Essay, Research Paper: Judiasm

Some of the greatest persons ever to live were Jews. Several of the greatest scientists, writers, human rights activists, musicians and comedians were or are Jews: Baruch Spinoza, Sigmund Freud, Albert Einstein, Charlie Chaplin, Yehudi Menuhin, Woody Allen come to mind. Some of their efforts, films, art or discoveries may be a matter of personal taste, but humanity owes a lot to many Jews, famous ones and less well-known ones. While it can be said that almost none of these were faithful religious Jews, there are certain positive qualities shared by almost all Jews, among others the fact that Jews living as a group in countries such as Italy or the United States never became involved as a group in organized crime in the way the Irish, the Catholic Italians, or the Chinese have. Judaism as a culture is much more than just a religion, which makes it different from most other beliefs, the Jewish culture does certainly have a lot of positive qualities. However, there also are certain things that likewise belong to the definition of Jewish identity and tradition, which can neither be ignored nor described in such a positive view. These things should be of concern especially for the many Jews whose presence at the synagogue is more or less to keep their families happy. Most Jews will readily accept that the idol of Christianity, Jesus Christ, was neither the Messiah, nor divine, nor a perfect model for moral actions. This is simply because - fortunately for themselves, as well as for other persons - Jews are not in the habit of reading the Christian "New Testament" Scriptures. They have not been told by their parents to cherish or worship Jesus Christ when they were children, and thus they are not used to believing in the virgin birth or other absurdities. To most Jews the basic belief of Judaism and Jewish teaching is a message of morality, tolerance, peace and human dignity. Many religions include irrational, even unethical or dangerous teachings (some more, some less). The least problems are presented by Buddhists. I never heard of a Buddhist fanatic throwing bombs (and in order to become a Buddhist one does not need to give up one's former religious beliefs, unlike Judaism where a person must go to the Rabbi 3 times, although many Buddhists sooner or later choose to do so. To be precise there have been a few instances of violence in the name of Buddhism, but the overall historical record cannot be compared with that of other religions). Islam is a considerably evil religion. Most religious terrorists today are Muslim terrorists. Christianity is probably the most evil religion. Christianity has caused more evil and grief than any other religion. Christianity originated as a Jewish sect. It inherited the most evil side of several pagan religions as well as the most evil side of Judaism. Virtually all this evil is rooted in the Bible. Virtually every inhumanity Christians ever have committed was inspired, incited, or supported by the Bible. Most but not all of these can be found as commanded in what Christians call the Old Testament. For most modern Jews, Judaism is much more of a cultural tradition than a religion. In other words they are not really religious. Most of this evil is rooted in Biblical monotheism, called "Ethical Monotheism" by Jewish (Reform). Theologians and apologists hide the fact that monotheism itself necessarily induces intolerance of other beliefs and to divert from the idea that non-biblical religions and cultures. In essence even these Jewish theologians use the Torah or the Talmud as primary source of their ethics.