Jewish Atheist

How many died in the Holocaust, in every pogrom and act of mayhem over the centuries, because rabbis kept telling Jews to leave it in God’s hands?

If religion were unfailingly to deliver a better class of people, a more moral and humane individual, and if in fact it made for the gradual and palpable improvement in the human race and the human condition, then I might see some justification for all the fantasy and ritual. But when people cling to that fantasy and ritual and use it as a cover for immoral, inhumane behavior, then there is no excusing religion; there is only wishing for its disappearance and demise.

Sorry, Brett, but today, there is no way a 13-year-old can be considered an adult. Neither the mind nor the body is fully formed enough to make adult decisions, and the moronic behavior of teenagers and twentysomethings illustrates this fact eloquently. Childhood actually seems to be getting longer: the 30s are the new 20s. So the whole adulthood thing is a sham, a transparent excuse for a flagrant display of conspicuous consumption and adult conformity.

To a Jewish humanist, Easter is when Christians engage in some of their creepiest, ghastliest, most gruesome beliefs and practices. It’s when they get in touch with their inner Mel Gibson. The color of this Easter is red, as in blood. . .
The worst thing that Christians have done with Christmas is to commercialize it. That’s nothing compared with the dark underbelly of Easter: centuries of blood, barbarism, and death.

If the story didn’t happen and it’s not about freedom anyway, then how can we celebrate Passover as a holiday that self-respecting humanists can live with, yet that retains at least some of ancient themes that are so dear to us?

There’s no answer as to how best to spend your life. For now, I invite you to examine your use of the phrase ”waste time.” You probably use it every day. What does your usage tell you about how you think you should spend your life? Each day, each moment wasted…can never be regained. Maybe some changes are in order. Maybe you’re living someone else’s version of your life.

Soon many Jews will be condemned to the tedious, rigidly ritualistic Seders commemorating events that didn’t happen, engineered by a deity that’s nothing but a bully with superpowers. They will be expected to pretend that they respect this nonsense, even participate in it (I always passed on the reading).

If the humanist follows his/her integrity where it leads, we have to arrive at a new understanding of Passover — one which connects us to the old, yet is consonant with our own integrity and dignity.

Crazed Muslims spewing nonsensical shit over the net are one brand of fanaticism. Another is the quiet, yet equally arrogant and condescending kind that I encountered. But in intransigence, incorrigibility, and resistance to reason and evidence, one is the equal of the other.

The Torah is just something some folks wrote. I went through all of its commands — and there are hundreds — and found that there are only 29 at most (not counting repetitions) that modern people can conscientiously obey (there were some judgment calls: I included the prohibition against bestiality). It is, as we would expect, Morality 101. Don’t have sex with family members (Leviticus 18:6-20). Don’t make your daughter a harlot (Leviticus 19:29). Keep your vows (Numbers 30:3). Try to return lost items (Deuteronomy 22:1-3).