To all my friends and family whose conviction to a religious ideology or faction is minimal and cannot understand why I will not participate in even the lighting of a single candle, this is for you. I am talking now to the Reform among you. You guys have removed almost all vestiges of religious ideology, ritual, and belief from your practices. You welcome with open arms everyone who wishes to participate in your social, cultural celebration of what was once a strict orthodox practice. You are still viewed by Orthodox within your religion as abject heretics.

I was raised within the world of strict Orthodox practice. I am now still recovering from the trauma, and horrors of religious subjugation. In my life I have seen very little and have met very few people engaged in the orthodox lifestyle that would meet any standards of caring, empathetic people who value humanitarian ideals. Possibly those attributes can be found within the confines of their close knitted communities but more often I have found most to be arrogant, judgmental and caring little for those who do not think or worship as they do. My religious family has more relatives that they do not speak with than those that they do.

I regard the religion as the greatest fraud ever propagated on humanity. Very little I have seen in my life as a religious person has contradicted this belief. As a person engages deeper into religious ideology they become less concerned with the humanity around them. They care little about how their religious values affect others around them. The expectation is that every one else will just respect their ways.

In this vain I salute and respect diversity. We as humans all benefit from others cultures and traditions. We should all embrace diversity and the concept that all people are precious and have much to offer. To the haters I say your energies are misdirected. Organized Hate is nothing more than another ideology. Like nazism it will attract people when they are most vulnerable.

The real disease among us is ideologies. The ideology is the enemy of civilization and it does not respect diversity. It harbors an ugly “us versus them” philosophy.  It creates artificial divisions among peoples where no division needs to be. It makes the follower feel as though they are following the dictates of a higher power and gives license to destroy anybody that stands in its way.

There really is no such thing as a jew, a muslim or a christian. There are just those human beings who have made the careless mistake of aligning themselves with an ideology.  These people have given themselves permission to stop thinking and follow orders from a group which wishes to control their thoughts and actions. Many unfortunately, like myself are born into families that are indoctrinated in this way. To leave the fold as I did will mean that your family and friends will have very little to do with you anymore. And if they do, you will always be subjected to their arrogant self pity of your new found condition.

To the reform among you who have not had to live the terror of an orthodox life, understand that I do not reject the cultural basis of you or your organization. Feel lucky and privileged that you have fellow congregants and friends who have no need to judge or disdain you for your personal commitment to your church. So understand when I refuse to light a candle, or participate in the most basic ritual of my previous life it is because to me this is personal.

Big brotherBurt believes that human integrity is the guiding principal that will lead humanity to create a better future. The moral imperative that challenges us today is a need to objectively examine our beliefs and be willing to make changes if found faulty. Religious ideologies were designed by man to disrupt this process.