Whenever Jews tell me they were raised “very religious”, I know that they were not raised Orthodox. They were raised in some watered-down form of Judaism whose minimal demands struck them as “very religious.”
Whenever Jews tell me they are “proud Jews”, I know they are ignorant Jews, because I’ve never met a Jew who can read Hebrew tell me that he is a proud Jew. Jews who lead Jewish lives feel no need to pronounce on how proud they are of being Jewish.
I’ve noticed that Orthodox Jews rarely pronounce on how much more demanding their religion is than non-Orthodox forms of Judaism. They just take it for granted.
So, when Modern Orthodox rabbi Hyim Shafner writes on Morethodoxy, “Modern Orthodoxy, when done right, is obviously more demanding than standard orthodoxy”, it strikes me as obvious that he’s trying too hard to impress himself with his own religiosity.
Things that are obvious are not remarked upon. If Modern Orthodoxy were that obviously more demanding that charedi Orthodoxy, the odds are slight that anybody would feel the need to point this out.
In my experience, those who are leading demanding forms of religion seem to be the least likely to pronounce on how demanding their religion is when compared to the alternatives. Only those who are insecure in their religiosity pronounce on how demanding their religion is compared to the competition.
