I can’t believe how popular this blog post is continuing to be, there seems to be a real fascination with what people put as their religious views on Facebook. I’ll keep on updating it when I come across new and interesting religious views.
On to the blog post:
Had too much time on my hands over Passover and was thinking about what my religious views were, and I’ve never really been able to pin them down, except for something I came up with a while back which I like to call ‘open source Judaism’.
The idea comes from open-source computer coding, where a basic codes exists, and to which everyone is free to tinker with, improve and update. According to the Open Source Initiative [non-religious software association], open source aims to “harnesses the power of distributed peer review and transparency of process. The promise of open source is better quality, higher reliability, more flexibility, lower cost, and an end to predatory vendor lock-in.” Which is pretty much how I feel about religion.
I put that on my Facebook account under religious views, but Facebook only lets you put in one religious view, which is interesting in itself, and forced me to make a clear-cut choice. Problem is I have a bunch of others, and the more I think about it the more they pop up. So here are some of the alternative religious views I would put on my Facebook profile if it let me:
What if God was one of us?
Everybody is looking for something.
Goodness. Gracious. Me.
God would never kill a curious cat.
Dopamine for the masses.
Help God help us.
Soultime achievement award.
Modern ultra-Flexidox.
Some of my friends on Facebook have really interesting religious views:
Angels. [This person likes to fly a lot]
Moses was the dude. [Spends a lot of time in nature]
Jesus built my hotrod. [Mostly rides a bike]
Secular Socialist Chalutzik Zionist. [anti-Materialist]
Radical Infidel Jihadist. [This person is actually an observant Jew but has some issues]
skysophonicnewferklinker. [This person also has issues]
Jewish – Liberal Orthodox [One of the nicest, most spiritual people I know]
Jewish (see Berkovitz, Heschel) [?]
Eat me [This person would really say that to God and God would love him for it]
Kaleidoscopic. [Don't know this person so well]
Purely Karmic. [Musician]
Opposed to institutionalized religion [just married] Like all good things its complicated
I like God. [Beautiful person]
My personal laws of Kosher include shellfish. [Also likes hummus and chicken]
Nonreligesaurus, love and light [works with electricity].
Worldly.
Some people I don’t know:
Sinner
Roman Catholic
My StumbleUpon Page Feed Shark 
Powered by WebRing.
I’m so happy I made the list!
I miss you. Hope you are holding things down at JPost.
Hugs,
mjakes
Amir – great blog! Especially the bit about the IDF and Facebook, it makes sense that would happen but it is still funny to read.
Anyways, your open-source Judaism made me think of the Open Source Hagaddah, which says your Pesach seder should be whatever you want it to be, and that your materials should be free. You cobble together a program with elements from whatever tradition you like, then print it and use it at dinner. http://www.opensourcehaggadah.com/
Nice to run into you,
Daniella
Both to you and Daniella. It’s all good, but it doesn’t make it Pesach. It makes it you. That might be ok with you and what you want. But call it what it is. And forgive me, the tone ain’t right, but who are you guys trying to convince, from where are you still escaping and and what are you trying to convince yourselves. Do you have the same notions about Quantum Theory, chemical engineering, the combustion engine, etc, etc. and so forth? May I ask where, what and for how long have you studied 4000 years of unbroken chain of Judaism and the Jewish People? Where are you getting your information from?