Why I rejected Islam and Judaism

Some people may find fulfillment and purpose in following Islam or Judaism, however I found that neither were for me. These were my reasons why:

Islam

I must admit, that part of the reason I rejected Islam was that it is deeply alien to me, and to the culture I live in. This gave it an air of inpenetrableness which may have helped put me off. Of course, I also knew (and know) far less about Islam than I do about Christianity or Judaism. However, even though my knowledge is limited, there are reasons why I felt this faith is not for me (and no, it had nothing to do with September 11th)

Patriarchalism

I am a feminist, and I believe myself to have equal rights with, and be potentially equal, to anybody in the world. I say "potentially", because obviously there are always going to be people who are cleverer than me, for example. But if I am not equal, it is because of my brain, not my sex. Islam, in common with some forms of both Christianity and Judaism, treats women as inferiors to men, by God-given degree.

Women in stricter forms of Islam wear head-dresses (like the veils Christian women are told to wear), and in the most fundamentalist form, wear the all-body covering called the burqa. This is done, one assumes, to avoid exciting lust in passing men, and to keep themselves entirely for their husbands. If women freely choose to wear these things, with no cultural or familial pressure on them to do so, then thats fine. What concerns me is that, in Muslim families, and in the Middle East and Islamic countries, women are often pressured into wearing these things, whether they themselves want to or not. Personally, I think that if men become lustful from looking at a woman, that is their fault, not the fault of the woman! To say that women must cover up to stop men from weakening is to lay the blame on women, not on the men who have allowed themselves to lust - no one's "sin" is the fault of another, and really men should stop saying "its all her fault" in such a childish manner.

Like many women, I'm proud of how I look - I may not be the most beautiful person in the world, but I don't want to have to hide from the world just because of my sex. The only way that covering up by head-dresses or whatever could possibly show equality, or not show inferiority, is if men were required to do so as well - but they're not, of course.

I also find it really irritating to see, in some Muslim families, women having to walk behind men, little boys having supremacy over their mothers because they're boys, that sort of thing. I have no wish whatsoever to say I am naturally inferior to anybody else when that is not true.

Islam looks like a really great religion for men, not only do they get to lord it over women, but in general it does look like a good sort of faith to have - Muslim men are not the sort of people you see staggering down the street drunk every night, shouting obscenities at passersby, for example. But I do not think Islam is a good religion for women.

Its the same God again

The same objections as applied to Christianity also apply to Islam. Christianity, Islam and Judaism share the same God - though called by different names. They share the Old Testament (as its called for Christians) and therefore still have that old patriarchal, bloodthirsty god. They still have the problems with that god killing innocents and committing atrocities, and thats not a god I would like to follow.

Judaism

Much of Judaism looks great, for many Jews its more of a cultural and social thing than a real religion. There is a good, solid sense of community, a good deal of history and things like poetry, song etc associated with the faith, and the Jewish community I have known (in London) is warm and friendly.

However, I don't know that I want a religion which is just a sort of extended family, or just a matter of having festivals at certain times of the year - I want a real faith, where you have to actually believe in a god to be a member. Also, while I understand that any religion is going to become a sort of "family" for its adherents, I often found the Jewish community, probably because of the horrible persecution they have endured through the centuries, to be rather claustrophobic and exclusionary. As a gentile, I never felt accepted or particularly welcomed in groups of Jewish people. Its not that anybody was impolite, just that their own community was so strong that anybody not a part of that community was a bit left out.

Liberal Judaism, much like liberal Christianity, has its good points in that it allows women rabbis and that sort of thing, women can participate properly in the faith. Orthodox Judaism would not appeal!

Again though, they have that same unpleasant OT god, randomly going off killing people - I cannot accept that god.

As the last point, I don't know that, even if I did convert, and ignore the objections I have to Judaism, that I would ever feel like a "proper" Jew. A Jewish friend of mine once told me that Jews do not consider converts, or those who are not from a Jewish family, or who only have one parent who is Jewish, as "proper" Jews. I did get that feeling - among the people I met, everyone both knew each other, and most people were related to each other too, and I got the feeling that a convert would not be seen as properly Jewish, because they lacked the community element which is such a large part of Judaism.

So, in conclusion, neither Islam nor Judaism appealed to me as a faith, they both share the problems I found insurmountable in Christianity, in the form of their god. So the search continues...

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