Rationality and Religion

Why does it matter whether or not there's any logical evidence for my religious beliefs?  Isn't limited human logic unworthy of being used for our thoughts about the infinite and the divine?  Why should I care if there's a heap of rational proofs against them?

The idea that religious views aren't subject to rationality is a very comforting one.  It absolves a person from the fear of their religious critics, the feeling of doubt and irresponsibility, and the guilt of morally questionable parts of their religion, and the effort that it would take to read and think.  It's a very handy tool for the layman's comfort and the leader's ability to manipulate - but is it true?

Truth is something that we can't escape from.  You hear the sound of shattering glass from the other side of your house.  Either someone is breaking into your house, or it was something else.  Whether your close your eyes, hide in the closet, call the police, go investigate, yell out your window at the neighbor kids for playing baseball, or go on eating your sandwich, there either is or isn't someone breaking into your house.   If there is, then all the disbelief and apathy in the world won't make him disappear.  If there isn't, then all of the belief and fear in the world won't make him appear.  Why does this matter?  It matters because you have a practical choice of action ahead of you, and you will choose your action based on what you believe.  If your belief is aligned with truth, then you can choose wisely.  If your belief is not aligned with truth, then your choice can end in tragedy.

With religious beliefs, we have practical choices, too.  There either is or there isn't a G-d.  If He does exist, He either does or doesn't want you eat pig.  There either is or isn't a harem of virgins waiting for us if we blow up that school bus.  There either is or there isn't a lake of fire waiting for us if we reject Jesus.  What greater tragedy can there be than to spend your life with mistaken beliefs about G-d and your purpose, only to realize at the end of your life that you wasted it by ignoring your entire purpose for existing, that you missed out on eternal bliss, that you committed heinous crimes which you thought were the will of G-d, or that you will burn forever in an eternal lake of fire?  Certainly then, it's extremely important to have our religious beliefs aligned with reality.  The only problem left is: how do we do that?   We use logic, because it's our only useful tool for separating truth from fiction.

But hey!  Isn't limited human logic incapable and unworthy of being used for our thoughts about the infinite and the divine?  I agree that no amount of thinking can ever give a person the full understanding of the nature of G-d, or what it would be like to experience eternity.  There are truly some things that our mind can't understand, but what are our other options?

· You could base your religious views on what you grew up with, but to do is is to let a roll of the dice determine your destiny, and the odds are not in your favor.  Would you drive on the left side of the road in America because that's how you learned to drive growing up?

· You could base your religious views on the first compelling argument you find...  If you were a judge, would only hear the first side of a case to give their arguments and then make a decision?

· You could base your religious views on whatever makes you feel warm and fuzzy inside...  Would you ever eat dish soap because looking at it makes you feel happier inside than the cereal box?

· You could base your religious views on whatever makes you most socially accepted among your friends or peers... Would you become a Nazi because your buddies are all Nazis or because Nazis are well respected in your profession?

You know better than that.  If you would use your brain for finding the truth about what is best to eat for breakfast, or which side of the road to drive on, how much more important is it to use logic to find the truth about your purpose in life and your eternal fate?

The first, and most difficult step to using your mind is to open it to the possibility that you might be wrong about some of your religious beliefs (maybe even all of them), and even more so about the beliefs of other religions.  After admitting that possibility, and realizing the need for logical research, it's also necessary to equip yourself with the compass of understanding how logic works before setting out to explore the sea of religious views.  It's full of every imaginable kind of illogical fluff (I may do a post for this).

With these skills in hand, you'll be ready to look objectively and logically at what evidence there is for and against your current religious beliefs, the different views within your current religion, and the beliefs of other religions.  Of all the people I've talked to, only a handful are willing to open their mind more than a tiny crack before getting scared and closing it.  May you have the strength to overcome your fear of the unknown and climb to a place where you can see more truthfully.

Converting to Judaism, Chapter 2 - First steps:

 After our flight from Vegas, Stephan and I stayed at an extended stay hotel for about a month while we looked at apartments to rent for a year. Living in the hotel was kind of fun. I don't know what it is about staying in a hotel that always has sort of a fun feel to it, but we enjoyed our time there. It's probably because whenever we've stayed in hotels in the past it was associated with vacation and being in a new neat place that serves free fresh baked cookies at night with coffee. A true adventure isn't really an adventure without bumping into some rocks along the way. We experienced our first power outage living in the hotel with our 3 month old. It was summer time and being in a hotel with a 3 month old with no AC was not a pleasant experience. Thankfully, our little one handled everything very well. I would bring him downstairs sometimes to the lobby to cool off and would always get comments on how calm he was. Thankfully we were able to check into the hotel next door which had power and the hotel we originally stayed at gave us our money back for the days that the power was out.

