> That God made humans in his own image has broad significance, and a big part of it is that God wished for his human children to be active moral agents, as he himself is. God gave us free will so that we could practice righteousness (don't

My only problem with this statement in the theology of Jewish and Jewish Derivitaves is this:

In his own "image". Too many people take this to mean bodily image. I can't see the reasoning behind that, and it disturbs me in the ramifications it has for the possibility of other intelligences being discovered in any way. What if they look different? Are they not "of God"?

My way of looking at it is like a network of computers being imaged off of one drive. The software is the same, but the hardware is totally different. :)

Of course, I'm not a believer in any of the Jewish Derivatives anymore, but things like that statement still trouble me in their future ramifications.