My mother writes me on Facebook all the time suggesting I shouldn't be publicly critical of the Jews and Israel. She misunderstands; I'm criticizing society for mistaking the mental illness of addiction as faith. Faith is critical component to creating good moral citizens and a huge part of what is missing in today society. I mean philosophical faith aka spirituality- not dogmatic fervor. My issue is with the culturally, human develop dogma that taints religion. Dont get me wrong, religion isnt all bad, its just being misused. Religion is an expression of culture; a tool we use to teach people how to behave in society. It is largely meant for CHILDREN and is suppose to fall away to great philosophy musing during adulthood where most people dont need the fear of internal damnation to be reminded to not steal or rape your neighbors goat. Religion is also of the past. It is another word for tradition. It is a list of things a community has done before in order to get closer to god but it is certainly not the only path available. Religion is not divinely inspired - its what worked for a community in the past. The old "well thats how my father did it, and my father before him so it must be right" routine. When the orthodox say "this is how god wants us to live" I am reminded of the robot who keeps performing the motions of a task, regardless of whether the purpose of that task has been completed, because no one has come around and given the robot new instructions. The purpose of life is not to pay congressional dues in order to sit year after year reading the same child's parable over and over. No higher being wants you to live your life based on 3000yo standards. If you think living like that helps you get closer to god, fine, its a good thing to want higher understanding. But to say what works for you is everyone needs to act, including your children, is totally selfish. As if your mold is the only mold for the key to infinite wisdom. There are kids out there who you can definitely say were born orthodox. And there are kids being pressed by virtue of their parents closed minded self centered ego, or in the name of tradition, onto a path to god that doesnt work for them.
Religion is not the same as faith or cultural tradition. It is a tool to help people get a leg up on their spiritual journey. People who need it as crutch to live their adult lives should be given their space and their peace, but not treated as equals because they are psychologically missing something that lets healthy people have spirituality and live in the present. They are like addicts, using dogma to fill a missing hole like meth fills in for missing chemicals. The addiction may not be their fault - they could be a product of cultural brainwashing. And that is the main reason we can not be accepting of this lifestyle. Cycle of addiction runs in families and communities. The more we accept them the more likely the children of these people will emulate their behavior and suffer the same spiritual deformity.(and by that I mean people who pass on the idea that their ritual is the only spiritual answer and allow no others in their home)
A couple interesting articles in the Tampa Bay times about how Florida Governor Ricks Scott's campaign promise to deregulate environmental protections have born fruit. First, remember those sinkholes eats up peoples homes? Ya..apparently that is due to overuse of the ground water by farmers. Business get a permit to pump X gallons of water from the underground aquifer and ever since Rick Scott replaced the heads of the agencies who monitor and enforce violation, its really been more about gentle suggestions and asking nicely rather than the fines that are supposed to be levied on violators. There is another story in South Florida about farmers overusing water resources to fight tree diseases, which apparently has no scientific backing whatsoever, to which the State replied we cant fine them because "they were well intended". And of course the farmers have kept overusing even after being told nicely not to since they know the regulators are in their pocket. And then there is this wonderful story about a company called Moasic using millions of gallons of aquifer water to dilute the pollution it spills into the waterways to get around pollution laws. 
John Kerry was spotted chilling on his mega-yacht by members of the press during the recent Egyption coup. When asked why the Seceratry of State was on holiday during a crisis (reminiscent of the president of BP during the gul oil spill) the State dept deliberately misled the press and said he was hard at work. 
