Correct Religion?

The correct religion is either Karaite Judaism or Conservative Mennonitism, depending on the nature of God's agency. Because my core axiom is that induction works, I look to historical precedents to determine which systems consistently produce reliable, trustworthy results. Karaite Jews are followers of the Hebrew Bible (Tanakh) that reject the oral traditions of the Talmud (and the New Testament). Conservative Mennonites are Christians that follow their local Ordnung and the teachings of Menno Simons.

There are several historically robust religions: Calvinism (e.g., Presbyterianism and the Dutch Reformed Church), Mormonism, and Classical Islam. By Classical Islam, I mean the religion of the Islamic Golden Age—Islam before it banned the printing press and fractured into movements like Wahhabism, late-stage Sufism, Ash'arism, and Mu'tazila. These religions are valuable because they share a strong lineage of nominalist scientists, critical thinking, and values that help societies flourish. But there are caveats for each.

Calvinists try to transform modern culture, which is needlessly risky; from an inductive standpoint, it is better to reject modern culture altogether. Although Calvinists do an excellent job of resisting secular influence internally, they have yet to transform it externally, as modern culture just gets worse over time. So, Calvinism is good but not ideal.

Mormonism is strong because most of its values are sound; Mormons value functionality, earnestness, prudence, and an aesthetic that blends nature with divinity. The problem with Mormonism is its demographic dilemma: their historical polygamy carried severe genetic bottlenecks (albeit with high birth rates), yet their modern embrace of mainstream monogamy has resulted in relatively low birth rates. (Monogamy is ideal—as demonstrated by Mennonites who are monogamous and maintain high birth rates—but modern monogamous Mormons have assimilated too closely to secular fertility trends).

I almost forgot to compare Conservative Mennonites against Old Order Mennonites and the Old Order Amish. For starters, the Old Order groups succeed at rejecting modern culture. But their extreme isolationism will likely lead to a genetic bottleneck overtime if their adaptation won't outclass any problems they have with the genetic founder effect. They almost never integrate outsiders, and problems with inbreeding are well-documented. Conservative Mennonites avoid this demographic trap. They are much more trustworthy over the long term because they allow modern people to visit, hear their teachings, provide websites online that people can visit, and potentially join.

Regarding Classical Islam, the problem is simply its non-existence in the modern era; it cannot be a trustworthy system today if it cannot be practiced in its original form.

If God is a sentient being with conscious intent, then Conservative Mennonitism is the correct church. If God is not sentient, then Karaite Judaism is correct. Is God sentient? For the time being, I lean toward no. The evidence I see points to God being all-powerful without being all-knowing. This means God would have to be non-sentient; if God were sentient, that sentience combined with infinite power would logically result in omniscience (knowing all propositions). Only non-sentience allows for God to be all-powerful without being all-knowing.

By the way, God is a personal being regardless of sentience. Even if God is non-sentient, God is still the demiurge—the active, ordering force that drives progress forward.

Am I a Karaite Jew? Not exactly. I don't know Biblical Hebrew, because I feel too lazy to learn it. I don't even know if active communities of Karaite Jews exist near me, hence it feels incredibly hard to motivate myself to learn the language. What I am getting at is: I read the Old Testament, but only in plain English. Specifically, I go with the Holman Christian Standard Bible (HCSB) translation for its balance of literal accuracy and modern readability.

Why is Karaite Judaism better than Talmudic Judaism? Because the Talmud completely reinterprets the Old Testament, causing it to lose its original meaning. The Old Testament values honor, craftsmanship, and natural aesthetics, which the legalistic framework of the Talmud goes against. These values are important for a flourishing society. Because Rabbinic (Talmudic) Judaism de-emphasizes these physical, kingdom-building values in favor of textual disputation, its adherents have historically thrived when they integrate with other societies, but struggled when they start independent kingdoms.