Reb Lamedzayin asks what a rabbi's answer to the following question would be: "If you were born a Moslem would you be an Imam today?" He further clarifies that he wants to know "whether our religious leadership is drawn towards Judaism specifically or religion in general. If Lustiger had remained in Judaism would he be a gadol today instead of a Cardinal?"
When I was younger I dind't understand "דת" this and "דת" that in the theological writings of old. "Religion"? What is this "religion" thing and why are rabbis referring to it?
I think there really is a 'homo religiosus' type. I've mentioned before, although not in these selfsame words, that I am by nature something of a 'homo skepticus' and if I am being honest with myself I have to ackowledge the probability that were I not brought up religious I wouldn't have become religious (that in turn reminds me to be skeptical of my own skepticism).
In short, I don't know if rabbi/ imam/ priest really translates exactly across the borders as the concepts are all rather different, but I do think that religious types would probably be religious in any environment in which they could have encountered religion.
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