@Qingu , I certainly didn’t attempt to convert the asker to my “religion of choice” did I? I was offering the suggestion that they might get more cogent and honest answers to their question elsewhere. There are certainly many ways to study religious materials, of any faith or lack of faith, but for me, one of them wouldn’t be to ask a person who is patently antagonistic to that material for suggestions.
I wouldn’t ask a Muslim person to suggest to me how to study about the Jewish faith, nor would I ask a Fundamentalist Christian to guide me to study Athiesm. That should be easy to comprehend, and not insulting, unless someone has another agenda and has reason to be defensive.
I most definitely never stated that any form of study of “sacred” text is after “sarcasm and trite rhetoric”, only that many of the commentary thus far in this post clearly fits that description. Certainly, many of the comments above, yours included, could be experienced as insulting to those who believe differently.
I’m not sure why you would be so concerned about protecting the sensibilities of a sincere, possibly unbiased student when you give no thought to protecting the sensibilities of those who don’t agree with your POV. Is there something sacrosanct about one, and not the other?