Alzarius is right, and I hope that I haven't tread to hard on some of the reform Jews by seeming to equate Reform Jewish to being the equivalent of Christianity. I'm well aware the Christianity was a much bigger departure from Orthodox Judaism than Reform Jew. I also didn't realize that there was current and significant enough ill will between the various practices of Judiasm to make such a subject sensitive - as it aparantly is.
But what I meant was basically no more than the historical record: about two thousand years ago there was born a certain Jew to a Jewish mother. He was raised by a carpenter, though exactly who the father was appeared to have been a source of contriversy - some in the village said the carpenter, others fingered a Roman centurian, and the family themselves kept very tight lipped about it. When this Jew was about the age of 30 he became a wandering rabbi and mystic, as was a common practice in the day. He gained a great following among the masses, because he spoke out against the corruption of organized religion, the aristocracy, and hypocricy. He taught that the law had to be observed according to its spirit, namely that we love God and love one another, and not only according to to a complex set of regulations - especially when such regulations were used to evade the spirit of the law. He was in very many ways, seen as just another Jewish reform sect. However, utlimately much of his following left him, because his teachings were too hard, or too radical, or too strange for easy digestion. He said many Heretical things; most notably he implied that he was the Son of God and coequal with him. You can imagine how well that was recieved in a religion that prided itself on a inhuman and singular god. The core group that survived proved so troublesome to the religious and secular authorities of the day that ultimately a decision was reached to execute him. However, something momentus happened of which history does not say, but the followers of the Naverene Heretic came to believe that he had not died. The religious leaders of the time accused the Christians of stealing the body and performing some elaborate hoax, but the ring leaders who might have pulled off such a hoax never renounced there position and the new heretical branch of Judaism consequently flourished.
So I wasn't meaning to insult or judge anyone, merely refer to historical facts.
