Well, when you say by-the-book, at the end of the day, it's possible to make the book say anything. For example wrt homosexuality, it's possible to generate valid arguments pro and contro based on each of three major abrahamitic canons. My father occasionally went to friday midday prayers, and fasted every ramadan. But then again, he drunk unfathomable amounts of vodka and beer and he smoked. So for some he was a sinner destined to go to hell, but for others he was a zealot. I guess that's why religious canons are fun reads but not the books to build an outlook and a philosophy upon.