Who's in? Who's out? And who's keeping score?

I have a friend who recently converted to Judaism upon marrying her husband. She isn't jewish by lineage. Her mother is Catholic, she doesn't know her dad.

She was sharing with me recently that she had been told, by a conservative jewish woman, that she wasn't "really jewish" because she was not born into the faith. My friend told me all the details, most of which just hurt my head and most of which seem infinately trivial as most religious disputes tend to be. This allegation, of course, broke my friends heart and mine. While I am not jewish, I know all too well the stings of religious elitism.
The jewish faith holds no patent on this.

While business and social circles have well defined codes of conduct and long lists of "Who's Who" I find those much easier to stomach than the often subjective religious mandates. Most of the time, business, academia and social elitists can point to talking points printed on expensive papers on the entrance exams to their individual realms. However, there seems to be nothing so insidious as religious elitism which is often based on obscure and trivial points that when pressed hold nothing more than tradition vamping as doctrine. I often find that those most committed to their ideals are also least likely to be able to define them -- or defend them.

When faced with the cutting remarks of those whose arrogance supercedes their manners I like to remember these facts:

2/3 of what we call the bible was written by murderers (Moses, David, Paul)
Those who began "the christian movement" were yahoos living in caves, not cathedrals
God has used prostitutes, accountants, lawyers, even donkeys to achieve a purpose. Who, in God's name (literally) do you think YOU are?

Most of the characters in the christian bible are nothing more than deeply flawed individuals who, in spite of themselves, often found their faith through a bumbling series of accidents. While I have no illusions about the Abrahams, or the Paul's I find that their inclusive in a community of believers both deeply disturbing and deeply reassuring.


"The opposite of faith is not doubt, but certainty" - Anne LaMott
"I'll strive for excellence and leave perfection to God" -- Michael J. Fox


As I've said before in this blog, there are a very few things that I would take a sword for. Here is one of them: There is a God and I am not Him. And two, I'll let him decide who's on his list.