What religions do you find most interesting apart from your own?

Erin has tagged me with Matt Stone's meme "What religions interest you apart from your own"?

List three "religions" (i.e. religion/belief system/philosophy/irreligion) :
1. which, if any, "religion" you personally identify with
2 & 3. two other "religions" that interest you.

If you're brave, explain why the other religions interest you.

Hmm, OK. This does, of course, mean that I have to find a term that adequately describes my personal beliefs for part 1.

1. Christian agnosticism

I believe that it is not possible to know for certain whether or not God exists, but that it is very likely that he does and that he is in fact the God of the Christian Bible. I subscribe to a non-literal interpretation of the Bible and I believe (tentatively) in universal salvation. I am also, as an agnostic, open to the possibility that there may in fact be no God, but I regard this as the less likely possibility.

(As a side-issue, I seem to be becoming more comfortable with the term "Christian" these days.)

2. Judaism

Jesus was a religious Jew. His earliest followers were religious Jews. That's a strong advertisement for Judaism in itself. It seems that Jesus never set out to create a new religion, but to reform Judaism. The Hebraic mindset of the original Bible writers and earliest followers of Jesus was rapidly replaced by a Hellenistic version in historical Christianity, which was not necessarily a positive development. I also like the Jewish emphasis on orthopraxy rather than orthodoxy (right actions rather than right beliefs). There is a lot of mileage in interpreting the New Testament in the light of the Hebrew Scriptures ("Old Testament"), rather than the reverse which is far more common today.

3. Islam

If Jesus can give us a new revelation on top of the Hebrew Scriptures, why couldn't Muhammad give us a newer revelation on top of that if God wanted him to? OK, I don't believe he did, but I can understand the rationale behind it. There is a lot to be said about the Islamic emphasis on community, and the Qur'an makes interesting reading even for an unbeliever like me. The discipline of Islamic prayer is also one of Islam's strong points. Indeed, I have borrowed it on more than one occasion - using the forms and wording (translated into English) of Islamic prayer, but leaving out references to Muhammad and anything else that contradicts my belief in the biblical God.

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If I were to stop there, it would seem as though I was only interested by the Abrahamic religions. In fact, there are aspects of many belief systems that appeal to me. The reverence of the natural world in neo-paganism; the ancestral heritage of Celtic paganism for me as a Welshman; the emphasis on rational thought of atheism; the hospitality of Sikhs. All these I find appealing. It just goes to show that no one religion or belief system has a monopoly on truth, and we can all learn from each other. We should recognise that which we share and that which we can learn from each other, while at the same time being open and frank about the things on which we disagree. Surely that's a much better alternative to the religious conflict that tends to arise from demonisation of other belief systems.

I won't tag anybody specific for this meme, but if you want to take part, go ahead and post it up on your blog and leave a comment to let me know.