-observant, I believe they can lose their Jewishness. Now, this is contrarian, I know, because most people believe if you live the Hasidic life, you are (whether this is deemed admirable or appropriate or not) deemed to live a more Jewish life. I choose to define Judaism differently, so I do not accept this view.

Second, what is Jewish to me? Well, you have to identify as Jewish, and you have to at least sort of maybe believe in a God who an intervene in human affairs, or at least be sympathetic to you when you feel down, and you have to assume that that God wants to you do good things in your life. That's it. Oh, yes, and you can't be Christian.

Third, to be Christian, by my definition, you have to believe in the Jewish God to a stronger degree that someone who is Jewish. Because, you have to believe that the Jewish God sent Jesus, his son, to earth, and allowed or led him to die as a human sacrifice, to permit you to absolve yourself of your sins and attain eternal life.

So, how many people meet this definition of Christian? (I know you don't know the answer; neither do I) Perhaps those "born again" or fundamentalist do (of course some just pretend they do, or only do a few days a week, etc.). But my guess is that most do not.

So, if they are not, what are they? Well, they are not Jews for Jesus, because Jews for Jesus (if they are serious) are Christian, and not within my definition of Jewish. They are, on the other hand, by and large, Christians for Judaism, whether they know it or not. Because, except for identifying themselves as Jewish, they meet my definition.

Given half a chance, I would assume that large numbers of them would recognize this and proclaim themselves Jewish Christians, or just Jewish, but they are not permitted to by the Jewish establishment, which has set up its own rules and regulations (to which I have little sympathy). So, they are stuck pretending to be, and even thinking themselves to be, Christian, where in fact their belief system is much more Jewish (by my definition of Jewish) than Christian (by my definition of Christian).

Would the world be a better place if everyone adopted my definitions? I think the answer is clearly affirmative on that one.

Is this gonna happen? Not in your lifetime. And the trends are going in the wrong direction. (And this does not even begin to deal with Moslems; but I would guess we would wind up the same place there, as well.)

So, Jewish Jews and Christian Jews who share this religion. What do they share? Their relationship to a God is personal. Their relationship to humans is social. (This of course explains why Jewish thinkers such as Martin Buber have had more influence in Christian than in Jewish circles, by the way.)

I think that their shared philosophy is closest to what is known as 'humanism' or even 'secular humanism', and this is the way it should be. I think that their political or social philosophy tends to the left of center, rather than the right of center, as conservative political thinking by and large is self-centered, the opposite of humanistic thinking. Humanism, and liberalism, are bad words today, for reasons unclear but having to do with the conservative-dominated media (also incorrectly known as the liberal-dominated media) and the lack of a strong cadre of political leaders in this country today. But that will change, as the pendulum swings back and forth.

One question can legitimately be posed, however. What about Unitarianism? Aren't I simply describing the belief systems adopted by Unitarians, and maybe all of these Jewish Christians are really only conscious or subconscious crypto-Unitarians? Perhaps this is correct, but so what? Unitarianism obviously does not meet my definition of Christian, so we back to a more basic question, which is whether Unitarianism is really just a more liberal and permissive form of Judaism. It might just be.