BURN YOUR SIDDUR AWARD NOMINEE: This one comes from a letter writer to Reform Judaism Magazine: "Prayer and devotion to religious duties and practices is not a meaningful subsitute for taking a Reform Jewish stand on social and economic issues." This may be the first time someone has actually articulated the trend in Reform Judaism that I've been criticizing for years- that many within the domination see political leftism not as a corollary to the religion itself, but rather as a substitute for it- and there's always just a touch of elitism and Christian-bashing thrown in for good measure. These are people who have no religious beliefs whatsoever untiil it comes time to mine the Torah and Talmud to come up with quotes in order to justify their political beliefs- while all the while continuously bashing the Christian Right for doing essentially the same thing on the other side of the political aisle.
The writer continues that "Torah study, prayer, piety, and a coventantal system" are no good because they are indicate of the "Christian fundamentalist process." In other words, us Jews shouldn't be wasting our time praying or reading Torah when we've got John Ashcroft to worry about. We should be out protesting, and leaving all that "prayer" stuff where it belongs- with the goyim.