If you take my personal ethics out of the equation, I don't think I could say that one interpretation is more valid than another. I just agree with one interpr

If you take my personal ethics out of the equation, I don't think I could say that one interpretation is more valid than another. I just agree with one interpretation more because it more closely aligns with my views ("do what ever you want if you're not hurting anyone else"). When religious folk say that the other religious folk are misinterpreting religious text x, I can't help but think they are in no position to make that judgement fairly unless they have their own sense of ethics that overrides the ethics fed to them by their religion. Their view is simply another interpretation of their texts on the broad scale of interpretations of their religious texts. If their ethics are therefore not derived from their religion, seems like a large chunk of the utility of their religion is an illusion. They are not good or better people because of their religion, their ethical foundation is already formed inside them regardless of what religion they pledge membership to.