Take your choice:

• s/like/approve of/
• s/like/buy into/
• s/like/enjoy using/

I thought the point was very obvious. Perhaps I should clarify again. You said:

but if you want to prefer Java over Perl, you must buy into the following paradigms:
...
Objects are universally better than non-objects

My point is that you do not have to "buy into" the idea that "objects are universally better than non-objects." In fact, you could think that they are exactly identical in every aspect. This would not eliminate all reasons for using Java. Hence, you do not need to "buy into" the idea.