     Once we survived the power outage and another rock we bumped into was figuring out where to live. In the short term, we ended up picking an apartment in Rockville, MD and started the process of getting our things together and seeing how to start the process of converting to Judaism. My husband started his new job at GEICO and that's where he met his first observant Jew. He asked him if he had any problems with the company being Jewish and all and he told him they should set up a time to meet to talk more. Anyway, they hit it off and Yaacov called a friend of his who recommended 2 rabbi's who do conversions - one in Rockville, and one in DC.

     We wanted to make sure we went with a credible Bes Din because we wanted to do things right. We have heard sad stories of people who wanted to convert and went with people who were not credible and had to find out the hard way. For instance if  you want to move to Israel to become a citizen as a Jew, they need to know you converted with a credible Bed Din otherwise your conversion will be considered invalid. So we, not knowing this when we moved, ended up going to the one Bes Din who's head Rabbi actually worked with the Chief Rabbi of Israel on coming up with a standard for converts in the U.S, to be accepted in Israel. So we were so happy to find that out and knew we were in good hands.

   The Rabbi in Rockville held weekly classes about the Torah portion of the week, Jewish history, and other things that we needed to know.  Just as important was the Shalosh Seudos every Shabbos, giving us our first taste of kiddush, challah, Shabbos songs, and davening (praying).  We met lots of Jews, many who were on a similar path as us, not being raised as observant Jews.  We also met another Rabbi who substituted for the Rockville Rabbi when his voice went out, who we liked.

     It was to expensive to buy a house in Rockville though, so we looked for where the best place for us to live would be after factoring in things like, affordability, Jewish schools for our kids, distance from work, how many shuls(aka synagogues) were in the area.  Stephan's little spreadsheet indicated that Silver Spring was the place to be.  It had a good sized Jewish community with 4 different shuls we could go to if we wanted, the most affordable housing, and was next to a few kosher restaurants and grocery stores.

   We eventually got around to calling up the Rabbi who is head of the Bes Din and set up an interview for our conversion. On the day we went down there, there was traffic (we weren't aware of how bad D.C. traffic can be at the time) so we were late for our first meeting which we were not happy about.  Luckily, the Rabbi was still there. We apologized and the first question he asked us was "Why do you want to do this crazy thing?" We laughed and told him our story. When we told him about the article that we found online about "A Primer: Why Jews Can't Believe in Jesus" the Rabbi asked who wrote it and we told him it was Baruch Gershom and he said he knew the author, who was using that as a pseudonym, and he lives in Silver Spring. We were stunned and thrilled that the community we had already picked is the same community that the guy who wrote the article which started this whole thing.

   Anyway the only problem was we were having trouble finding a sponsoring Rabbi. A sponsoring Rabbi is required in order for you to convert. He is the one you study with and basically teaches you how to be a Jew and vouches for you to the Bes Din that you are in fact doing everything you are being taught. I was actually told by a Rabbi that there is no way we would find a sponsoring Rabbi in Silver Spring or really anywhere because it requires so much work and it's not really an obligation on any Rabbi to do so, so why would they do it?  The only other option to convert was to for Stephan to take a year off work and study with the Rockville Rabbi. That was definitely not possible for us since were not Rockefellers and couldn't afford to take that long off of work. 

     Feeling defeated and restless with how hard it was to just be able to find a sponsoring Rabbi, I called one of the Rabbi's on the Bes Din and vented to him about how frustrating it was. That Rabbi was really understanding and told me he would help me find a Rabbi in Silver Spring. Being the pessimist that I am, not  really thinking it would happen, I still didn't feel any better about it. However he ended up calling me back and gave me a number to a Rabbi that said he wold be willing to help us. The rabbi invited us over to meet and talk and as we were driving there, I said, "Wouldn't it be neat if it was that nice substitute Rabbi we met in Rockville?", and Stephan laughed and agreed. The door opened and sure enough, it was. I think they were surprised to see it was us too. Finally we could move forward in our conversion and live in the place we felt we were meant to live in. 

     Now it was time to start house hunting! YAY! We found a nice Jewish agent who helped us out a lot with the house hunting process and ended up with a really great deal on a great house with only a 5 minute walk to the Shul we wanted to go to. We packed up all of our things for the 3rd time in 2 years and moved on over to our new house. We met some people from around the neighborhood and most of them seemed to go to the same minyan(Prayer service).  Stephan decided to try out that minyan. His first time there, he was looking around to see where he should sit and the Gabbi(usher/coordinator) noticed that he looked lost and suggested that he sit by his father-in-law who could help him out. The father-in-law came over and reached out  to shake his hand and introduced himself, and guess who it was... It was Baruch Gershom! Stephan shook his hand in disbelief. Now every Shabbos, Stephan davens right next to the guy who wrote the article that got everything started for us. I think it's safe to say we're in the right place now.