> But the fact that admission to this community required total philosophical adherence is just bizarre.

My grandpa's best friend was a catholic priest. I remember him saying that you really don't need to go to the church if you don't want to, but, if you did good deeds selflessly, always tried to make things right (in the sense of least global damage possible) and to avoid wronging others, you'd be a good enough catolic to pass any reasonable judgement day test.

Which is something I would suspect my idealized Jesus would stand behind.

The only time I saw him actually working as a priest, was when my grandpa died and he delivered his eulogy.