How would the majority of Christian churches look like if they actually followed the teachings of Jesus? I know, sounds like a paradox, but one I'm interested in looking into after checking out this review of the book "If the Church Were Christian, Rediscovering the Values of Jesus.".

After seeing all of the different kinds of Christian denominations, it would be interesting to compare their beliefs and practices against what the proposed progenitor of their church had said.

I don't agree with a lot of people. I'd say of the 52 different religious groups I encountered, I might agree with maybe 50% of what any given group said. Considering that we're talking about the perceptions of the nature of reality, or morality, I'd say 50% is a pretty good number.

This is rather interesting. Using DNA techniques, they've been able to identify a group of people as being descendants of Israelites. They've even kept many of the same practices, such as aversion to pork and practicing circumcision.

It is a Native American group as would be claimed by some people? Nope - a tribe in Africa who's ancestors can now be fully traced to Semitic ancestors.

Very cool.

There is a very firmly established belief in the United States in the concept of "freedom of religion." It could be said to be enshrined into the very DNA of the nation. Inside the Constitution of the United States, it states in clear language that:

The Catholic Church has had a bad couple of years with pedophile scandals. You had the revelations of alter boys abused in the United States, now revelations of *decades* of child abuse (physical and sexual) in Ireland, and now revelations of the same thing going on in Germany.

And then - there's the story of the Vatican itself caught up in the sex scandal. Basically, visitors to the Vatican were provided with gay male prostitutes.

It's probably the saddest stereotype of them all - in this case, Roy Ashburn, a California state representative who has campaigned against gay rights, arrested on a DUI after coming home from a gay nightclub. I really do feel sorry for him. Probably spent his whole life feeling that he was "evil" because of what his community/his faith told him that "if you like other boys you're bad".

The year is done, and it's time to say goodbye with this last episode. What will come next? Who can say.

http://blogthereligions.com/podcast/Episode_52_Final_Episode.mp3

You can watch the episodes on Youtube here:

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Part 4

http://blogthereligions.com/podcast/Episode_51_Chassidic_Orthodox_Judaism.mp3

I've said it before, and I'll say it again - I love having my expectations blown away. When I find a group of "Orthodox" Jewish members enjoying and laughing at life, I knew I was learning something interesting.

You can find out more at:

Young Israel of Tampa

Chabad Lubavitch Synagogue Tampa

http://blogthereligions.com/podcast/Special_Episode_01.mp3

This is a special episode! Why is it special other than being late and not about a religion at all? Because it is!

And you can watch this episode on Youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dTCmgP_BcXs