{"id":478,"date":"2009-08-03T10:48:29","date_gmt":"2009-08-03T15:48:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.dangeroustalk.net\/?p=478"},"modified":"2009-08-03T10:48:29","modified_gmt":"2009-08-03T15:48:29","slug":"an-interesting-wedding-conversation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.dangeroustalk.net\/?p=478","title":{"rendered":"An Interesting Wedding Conversation"},"content":{"rendered":"

Over the weekend, I attended my cousin\u2019s wedding. My cousin describes himself as a, \u201cHardcore Insane Jew.\u201d He belongs to some sort of Orthodox offshoot. In fact he and I had recently started conversing on the topic of religion and he expressed a strong interest in continually those discussions.<\/p>\n

While there were many aspects of the wedding that were strange, odd, creepy, and fascinating to me, I don\u2019t really think it is appropriate to talk about a lot of it at this time. But I did have one conversation that I think was particularly noteworthy. Toward the end of the reception, I noticed that there was a small service of some kind going in one corner of the reception hall. As someone who finds religion fascinating, took my prayer book from my table and walked over. I sat in the back next to my cousin\u2019s brother (my other cousin who isn\u2019t really all that religious).<\/p>\n

After a chitchatting with my cousin for a few minutes, I asked a girl next to me where we were in the prayer book so I could follow along. She told me that she didn\u2019t read Hebrew, so she wasn\u2019t sure. I mentioned that I don\u2019t remember how to read Hebrew any more, but I was interested in reading the English translation in the prayer book. This is where the real conversation started. She asked if I was Jewish to which I replied that I used to be. She was confused at first and so I clarified that I am no longer a believer. With a questioning look on her face she said, \u201cYou don\u2019t believe in God at all?\u201d I of course said no, but she was still confused and had to ask the question again. I told her that I gave up belief in God around the same time I gave up belief in Santa Claus.<\/p>\n

The thing is that the whole time, I was keeping to conversation lighthearted. I wasn\u2019t questioning her religious beliefs or even being critical of them. I was just answering her questions honestly and with a positive attitude. She asked if I had converted to atheism and I told her that I had de-converted to atheism. She was again confused, but let it go. She then asked me why I don\u2019t believe. I could have taken that question and really ran with it. I could have talked about the history of the Biblical God (See Karen Armstrong\u2019s book, \u201cThe History of God\u201d), or how the God of the Torah seemed to be an evil tyrannical ass-clown, or just the ridiculousness of the Torah stories as a whole. But, I decided to play it cool and just tell her that I see no evidence to support the claim that a god exists.<\/p>\n

This young woman told me that I should talk to my cousin (who\u2019s wedding this was) and he would re-convert me. I gave a slight laugh and told her that we had started that conversation on facebook already and that she is free to check out his note to me and my note in response. To be honest, I was actually disappointed in his opening comments on religion. I informed her that I had studied many religions and found them all to be invalid so far. She was curious about my favorite of the religions that I had studied and so I told her that I really didn\u2019t like any of them, but if I had to pick the one that was the best of the lot it would probably be some branches of Buddhism.<\/p>\n

This is where the conversation took an interesting turn in my opinion. This girl who was part of some kind of Jewish Orthodox off-shoot said that she considered Buddhism to be a sin. To my knowledge, \u201csin\u201d is a Christian thing, not a Jewish thing. So I wonder if some cult branches of Orthodox Judaism are starting to use the Christian cult playbook. It is something that I hope to explore in the future. The conversation went on for a bit longer as we discussed the wedding and the wedding couple, but I found that part of the conversation particularly noteworthy and thought I would share it. I particularly liked how I just answered her questions in a nonchalant fashion. It was clear that this girl had never really thought about someone not believing in God and that just by stating it in the way that I had, will surely cause her to think about her religion in a way she had never done before. The seeds of doubt have been sown.<\/p>\n


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