Welcome to the Jewish                 

              atheist website                    

          What is Jewish atheism?

Atheism is the natural, normal point of view of anyone who has not been exposed to religious conditioning.  No one would believe that there is an invisible king (or queen) in the sky if this doctrine had not been imposed on a large part of the human race by the advocates of monarchy in ancient times.  But because the pressure to believe in an invisible "Supreme Being" is still quite intense, atheism in practice appears as the ability to resist religious indoctrination in the name of common sense.

However, from an atheist point of view, the question of whether there is or is not a "God" is really a trivial issue hardly worth discussing.  It goes without saying that the universe is just what it appears to be, infinite both in time and space.  The important question is what we can learn about the world we live in if our mind is not clouded by imaginary authority figures. 

No people on earth has suffered more from religious prejudice than the Jewish people, and no people on earth has made a greater contribution to the spread of rational, secular thought.  But Jewish atheism is not merely a reaction to persecution; it is also an expression of attitudes and values embedded deep within Judaism itself.  Most of the founders of the state of Israel did not believe in "God", but they did believe in the Jewish people and in our right to live in peace in the land where Judaism was born.  Faith in the Jewish people is at the heart of Jewish atheism and Jewish religion alike.

It follows that understanding Jewish atheism requires understanding the Jewish people.  We were not chosen by an invisible entity for any destiny but evolved naturally out of bands of runaway slaves and other fugitives who gained control of the greater part of Canaan in ancient times.  Throughout all the subsequent ups and downs of our history, we have never lost sight of the egalitarian values incorporated into the laws and customs of the nation of Judah founded by those runaway slaves.  It is precisely because of our egalitarian traditions that we have been subjected to such intense persecution by the advocates of autocratic rule throughout our history.

Today this persecution takes the form of anti-Zionism, which is the effort to demonize and destroy the nation of Israel in the service of one or another autocratic ideal, be it Muslim, Marxist or Nazi.  Marx, by the way, although commonly seen as a Jewish atheist, was actually a convert to Christianity who celebrated Christmas his entire life.  Jewish atheism implies defense of the state of Israel; and it also implies the elaboration of a secular, realistic understanding of Jewish history, Jewish culture and Jewish life. 

The purpose of this website is to spell out the implications of Jewish atheism for a series of issues relating to religion, history, politics, Zionism and time.  Proceed to each one in turn and when you are finished go to Contacts for further information.