Posted by fschmidt on
URL: https://coalpha.arkian.net/Choosing-a-Church-tp5806523p6730211.html

Karaism or Karaite Judaism is a tiny religion based on an older form of Judaism.

Modern Judaism is Rabbinic Judaism which is descended from the Pharisees who Jesus spent his time arguing with.  This Judaism is based on Rabbinic authority where the rabbis have all the power to interpret religion.  The rabbis have codified their beliefs in the Talmud which is a huge series of books with rules regulating all aspects of life.  Some of this is just crazy mystical nonsense.  Rabbinic Judaism has the advantage that it is a strong alternative to liberalism.  But it has the disadvantage that it is full of rules that make no sense and make life less pleasant.  For example, no cheeseburgers.

Is this kind of centralized authority needed?  For a big religion, probably yes.  In Christianity, those branches that were freed from central authority by the Reformation have generally succumbed to liberalism.  But then Christianity is fundamentally flawed because it is based on faith, not good behavior, so without a central authority, there is nothing to keep it on path.

Karaism is something like the Reformation in the sense that it asks Jews to interpret scripture for themselves.  But it isn't something new.  There have always been some Jews who thought this way but gradually Rabbinic Judaism became dominant.  Karaite Judaism is Judaism for people who can think for themselves, so this is naturally for the minority.  For the majority, who can't think for themselves, Rabbinic Judaism is more appropriate.

Why is Karaism superior to Protestant Christianity?  Because Karaism is based on the Tanakh (Old Testament).  The Tanakh is the most anti-liberal book ever written.  No one can study the Tanakh and remain a liberal.  Liberals hate the Tanakh with a passion, but many liberals can tolerate the New Testament.  Also, the Tanakh is all about action, not belief.  There isn't a single commandment in all of the Tanakh about belief or faith.  All commandments are about action, what to do and what not to do.  And these rules are fundamentally conservative rules that liberals hate.

Christianity requires faith in a supernatural God.  Rabbinic Judaism requires following nonsensical rules and submitting to rabbinic authority.  Only Karaism is purely conservative without requiring any specific faith or submitting to arbitrary rules.

I have spent time recently on Karaite mailing lists.  All are small and private.  The majority of people there are fundamentalists and strongly believe in a supernatural God.  They are also very conservative.  But Karaism includes many exceptions.  Today I talked to a leading America Karaite who doesn't believe in a supernatural God.  He agrees with Spinoza's interpretation of God.  Of course he is in the minority, but the point is that Karaism allows for such people.

There is an advantage to Karaism being small.  It means that we could have an impact on it.  I personally feel that Karaism is a better starting point for an "independent sub-culture based on patriarchal values" than CoAlpha is.  Making this work would require a very different approach from CoAlpha, which I may discuss in the private forum.

On a personal level, I will get as involved as possible with Karaism, but I will continue with Orthodox Judaism locally.  I now consider my religion to be "Scientific Karaism" which means that I am a Karaite who defines God as natural law as described by science.