"The way to truth is an act of reason; the love of truth is an act of spirit."
- Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel

I've said I was very interested in religion, both personally and academically, and I am.  I am going to have the lovechild of interfaith dialogue.

In fact, I will (hopefully) be getting my graduate degrees at Claremont Graduate University in religious studies of some sort.

I enjoy posting on religion and interfaith dialogue message boards for debate and discussion.  These forums are great for not only learning about other religions, but also meeting people of faiths you might not other wise know. 

I love learning about all sorts of faiths.  Though the online interfaith communities focus on debate, I'm there mostly to learn.  I respect nearly all religions, though I'll admit I have a few biases. I try not to let them show, because I don't think it's fair to enter a discussion or a debate with my opinion made up. Sometimes I debate things from my opposing view just to excersise logic and see things from another point of view. I think it's healthy, fun and helps my critical thinking skills. I think the world would be a better place if we all tried to see things from another person's perspective -- even if we ultimately disagree.

In addition, I enjoy hearing from different perspectives of religion -- from liberal views, to very fundamentalist and conservative. I've studied a broad range of faiths from Eastern religons, Western religions to Paganism. Comparative world religions definitely interest me, though the Abrahamic religons (Christianity, Judaism, Islam) are my main academic love. 

To suppliment my love for religion, I collect theology books and holy texts. I am a total book geek; I have quite a few texts (but never enough). My library contains probably around a few hundred religion and/or philosophy related books, a stack of religious magazines, as well as a plethora of articles on religion from newspapers, various magaines, National Geographic, and other miscellaneous resources. They're great for reference, research... and personal education.  It's definitely a library that gets used, not looked at.

Lastly, my personal beliefs:  I'm Jewish, but definitely nontraditional.  I consider myself a Process Thinker (particularly influenced by David Ray Griffin) and one with ever-evolving ideas and beliefs.  I have strong opinions, but I wouldn't consider myself religious.

I'm a pluralist.  I am not a relativist.  Not.  Notnotnot.

There are some issues which I honestly don't know what exactly I believe on them.  I like to think of my faith and my perspectives as still developing.  I have no problem saying, "I don't know."  Which is good since I often don't.  I like having room to question and grow and admit that I don't know everything without scrambling for weak appologetic answers.