Decisions, Decisions

The first step in this insane little interfaith experiment of mine (my friend's word choice) is to choose which sects of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam to follow. I can't follow all the different sects, for such obvious reasons:
- I am in Alaska, which, while it has an abundance of Christian sects, lacks such an abundance of the other two.
- I am a full-time college student.
- I would probably go a little crazy.

So I will pick one of each, and go from there. The Judaism selection was easy; my room mate is Jewish and was happy to lay out the difference between Orthodox and Reform Judaism. I decided to go with Reform for one simple reason: It's easier.
I know that sounds rather lazy, but I need all the slack I can get since I am going to be taking part in three religions, I need all the breaks I can get. Reform Jew it is!

The Islam selection is still up in the air. There are an estimated 2000 to 3000 Muslims in my city, yet as far as I have been able to find, only one Muslim center, which is currently saving fund to build our city's first mosque. I haven't explored this yet, but I am assuming that they are predominately Sunni, as this is the dominating Islamic sect. More on that later.

The Christian selection was by far the hardest. There are so many, and some sects refuse to knowledge other sects as being "truly Christian." Additionally, I was raised in a borderline evangelical church, which left me with a slightly jaded opinion of the Christian community. On top of all this, there is the famous Catholic/Protestant schism. How on earth do I decide? First I skimmed out all sects that aren't "Christian"(according to a majority). This eliminated Jehovah Witnesses and a few others. The Mormons have additional texts, so they were out as an option, as I'm looking for one that relies on just the Bible (sorry guys, maybe next time). I cut out overtly evangelical sects for my own benefit. I do not want bad memories to interfere with an experiment designed to promote peace and understanding. I also find most evangelicals to be too fundamentalist, and I am looking for moderates. 25% of American's Christians are considered evangelical, so this really cut down my list. (Though what exactly "evangelical" means is another post on its own.)
I eventually settled on Episcopalian, for several reasons. Mostly it is because the Episcopalian church, from what little I've seen, seems to take aspects from both Catholic traditions and Protestant mindset. Many Episcopalians churches tend to be more tolerant then others, and there is even a huge controversy on the topic of gay clergy, which has received strong support and opposition within the Episcopalian community, and will make an interesting subject to blog about.

So here I am: Reform Judaism, assumedly Sunni Islam, and Episcopalian Christian.

Did I mention I will be studying Buddhism too?
This really isn't a part of the experiment, I am a Buddhist (Soto Zen, specifically). But in a study of religions and beliefs, I will be documenting my own observations, reactions, and opinions, and it is impossible to weed out the Buddhist aspects. (Technically, it is debatable on whether Buddhism is a religion, as it lacks a theistic diety.)
So while this blog will be mostly about the three Abrahamic religions, there will be a little Buddhism thrown in to.