A typically moronic "liberal" response. Per "educate themselves"? ....Call me back when you've ever bothered to even begin to do so for yourself. Suggested first readings would be the Koran, the Bhagavad Ghita and what teachings of the Buddha your clearly unimaginative and apparently feeble little "mind" can manage.
"Let me ask you this. Do you live your life according to the bible word for word?" No. The bible is a written (and often edited) product of a great many human beings. I've yet to see God Allmighty put up a particular printing press which was always and only touched by divinity. I believe in a prime force/first cause/God/whatever one wishes to term such, and have little use for any/all politically perverted/"convenient" collective tribal fantasies of humankind's making written up by mere mortals....which is what any/all established "religions" actually offer, most often completely missing the point entirely. We humans have an unfortunate capacity to miss the obvious miracles around us everyday, not to mention the miracle of even being alive and more or less sentient to start with. Hold a newborn child or dying loved one in your arms and see if you really need any book to tell you how to feel...
As for the societally practical value of religions though: Perhaps you can offer up something/ANYthing against "Love thy neighbor" and "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you"? Now then; kindly place before us all comparatively "nurturing" quotes from the Koran, just for laughs (you clearly being a true "scholar" that's well-studied in religions, of course) ...You might want to edit out any/all commands to conquer, subjugate and enslave or kill all "infidels", of course.
Mindlessly "embracing diversity" and "respecting other"...umm..."cultures" isn't always much of any "good thing" for supposed "civilization" to do, and any espousing such childish nonsense merely exhibit both their wholesale lack of even the slightest knowledge of human history and the darker aspects of human nature.
"People such as yourself who resort to name calling usually don"t bother to educate themselves"...? Umm...What sort of title should I "respectfully" offer the likes of at best court jesters if not ufter fools? No matte. Let's jsut begin with: Your liberally "enlightened" study of the world's religions and spirtuality in general includes exactly WHAT even slight efforts on your own part? C'mon...I'm sure we could all use a few good laughs here....?
For starters: When's the last time you ever even looked deeply up into a clear night's sky and, for even the briefest of moments, actually realized that "Whoa!....This really isn't ALL about MEE!"...? .."A whole lot more's going on here than I can even begin to understand or ever imagine!"...? 😉 Don't overly strain yourself. It'll come to you, or it won't.
