Again, I have to agree with fistful (did someone spike the punch, of sumthin?) about Judaism?
Way back when, when I was first told that the Jews were "God's chosen people", I did some quick research. Then came back to the person who told me that bit, and asked "Chosen for WHAT, exactly? Whipping boys?"
I was in my early teens at the time. Have yet to get a decent answer to that question...
As a child studying stuff, I was told that The Lord shopped his own Self around to several other markets, rather unsucessfully, until the Jews chose Him
*. As such, the phrase "the chosen people" is germanic grammer: "I choose, I chose, I had chosen". Seems that tidbit got forgotten somewhere along the way and the concept was corrupted into the current "interpretation" that G-d held a drawing and the Jews were the ones He picked. Of course that interpretation makes me wonder why a) folks would go messing with G-d's favorites, and b) why G-d, after deciding who He liked best, did not smite all those who hated His pets just for hating them.
*Father Abraham may have decided to go with The Lord, but he had to sell the idea to the rest of the family and then to all the other families in the neighborhood. Given the conditions of the covenant, I'm pretty sure that the first few folks he talked to about switching over to The Lord might have been a bit sceptical about the whole thing. (And no, this is
notan invitation to reopen the mutilation theme.)
I'll let some of the more "experienced" theologians fill in the details and expose the failings of the way it was explained to me.
stay safe.
skidmark
