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This made me look up the term secular in context to Judaism. How did I not know that until now?
For those that don't know, being Jewish is the only ethnicity in the world that also refers to religion and (though no longer used due to antisemitic usage) national identities. Secular Jews are quite common
Yeah my dad is a Jewish atheist (or agnostic, depending on how much he feels like placating my catholic mom lol)
I am also a Jewish atheist married to a formerly Christian (although not since she was a child) atheist.
And for those who say that you cannot be an atheist and a Jew, the following people are/were atheists:
Larry David
Sarah Silverman
Both Carl and Rob Reiner
Gene Wilder
Jerry Lewis
Randy NewmanEven (although I hate to bring him up) Woody Allen is an atheist. Good luck convincing people either Larry David or Woody Allen aren't Jewish.
David Duchovny too!
Yeah, but he wants to believe.
Good luck convincing people either Larry David or Woody Allen aren't Jewish.
Just wait for some talking head asshat to coin the term "JINO".
there are episodes of Curb Your Enthusiasm where LD has other Jews yell at him for being a terrible Jew. that man is a maniac genius
Yeah.. if telling fascists you don't practice didn't make a difference, bc "you're still a Jew," then you can be Jewish and anything
I am also a Jewish atheist married to a formerly Christian (although not since she was a child) atheist.
Haha me too!!
In practice, would that be like being atheist but still celebrating Hannukah or Christmas?
Or is it just Jewish heritage from a lineage perspective regardless of one's perspective/practice on religion/god?
The Jewish religion is entirely separate from the Jewish ethnicity.
There may be a good amount of overlap but one can be ethnically Jewish and not religiously Jewish (Woody Allen), and likewise one can be religiously Jewish but not ethnically Jewish (Ivanka Trump).
Sincerely, a Jewish atheist who celebrates Christmas.
Lineage plus culture. There's a lot of unique Jewish culture that has developed over the centuries. Some of it has spread to the general public- bagels, the word "schmuck," etc.
Also Bernie Sanders
Sadly, he is not. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FhsjmKDwPAw
how much he feels like placating my catholic mom lol
Please tell me she has, at least once, made a reference to "your people killing my savior"
I know an ethnically jewish/religious catholic couple that do this every time they get into an argument and realize it's stupid to argue about, one of them will go "WELL YOU KILLED MY GOD!" and that's basically the end of the argument because they're too busy giggling.
I wish! My mom is DEVOUT. She has no sense of humor about it. If any of us tried to joke about it she'd send us right to purgatory (aka the catholic pattern buffer).
pattern buffer
I've checked the logs myself, there's no anomalous readings from the pattern buffers. Shhhhhhh
I feel like if the Catholic is Italian it can get funnier with a “no you did”
I also have a few friends who are practicing Jews (I don't know if that's the right phrase), and also atheists. Judaism appears to be more focussed on orthopraxy (doing things correctly) than belief, which was confusing to me at first, as someone who grew up steeped in Christianity
I just looked this up. The idea is called an ethnic religion, where a religion is closely tied to an ethnicity as opposed to universal religions like Christianity or Islam. It's far from the only one, but it is the one that has the most mind share, at least in the West.
Only tangentially related, but I find it interesting how wildly divergent the valence of the word "Jew" can be based almost exclusively on context.
Jews are wonderful people with a beautiful culture!
How did I not know that until now?
Unironically, I'd like to know. Not having a go at you. There seem to be lots of people who don't know that. But without that bit of knowledge, the holocaust doesn't make sense.
The nazis defined anyone with jewish grandparents to be part of a jewish race, by law. That even included a few christian priests. Of course, the nazis didn't invent the idea. People never liked converts much. When you prosecute someone, you want to get the loot. It's never about selflessly helping people go to heaven.
Historically, it's a truism that a race is a result of racism. First, a group is hated or subjugated. Then membership - and supposed negative traits - become defined as unalterable, heritable facts.
I think it was something I'd been told beforehand, but it wasn't filed away correctly. For me, the Holocaust was always a tragedy. Such a massive loss of human lives will always be a tragedy. In that regard, I didn't see it as more of a tragedy because secular Jews were caught up in the mix. It's a tragedy because any life was caught up in the mix. But I also feel the Trans-atlantic Slave Trade is a tragedy and we continue to feel and reap the rewards of that to this very day, where there's a bunch of people that don't even realise Africa is a continent.
Something something XKCD 10000 mumble mumble