[zencycler]

Here's my question:

Don't some hassidic views believe that their rabbi is the messiah? And while most other Jews would disagree with them, they are not "rejected" in the sense that they are still considered Jews. So why shouldn't the same apply to Christians?

I actually had a long debate over this issue with a mohel because I was planning a bris and a baptism for my son - on the same day (yes, an interfaith marriage). I suggested that the early Christians considered themselves Jews (who just happened to believe that their rabbi was the messiah), that historical events had somehow created an artificial divide between the two religions, and that his act of participating in this event could be a first step toward re-affirming Christianity as a sect of Judaism.

I must say that, in the true spirit of rabbinical debate, he indulged me by spending quite some time on the phone debating this. Ultimately, he declined, and we went on with our interfaith ceremony by using a (non-Jew) Navy doctor for the bris and had a family member perform the other Mohel duties.