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From: meth@csd2.UUCP (Asher Meth)
Newsgroups: net.religion.jewish
Subject: Re: Some Ideas from India: Laws of Manu: Duties of Sudras
Message-ID: <3780121@csd2.UUCP>
Date: Tue, 14-Jan-86 19:21:00 EST
Article-I.D.: csd2.3780121
Posted: Tue Jan 14 19:21:00 1986
Date-Received: Fri, 17-Jan-86 20:55:12 EST
References: <3909@think.ARPA>
Organization: New York University
Lines: 35


First of all, when the first of this series of articles on Hinduism appeared in
net.religion.jewish, I wondered at the appropriateness of such. Now that we
have seen a few long articles on the subject, I seriously question why we are
getting a copy of these articles in our subgroup. This may be a very
interesting topic, but I don't think that it belongs here; perhaps in
net.religion, or some other group. The article is cross-posted as follows :
net.nlang.india, net.politics, net.religion.jewish, net.nlang.africa,
net.religion.

Secondly, the posting by Barry Kort contains an interesting line.
>                 I like Judaism for the same reason, because Judaism is
>not so much a religion as a debating society, much in the spirit of the
>Atheneum of the Greek Philosopers.  In either case, it is an attempt to
>codify Common Sense.  --Barry Kort

I state, categorically, that Judaism *is* a religion. And not just because I
say so. In fact, it is one of the older religions that still survive today.
Many other societies and religions have come and gone, but Judaism is still
here.

Furthermore, Judaism is *not* a "debating society". There is not an equivalence
of views among all Jews, but that does not make us a "debating society". If I
read this opinion correctly, *all* religions are debating societies, especially
if some "members" do not agree with what some others say. Some debating
societies have a "head honcho" who is supposed to set down all the rules; but
even then there are disagreements among the masses as to whether he is right,
and there are even some members who act contrary to the wishes and guidelines
of the "head honcho". To take this one step further, every country (even those
that do not allow free speech - they can't outlaw freedom of thought, as far as
ideas in my brain go) is a "debating society"; some members just happen to have
more votes and "carry bigger sticks". In fact, the whole world is just one big
(maybe not happy) "debating society".

Asher Meth ....... meth@nyu-csd2.arpa ....... allegra!cmcl2!csd2!meth