http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/26/us/a-jewish-edition-of-the-new-testament-beliefs.html?hp One quote near the bottom: Thirty years ago, when Dr. Levine was starting graduate school, an aunt asked her why she was reading the New Testament. “I said, ‘Have you read it?’ and she said, ‘No, why would I read that hateful, anti-Semitic disgusting book?’ But the rest of the article is quite interesting.

lol. and of course the ot is anything but hateful...

Well, the OT is the undisputed true word of God.

oh yeah i forgot that. excuse me while i tie myself to a stake and set fire to myself for being a heretic - probably an antisemite as well...

i love it when people hold one farytale book up as the inerrant word of god and another as pure filth. i don't really distinguish between them. for me both god and jesus have equal status as two of my favourite fictional characters.

Religious beliefs aside, I think it's a shame that the Jewish aunt would not read a book which is so instrumental to how a large portion of the world is guided. That is, I think it's important for us to understand these documents, even if we do not believe in them, so that we can relate in an intelligent fashion to large segments of the population around us.

Yes indeed Lisa, yes indeed.

And Jan: don't forget you hate blacks and Mexicans too. Don't want to leave them out.

I love tweaking my religious friends by blessing them with a quote from the Buddha. Or something Hindu. Drives em nuts

It is so odd that a person would feel offended in hearing praise from a person who is a very good person, whatever they happened to believe. What if the Hindu quote dated from before Christ even existed (if we assume he existed)?

like i said - jesus is one of my favourite fictional characters. there is far more evidence for the existence of king arthur. and hindhuism like any other non christian religion is to be regarded as nothing but heathenish devil worshipping, so it's no surprise that honouring such a faith by quoting its scriptures can only cause offense to narrow minded bigots.

I imagine that is part of the issue - that some individuals feel that any other way of life is an absolute abomination and is tainted. That is such a shame. We have so many ways of life on our Earth, and they all have so much to teach us.

I imagine that bigots exist in all walks of life, sadly. I do have hope that with the world becoming so much more interconnected, and people having interactions with "different people" more regularly, that true bigots are decreasing in population.

Yes, I hope so too.

But could the increase in interaction actually cause an increase in bigotry?