Reading this thread suggests to me that there seems to be in some people a religious instinct, a desire to believe in something, that causes this kind of faith-based flip-flopping, this theological ADD.
The biggest question in my mind is not how someone could pick and choose so many religions, but how after being exposed to several different flavours of the same mytho-ritual material anyone could go on wanting more pre-packaged unsubstantiated claims. Not intended as a criticism, merely as a personal comment. For myself, when I am interested and fascinated by a religion I study it, I do not convert to it based on my initial response. Likewise, if a certain philosophical field such as Marxism or logical positivism interests me, I do not become a Marxist or logical positivist to learn more about it, I seek to learn more about the subject first and reserve certain decisions for later.
However if some people feel the best way to learn and understand a religion is to convert, I can understand that rationale. I don’t agree with it in the majority of cases, but I can understand the thinking.
If someone converted to Islam and was surrounded by extremists, I can see how that would make an extremely poor impression. However there are almost as many variations of Islam as there are of Christianity, and a goodly number of its practitioners are indeed intelligent and well-adjusted, and not fundamentalist freaks with nigh-infinite hang-ups. Unfortunately these folks tend to be the quieter, more reserved sort of Muslims that are typically slightly harder to see and hear than the psycho variety. Except perhaps in places like Indonesia.
RE: the Orthodox church, a number of my friends have commented several times on how beautiful the services are, and have encouraged me to attend many times. It’s true, they are beautiful (if often of a lethal duration) but I have frequently wondered how relevant that is in a religion. Isn’t this the kind of icing and sparkle that doesn’t really add substantially to the religious philosophy behind the belief, but merely provides an incentive to partake in a ritual?
Incidentally, in my experience the Russians and Greeks are very conservative, however the Serbians have it right – they keep the beauty and general content of the services but shorten them substantially so that the eating, drinking, and merry-making may take place earlier. If this kind of thing matters to you you may want to check them out, though in many countries the Serbian Orthodox seem to practice with Greeks and Russians for convenience.