That aspect of Islam never sat well with me. Like “Now we have you, you can never leave us or death to you” I think God wants us to be sincere to ourselves and not puppets because what will that count for in the end? I would be living a lie. It needs to be debated and studied further in the Muslim community. I think John brought that point up too.

If I need to change my mind one hundred times that is my prerogative and who knows it might lead me back to where I started (that is real faith). Although I believe I am always learning and growing and am learning to see and appreciate the beauty in other faiths and spiritualities.

Been there, done that.

They are friendlier…the reform Jews invited me to study with them. The orthodox Jews basically closed the phone on my face and said they couldn’t help me!

Don’t take it personally, if you were seeking to study Torah or Talmud with the Orthodox, they would probably refuse because of the rabbinical prohibition forbidding Muslims to study these subjects with Jews (Christians are permitted). If I recall correctly, the ostensible reason is because Muslims can’t approach these books as “holy” in the way Jews and Christians can, and thus study with Jews and Christians might damage a Muslim’s belief in monotheistic religion.

Of course, one effect of this prohibition was that in Muslim countries it became difficult to charge Jews with trying to convert Muslims to Judaism – a capital offense – if Jews themselves prohibited Muslims from studying with them. Reform Judaism, having been established in Europe a mere 300 years ago and lacking much dangerous exposure to Islam, naturally takes a more relaxed and open view of such matters.

King Abdullah has shown his mercy time and time again. The only way to change this notion is through more good examples like him

A good ruler can be a fine thing, but Americans didn’t build this country and its freedoms through trusting the mercy of princes.

All I am saying is a little introspection (into our own beliefs) is called upon every now again especially when we are having a go at someone else.

I got your drift concerning your point of merciless being a cover to protect them, so they won’t be called or looked upon as bad Muslims. However, like I said the notion of being mericless is not a concept of Islam and is more a product of culture…like the honor killings.

King Abdullah has shown his mercy time and time again. The only way to change this notion is through more good examples like him and from other good people.

I think most Jews I know, like most Americans, are primarily concerned with their own families, not running the lives of others. Americans generally care greatly about how they are perceived. However, I think many Jews, especially Orthodox Jews, are convinced after many attempts to demonstrate otherwise that most Muslims judge them by their religion and creed rather than by their deeds and character. That makes some apt to greet Muslims, when meeting for the first time, with a hard and wary edge that would not be experienced by a non-Muslim in the same situation.

That does not mean, however, that Muslims are not recipients of charity from these Jews, that Muslims are not judged by Jews without mercy, or that Muslims and Jews can’t do business together for mutual profit. Because many Jews decide to engage in good deeds and conduct regardless of how Muslims think of them, simply because their gut tells them it is the right thing to do. At the same time, there may be resentment that these efforts are not returned in kind, or acknowledged. Am I making sense here?

“The Pittsburgh Platform is a pivotal 19th century document in the history of the American Reform Movement in Judaism that called for Jews to adopt a modern approach to the practice of their faith. The Union of American Hebrew Congregations (UAHC) adopted it in 1885.

This founding document of what has come to be called “Classical Reform” ideology was the culmination of a meeting of Reform rabbis from November 16-19, 1885. It explicitly called for a rejection of those laws which have a ritual, rather than moral, basis. An example of a ritual rejected by the Pittsburgh Platform is kashrut, or the observance of Jewish dietary laws. These ritual laws were seen as detracting from Jewish life in the modern era by placing undue emphasis on ritual, rather than ethical considerations.

Instead of a nation, the Pittsburgh Platform envisioned Jews as a religious community within a nation. For this reason, there was an explicit rejection of Zionism, which was viewed as unnecessary because American Jews were at home in America. The Pittsburgh Platform also calls for a recognition of the inherent worth of Christianity and Islam, although it still held that Judaism was the “highest conception of the God-idea.”

The Pittsburgh Platform helped shape the future of American Reform Judaism by calling for American Jews to engage in acts of social justice. Today this principle is adopted by the Reform Movement among others through their commitment to Tikkun Olam (the repair of the world).

There were many early leaders of the “Classical Reform” ideology, including Rabbi Kaufmann Kohler, Isaac Mayer Wise, and David Marx.”

I don’t like making generalizations but what I am saying is that within every religion we can find groups or sects who believe they are diviner or better than the others…

I have met many arrogant Arab Muslims like you have commented on in your second part that is why I am saying we “should not” (not a good idea) mix barbaric culture with Islam.

There are arragont Jews like the Muslims you described especially orthodox Jews who can be very tied down more by culture and who are driven more by greed than by mutual gain?