2001-04-23 - 2:24 p.m.

They Won't Have Me

I was amused to find that Mechaieh shares my fondness for many aspects of Judaism. I haven't done the reading she has, but every time I end up talking to a Jew about his or her religion, I find myself thinking, "If I had religion, it would probably be this one." I like the dignity reflected in their rejection of easy conversions. I think Yom Kippur serves a more vital social purpose than Thanksgiving. And most of all, I admire the perseverance of the Jewish people throughout centuries of nasty treatment at the hands of their neighbors.

As much as I admire Judaism, though, I'll always be a militant atheist.

By "militant", I don't mean that I want to convert people to my cause. I mean that I don't believe in God, and if someone proved his existence, I'd favor military action against him. Screw Red China, fight the divine!

I firmly believe that man must be an end in himself. People ought not be servants of anyone- not other people, not god. If anyone tries to gain power over us, we should fight him or her. That holds whether our hypothetical overlord says "love one another" or "send our children to fight and die against world Amalekism." *I* decide who I'll love. *I* decide who I fight.

On that basis, I strongly doubt the Jews would take me.

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