A Muslim, a Jew, a Christian, and an atheist walk into a coffee shop...

[Thumpalumpacus]

Basically, what I am seeing is, "They cherry-pick the good stuff, by some dishonest method, but via some fantastical mental gymnastics I have arrived at the conclusion that they're in fact no less authentic in their faith as the sincere ones who actually attempt to follow their warped logic in a consistent manner."

Um, no. You see, there's a difference between faith, doctrine, and practice. You should perhaps look into it?

There is no one clear message about behavior in the three Abrahamic texts -- they are each internally contradictory on those matters. And that means all believers cherry-pick in order to support their own form of faith. This is not me practicing "fantastic mental gymnastics", this is me describing reality as it is. You can take it or leave it, but me, I find it best to deal with reality on its own terms.

 

I'm not saying that these religious people in your lives, or most religious, are by any means bad people.  They're simply either ignorant about what their texts say or willfully deceptive, with themselves or others, about what their most fundamental ideals about reality entail, per the commitments to certain principles which they have embraced in such identities as Jewish/Christian/Muslim (obviously, I'm not talking about ethnic or culture, but religious faith).

[Emphasis added]

What do you think cherry-picking is if not self-deception of a sort?


 

If you're cool with that, then great.  I'm not.

Ain't my circus, ain't my monkeys, so long as they don't shove it down my throat I don't care.

What bothers me a lot more than cherry-picking believers are militant atheists who propagate a stereotype that others then inflict on me.