clark

I know many Jewish atheists. They regard "Jewishness" as a cultural identity, as opposed to a religion. One of them, my friend Mel Lipman, was just elected president of the American Humanist Association. A Jewish atheist sociologist I once knew said he would guess that around half of the Jews in the US were atheists or agnostics.

There's an organization for atheistic Jews, the Society for Humanistic Judaism.

THOUGHTfully Yours,
Clark

Richard1366

How about describing yourself as an Athiest of Jewish heritage

trekbette

I also consider myself a Jewish Atheist. I thought I was alone and a bit starange for feeling this way. However, a friend introduced me to this web site and there was an article posted in the newswire section. I kept a copy and I think you should read it if you can find it. It was from the Sunday, June 17, 2001 Washington Post, written by Caryle Murphy. If you cannot find it, I will post it for you.

Nataraja

Don't worry, no one really believes that sort of rubbish anymore.

Harumi

What sort of rubbish? Anti-semitism?

Well, I'm sure that no one here has a problem. Go to some rural town in America, Europe, or anywhere in the Middle East and there will be tons.

I've never understood why Jews are so hated. They've never done anything. Are people so jealous of people that are smarter than them that they have to kill other people because of it?

GunnerJ

I'm not sure where you're getting this "Jews are universally smarter than everyone around them" stuff, but...

In the West, at least, the roots of antisemitism reach back tot he Middle Ages, when the Catholic church banned money lending for interest (usury). However, the ban only applied to Christians. Non-Christians were more or less free of the religious injunction to avoid usury. Thus, Jews could set up banks for loans, and kings would often borrow money from them. Then, when the debts rolled in, these same kings started rumors about Jew devils drinking the blood of Christian newborns and such, whipping up a pogrom to clear their debt.

Of course, this is a pretty abridged version of a half-remembered story told to me in a history class two years ago, so... take it with a grain fo salt.

philechat

I think the early Christian rumors on Jews as killers of Christ contribute the most on anti-semitism. In the Middle Ages the Jews lived under the protection of Islamic societies, while they were persecuted in Christian areas. The early Pagans disliked Jews but there were little evidences on actual religious persecution (The destruction of Second Temple in 70AD was an actual war, due purely to political reasons). Julian the Apostate went as far as to plan the Third Temple for the Jews, but died before the project was implemented.

Shadowy Man

I've never understood this. Didn't Christ have to die anyway ("Jesus died for your sins")? So the Jews were doing everyone a favor, weren't they?

trientalis

Re: usury. My memory may be faulty but I believe that in many countries, Jews were forbidden to own land. Therefore many of them turned to trade and banking to make a living.

Monkeybot

That sounds more or less right to me.

I also read a theory a while ago that suggested that since Christianity's roots are in the acceptance of a Messiah that the Jews explicitly reject as such, there is that added frustration and desire to eradicate dissent. If a Christian and, say, a Hindu come into conflict, the Christian can just say "Well, the Hindu just grew up with a totally different theological background, no wonder he disagrees with me."

With the Jews, at least in early Christianity, that excuse didn't really fly. The Jews had quite a few of the same holy books, and in the early days/years, basically the same cultural background. It amounts to two people looking at the same set of data and coming to completely different conclusions. Naturally, some, uhhh, tension is going to arise...

Just a theory I read, I don't mean to derail this thread at all. Sorry.