I’m in a couple Jewish facebook groups and really enjoying this one thread on Jewish atheism. ESPECIALLY this one comment where the person was like “I’ve been an atheist for a decade but enjoy observing religious holidays/services – I’m religious but not spiritual”
what a PERFECT way to describe that? the prevailing model for having one foot in religion-type things is to say “I’m spiritual, but not religious; I have belief but do not want any structure for it” and obviously that doesn’t click for me as a person with no supernatural Beliefs who is just in it for the structure
further gems from this thread (mostly paraphrased):
– “I mean we’re not supposed to name, describe, or picture God; we’re not supposed to worship other things or people; we’re not supposed to speculate about the afterlife; and we’re supposed to live as if God doesn’t exist, so….. atheism is quite a small step really”
– “We’ve been persecuted for one gazillion years all while maintaining our culture, rituals, and killer sense of humor so why the heck would I give those things up just bc there probably isn’t a God”
– Obligatory retelling of the “rabbis decide God doesn’t exist” joke
– “I recently found out most of my family members are atheists but no one thought it was important enough to mention before now”
– “menschkeit > frumkeit”
– “I JUST WANNA YELL EXCITEDLY ABOUT THIS BOOK WHO CARES IF THE STUFF HAPPENED OR NOT”
– “There is only one god! And we don’t believe in him!”
sorry for the add-on but this is exactly how my parents are with Hinduism!!! thank you so much for coming up with a label, OP
OH that’s so cool! I’m so glad to know other religions have this same dynamic in places!
I’ve met, like, one person who is Christian-like-this. And that was really recently.
There were two episodes of the podcast the Kibitz about Jewish atheism that were really great
“There is only one God, and we do NOT believe in Him!”
“A good Jew believes in one god or fewer”
Reblogging AGAIN because it’s great, Jews are great, Jewish atheism is valid af and honestly being atheistic yet religious is a neat trick and if it appeals to you, you can too. It’s fun and free. Go for it.
I grew up with two agnostic Jewish parents who made me go to services, and I only developed a personal desire to seek Jewish rituals when I was an adult and no longer forced into them. I’m definitely on the atheistic-leaning side of agnosticism. I find the cultural aspect of Judaism influences my life more than Jewish spirituality ever could. I was taught from a young age that asking questions is integral to Jewish culture, and so I found the biggest question I could ask of my religion was whether God existed. I gave a speech on my bat mitzvah explaining, with detailed evidence from my Torah portion, why the answer was probably no.
Also, our holidays are great, our stories are riveting, our music is fun to sing, and I can’t imagine why anyone would pass these things up.
@ophidian-naiad you are great, that story is great, and the greatest thing about it is that it’s fairly typical. XD
