Non-hysterical, clear analysis. Great job.

If only Mr. Smith were to go to Washington to run the TSA. If only.

Judaism and Christianity are very different, despite sharing the Hebrew Bible.

Mr. Shermer and the televangelists seem very much like 2 sides of the same coin, as if he switched from evangelical Christianity to evangelical atheism.

Despite my distaste for his views, I do appreciate Salon interviewing advocates of minority religions.

"but in a supposedly mainstream business publication". Forbes is indeed a righty mag, the spoiled brat ravings of its owner/publisher being a recurrent feature.

They are definitely fellow travelers, at least in the economic and foreign policy areas. Why should anyone be surprised that it spills over to the cultural side.

When I read Mr. Smith's columns, I am always reminded of my doctor, who, upon hearing what another doctor did to me, said (and I will love him forever for it!) "That was stupid!".

I'm a big fan of clearly written demystification. Mr. Smith is a master.

and someone who actually studies the Commandments and the Oral Tradition and the Commentaries in Hebrew and Aramaic, please allow me to clear some things up:

1) Many Torah scholars hold that marijuana was one of the Incenses used in The Temple.

2) In Commandment #3, the "Sabbath" is really better translated as "Saturday". Honor Saturday, Remember Saturday, etc.

3) #7 is really "Don't Kidnap". "Don't Steal" is later on in Exodus.

4) "Judeo-Christian" is an oxymoron. Don't worry, right wing Jews have no illusions about right wing Christians. Why these lack of illusions don't translate into different voting patterns beats me, sorry.

5) All Jewish scholars hold that there are 613 Commandments for Jews, including the 10 Commandments, which subsume all of the others as well in a recursive definition. Non-Jews have a different set of Commandments known as the Noachide Laws (according to Torah).

6) All hold that Katherine Harris can't see the handwriting on the wall.

I

Heckuva job there, Mr. Nader, heckuva job.

Hey, here's an idea for a business. Set up the NPAA to give ratings. The MPAA definitely needs some competition, MPAA, NPAA, people won't know the difference. You could get the rating you want, you won't have to say it's not rated.

Any venture capitalists here?

My lesbian teen-age daughter does not need birth control, yet she has a hormone condition that is currently being treated by those birth control pills. Would these doctors prescribe the pill for medical conditions? How about D&C's for miscarriages? Sounds silly, but who knows?

and they said socialism died when the Berlin Wall fell.

It's very nice to read a non-condescending article about right wing religious people in a left wing magazine. The fact that you would never see the reverse is unfortunate, but Salon does itself credit to treat observance with as much respect as it does atheism.

More bigotry of the tolerant from the letter writers. Progressive people, eat your own cooking. Don't substitute Islam for Christianity, substitute Gay for Christian; how many of you would make such snarky comments about Provincetown on the Cape, for example?

You don't have to approve, and you would be justified in fearing that these Christians might step out of the "live and let live" mode, as Christians have done so many times in the past. But if progressives ever want to fix this country, they are going to have to "convert" right wing religious people to their point of view.

That is impossible if you think that they are idiots, freaks, or whatever.

We programmers spend half our days discussing which programming language is the best screwdriver for our jobs. I bet there'll be 500 posts on this topic by the end of the day.

Heck, download Visual C# for your boy, then put a SQL Server or an Oracle instance on your PC, he'll be pulling down 80K out of high school.

I'd like to tell him, "Boychik, don't worry, al pi Halakha, you're not Jewish at all, don't worry". Maybe it's my blue state state of mind, but I can't see what the big deal is.

Oh, and "This kind of phony simple-minded irony often resonates well within the Pharisee Wing of the fundamentalists.". Speaking as a Pharisee (albeit a left wing one), let me tell you that Pharisees did not go extinct, and are walking around in the open to this day. Indeed, one won the Vice Presidency before he pfumpfered it away, about 10 US Senators are...

No offense taken whatsoever. It's a common mistake. Today's Rabbinical Judaism is a direct descendant of what the P'rushim (the real name of the Pharisees) taught. We hold them in the highest esteem.

"'Pharisee' arguably is Christendom's worst insult. It is fightin words. It is a tooth-baring, knife-drawing sort of an accusation."

I know. That's why I make my points. It's unfortunate. It's kind of a Gone with the Wind vs. Roots situation.

"I honestly want to know: Were there other Pharisees, maybe in another era from Jesus? Were they good? Or do you have a better story about the Pharisees Jesus knew? Is there a subsequent history? Please give us (me at least) somewhere else to look, and to learn."

Well, here's a secret that's not a secret. Obviously, we don't hold the Gospels to be Truth. We Jews have our own story of Jesus, or, more accurately, some named Yeshu who lived about -100 or so. Let's just say he's not thought of well. His story was documented in parts of the Talmud that were censored by the Church in the Middle Ages.

The P'rushim kept the Oral Tradition alive through the Greek Oppression (see Chanuka) and through the persecution of the Zadokim (Sadducees). The Oral Tradition explains and elucidates the Written Torah and is the authoritative way to understand the Hebrew Bible. It was redacted into the Talmud starting around +200. I'd guess, if you're interested, the place to start learning would be Tractate Pirkei Avos of the Talmud, it starts off with the Oral Tradition's transmission chain.