Thank you, Paul. I am getting so angry about this thread I can't see straight. Understand that while it may seem easy to check the box "Atheist" if that is what you are, it means denying that you are a Jew. Which, historically, is a painful thing to contemplate. (And on the topic of Jews having to deny what they are, Happy Fracking Purim.)
It's not a simple, easily dismissed matter of "well, atheism is your religion, Jewish is your ethnicity." There are no ethnicity surveys where "Jewish" is an option. People are asked what race they are, or what their country of origin is. If you don't answer "Jewish" on a religion survey, you don't get to say you're Jewish at all. Where does my white, Lithuanian, atheist husband get to say he's a Jew--which he is, to the core of his being? And there is humanistic Judaism, as a movement and, I believe, even some synagogues. And as I stated before, you can be an atheist/agnostic and a RELIGIOUS Jew. Saying that they're mutually exclusive is interpreting Judaism with a Christian, belief-based lens. Paul Brandon <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: At 4:58 AM -0500 3/20/08, Allen Esterson wrote: >Re: [tips] Who's Jews in the USA? >On 19 March 2008 Stephen Black asked us to guessSurely it all >depends on how the question is worded. If the survey asks >what is the respondent's religion, then someone of Jewish descent who is an >atheist has only one answer: Atheist. Wish it were that simple. Someone of Jewish descent may feel that if they follow the mitzvot (commandments) that they are observing the core of the Jewish religion even if they do not literally believe in HaShem (G_d). Sometimes it seems to me the Reconstructionist Jews fit this model. Logic and religion don't always play well together (unless you're a Jesuit ;-). -- The best argument against Intelligent Design is that fact that people believe in it. * PAUL K. BRANDON [EMAIL PROTECTED] * * Psychology Dept Minnesota State University * * 23 Armstrong Hall, Mankato, MN 56001 ph 507-389-6217 * * http://krypton.mnsu.edu/~pkbrando/ * --- To make changes to your subscription contact: Bill Southerly ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) Robin Abrahams www.boston.com/missconduct Notices at the bottom of this e-mail do not reflect the opinions of the sender. I do not "yahoo" that I am aware of. --- To make changes to your subscription contact: Bill Southerly ([EMAIL PROTECTED])
