Exploring religion

I've been exploring various religions recently to see what they have to say.

I started by trying to read the entire Bible, although I'm still in the Old Testament, because I'd like to read it myself rather than just have someone tell me what is in it. I will eventually finish. I'm also in the middle of The Complete Idiot's Guide to World Religions, which briefly skims the major religions of the world. I have finished Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Hinduism and Buddhism and am just getting into other religions around the world. It's interesting to read the basic tenets of each and there are parts to all that I find fascinating.

I won't go into what my personal take on religion is because I really don't want to get into a flame war. But Chris sent me a link to a YouTube video that fits with my current exploration, so I wanted to share it.

Putting faith in it's place

I will say that two of the reasons I started this learning quest are 1) the habit of believers of various faiths to try to push their particular religion without worrying about offending anyone who believes differently and yet getting offended if you try to state your point of view and 2) current events including a) insistence that the U.S. is a Christian nation and b) anti-Islamic sentiment. I really don't want to say more because I'd rather not start arguments. But the video above really fits with my quest.