I’ve often thought about getting a statue of Buddha because Buddhism is cool and Buddha is kind of cute, but I’m not a Buddhist and there’s always that vague worry about keeping ‘idols’ in the house!

And I’m also threatening to make latkes this year, after a very long time…

I dislike the turning of Channukah into “the Jewish Christmas” quite a lot, but as a minor holiday it’s a nice one. Lights (lights always good at winter holidays!), music, games, good food — what’s not to like? Purim is a minor historical holiday too and
I generally go all out for it.

Ilyse & Phira, yes, it was Paul. And a big part of why the Jewish laws (which Jesus was clear should be followed) got abandoned, as far as I’ve learned, was because of circumcision. Good luck attracting a lot of adult converts to your religion if that’s step one! But if you say circumcision isn’t necessary, then you have to throw out the rest of it, too, because circumcision is the first and most important sign of the covenant.

Rebecca, intriguing point about the Darwin fish. I’ve always liked them, but I see them as a political protest against the kind of Christians who want to suppress science. Although, now that I think more about it, it does lump all Christians into one, er, fishbowl, as it were, which is unfair and probably doesn’t help the cause. But still, in a way, desecrating or destroying a symbol is more respectful than appropriating it or kitsching it up. It’s like flag etiquette–it is actually honoring the meaning of an American flag more to burn it in protest than to make a BIKINI out of it.

Why keep a mock Torah? Why is it a MOCK Torah? What is he even doing with it? Is he studying it? Or does he have it as a token? I don’t understand it.

I don’t think that this person really has what I would consider respect for Judaism.

Ilyse, it was Paul, if I remember correctly.

And I know that this is different than what Sen. Hatch is doing; something about it seems similar to me, though.

Also, you’ll note that I never said you have to color within the lines of your own religion exclusively. I think it’s fine that Senator Hatch wrote a Hanukkah song. I think it’s *weird*, but I like weird. And hey, if he were in town and wanted to come to Torah study with me, what the heck, I’d take him. But making fake versions of another religion’s most holy object to decorate your office and wearing, on your person, the symbol of another religion–nope. Disrespectful.

MaryAnne, I too am fascinated by the first two centuries of the Common Era, and the philosophy and politics of how Christianity became a religion separate from the Jewishness of the man Jesus.

That being said (or asked), I get Robin’s issue with Senator Hatch. I can relate it to my distaste when I see Rosary Beads used as jewelry.

I think we might just disagree on this point, but I think that the cultural blending bell can’t really be unrung at this point, even if some expressions of it are tackier than others. I mean, he’s not trying to deceive people that he is Jewish.

But… I am also a UU and am getting an MA studying religion, so I have a quite a collection of stuff from other cultures, some of which was gifted to me, and some of which I got for myself.