As Kosher as a Matzo Ball wrapped in bacon!

Is there a difference between calling yourself a member of a particular religious group because of your faith, and calling yourself a member because of your cultural heritage? I think there is, and it sounds to me as if you fall into the latter. I grew up with parents of a certain faith, in a country which is predominantly one faith, and if asked I would probably classify myself accordingly. But I don't believe. For me, it's cultural. I don't consider myself to be religious and I don't follow religious rules because they are set by my faith. I follow many of them because they are the law of the land, and others simply because I feel they are the right way to behave irrespective of whether religious teaching says so or not. Interesting discussion.

Not at all. Who says you cannot be Jewish if you don't follow it to the T. Thats bull. I know a few jewish people that act like we do and only celebrate their high holy days. The rest of the time they are regular people. And one thing one of them told me was this, he said that he did not like those real religious jews because they were taking it way to serious. And he also told me that those, he meant the Hasidics, do not like anyone, including their own that do not do everything exactly as they do. So given this information, coming from a jewish friend tells me the whole story. No you do not have to follow any religion to the letter of the law. Most of us were raised a certain way, like me, I was raised catholic, but I do not follow the religion. I do celebrate christmas though. So it does not matter. I see things now as we do what we want to do. No one has the right to tell us what to do.

No...because alot of the practices are man made..not made by the big guy! So if it's in your heart....well you are a true member.

I think you're Jewish no matter what you do because that's the way you were born, right? So that does not change. However, I think your participation in a religion determines whether you are of that religion or not. That's the reason I don't like religion. It's like a cult to me. Those who follow it are accepted among the other members. Those who do not are shunned and looked down upon. To answer your question, though, I don't think every rule must be followed no matter what for the person to be a true member. If he or she truly wants to be a part of that religion, he or she must do their best to follow the guidelines. I think if a member of a religion is genuine in his or her acceptance and practice of that religion, he or she is a true member regardless. I don't like religion because it dictates what people can and cannot do. It doesn't give us room to believe a certain way because we want to. You say, "I cannot eat this because I'm Jewish." What about, "I cannot eat this because I don't want to"? I think free will is more powerful than religion. Each person will do what he or she wants to do anyway. Having a religion doesn't make you a better person. It just dictates what beliefs and rules you have a follow. Plus, rules are meant to be broken lol! Religion also confuses people. It's not a shopping experience where you pick out the one you want, try it for a while, and if you don't like it, move on to something else. We should have beliefs and follow them because we want to, not because that's what our religion tells us to do.

I don't think that every rule has to be followed for someone to remain within a denomination. I would say there is a certain closeness that people feel when they stay traditional but I that doesn't mean that I think people have to be traditional all the time to be a part of that religion. If I followed the rules and remained traditional I would be waiting hand and foot on a man, unable to ask a question in church unless my husband asked it for me, and broke. I think that because of the times we are in that survival has taken the place of tradition. If I depended on someone to have taken care of me, I would have never made it. I think that timing has a great deal to do with rules and tradition too.

I think you know my well enough that you can probably read my mind by now about what I'm going to say. No you don't have to fall every rule to be still be part of that faith. He I know I should eat fish every Friday or chicken and I don't. I'm a red meat kind of girl I like to eat it any day of the week with out being told tome Catholic people don't eat red meats on Friday. I still see myself as Catholic regardless of how others my feel about it. I don't need to fall rules in my heart to know what is right for me and I don't think I have to devote every rule that was written as being so important that I must fallow it to the letter.