heh all good.
I feel connections to several religions.
Catholicism's images, clothes, sensuality, art, performance, drama, historical link to all of western civ. It's the base of it all and I suspect people worshipping Jupiter in AD 50 would recognize a modern Roman Catholic service. Amazing continuity and focus on ritual.
Basic white American protestantism's adoption of the American spirit. They speak in American, talk American, change the belief into American idiom. It's ours, we all think first of it when we think of 'going to church, and to some extent that same church tom sawyer went to in 18xx is the same one called 'church of jesus christ' with the big parking lot somewhere near us. And sure, the protestant work ethic is one of the most important pieces of the entire American culture. I go back on forth on its easy forgiveness though. It seems too big an escape hatch. But maybe that's good.
Judaism's historical link to pre-western civ, it's reliance on an antique language, its focus on laws, how it is performed pretty similarly all over the world. It's very strict sense of rules that are not be broken is probably most appealing to me. I think it gives people the backbone and rigidity to guide a life. You need a road to travel. Its driving directions are clear and serve well.
Black Baptism's use music, preaching style and hard attempt to talk to people at their level. At some level we all want to be in those black churches listening to a charismatic preacher, part old testament scold, part dad we never had, part James Brown.
Of course every American is a bit puritanical against the louche Europeans with their little bathing suits and letting their kids drink wine. We all inherited that and keep it at inside.
The philosophy of all this is lost on me...I don't understand any of it. So I can't talk to you on that level, gente.
