[Anselma]

"Its actually amazing to see otherwise smart people believe the most ridiculous things just because the man in robes says so. "

Dittoooooooooooooooooooooo!

I think it's perfectly alright to have a smorgasbord religion- that's what they all are, historically, anyway- amalgamations and borrowings and "reinvented" "traditions" from competing cultures ... If a person blindly accepts his parents' religion, it's just another excuse for, in a sense, ancestor worship.

Still, if you can't take the time to teach your children your own values, then I guess the next best thing is to throw some organized religion at them. And then wonder why some people grow up to be insufferable ideologues.
OK, I'd better shut-up now.

[RedStateRocker]

What has been VERY interesting is watching the following:

Sister in law, prior to marriage = hard left feminist Harvard Lawyer
Step Brother, before marriage to above, marginal Catholic
He converts,
She gets serious about religion, goes from disciple of Dworkin to stereotypical Jewish mom. She's still lefty on social issues but the kind of lefty that will give actual cash money or help to the poor and practices social Justice the kind I don't agree with but puts their time/talent/money closer to what Jesus would have actually done than most humans I've ever met.
Kids, raised as devout Jews, frighteningly intelligent yet well mannered. Practicing, Kibbutz vacationing Jews.