{"id":376,"date":"2012-06-26T17:59:00","date_gmt":"2012-06-26T17:59:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theatheistrabbi\/2012\/06\/one-reform-rabbis-god-survey.html"},"modified":"2012-06-26T17:59:00","modified_gmt":"2012-06-26T17:59:00","slug":"one-reform-rabbis-god-survey","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theatheistrabbi\/2012\/06\/one-reform-rabbis-god-survey.html","title":{"rendered":"One Reform Rabbi’s God Survey"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

It may surprise you to learn that I am a member of the Reform rabbinate.\u00a0 At least officially.\u00a0 Of course, on matters of ideology I am no Reform Jew, at least not in any way that matters to today\u2019s definition of Reform Judaism<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve written before about the tragic mistake made by official Reform Judaism<\/a> when it rejected the membership of a humanistic Cincinnati congregation.\u00a0 Since then, the Reform movement has become an increasingly inhospitable home for non-believing Jews.<\/p>\n

So imagine my surprise when I opened the Summer 2012 issue of Reform Judaism magazine and found Rabbi Mark Dov Shapiro\u2019s article, \u201cThe God Survey.\u201d<\/p>\n

He polled his congregation in Springfield, Massachusetts only to find that a significant number of his congregants were non-believers or barely believers.\u00a0 Fifteen percent said flat-out that there is no God (33% of men, 8% of women) and of those in their twenties, 25% agreed that there is no God.<\/p>\n

Keep in mind that these responses are from congregational members who cared enough to take the time to respond to their rabbi!\u00a0 I would venture to guess \u2013 though it is an educated guess \u2013 that this is just the tip of the iceberg.<\/p>\n

Of those who did believe, most identified God as \u201clove\u201d or \u201chope.\u201d\u00a0 Most also believed that to the extent that God acts at all in these guises of love and hope, it is only through human beings.\u00a0 Rabbi Shapiro comes to a radically honest conclusion:<\/p>\n

I find it significant that this metaphor of God as hope or love is largely absent from Reform liturgy.\u00a0 No wonder that some people feel disenfranchised coming to services where the prevailing God metaphor is Melech<\/i> or Ruler.\u00a0 Broadening the vocabulary of worship to include new God language for the majority of my congregants may be my next step as a rabbi.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

While I certainly differ on the significance of any \u201cGod metaphor,\u201d I can appreciate the dawning realization coming upon this rabbi.\u00a0 His movement is severely out of touch.<\/p>\n

The Reform movement is largely directed by people who think that more traditional religious behavior and language is the key to success.\u00a0 Its new prayer book is its most traditional to date.\u00a0 Its predecessor provided a (mostly) non-theistic service among its many choices.\u00a0 Such open minded options are completely gone in the new version as it instead marks a return to traditional language, including the resurrection of the dead.<\/p>\n

I don\u2019t know if this trend comes from true belief or from a desperate response to the rising popularity of Orthodoxy.\u00a0 In any case, the movement has become increasingly deaf to the beliefs of many, if not most, of its constantly decreasing membership.<\/p>\n

Speaking of membership, I spoke to a friend of mine who is a member of a large Reform temple.\u00a0 She informed me that based upon her modest middle class family income, her temple dues are now $3,000 plus $1,000 more for one religious school tuition.\u00a0 Meanwhile, the senior rabbi has a very secure contract that pays him in the mid-six figures.<\/p>\n

Reform Judaism is clearly built upon a shifting hill of sand.\u00a0 It has virtually no shot at surviving in a world where more and more Jews are non-believers and\/or \u201cJust Jewish.\u201d\u00a0 It is led by a high priesthood of out-of-touch, elitist and wildly overpaid clergy who are pushing its theology rightward.\u00a0 It is little wonder that young non-Orthodox Jews view affiliation as an unaffordable and undesired luxury.\u00a0 Reform Jewish leaders will soon discover that they have created a hollow version of Orthodoxy, minus the sincerity and commitment.<\/p>\n

Given the great good that Reform Judaism brought to the Jewish enterprise, I certainly hope it evolves in the right direction before it collapses.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile I\u2019ll put my money on Humanistic Judaism.\u00a0 We may not have Reform\u2019s enormous infrastructure, but we make up for it with a relevant message for millions of Jews.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It may surprise you to learn that I am a member of the Reform rabbinate.\u00a0 At least officially.\u00a0 Of course, on matters of ideology I am no Reform Jew, at least not in any way that matters to today\u2019s definition of Reform Judaism I\u2019ve written before about the tragic mistake made by official Reform Judaism […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2281,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[24],"class_list":["post-376","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blogentries","tag-liberal-judaism"],"yoast_head":"\nOne Reform Rabbi's God Survey<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"It may surprise you to learn that I am a member of the Reform rabbinate.\u00a0 At least officially.\u00a0 Of course, on matters of ideology I am no Reform Jew, at\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theatheistrabbi\/2012\/06\/one-reform-rabbis-god-survey.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"One Reform Rabbi's God Survey\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"It may surprise you to learn that I am a member of the Reform rabbinate.\u00a0 At least officially.\u00a0 Of course, on matters of ideology I am no Reform Jew, at\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theatheistrabbi\/2012\/06\/one-reform-rabbis-god-survey.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Atheist Rabbi\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2012-06-26T17:59:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Jeffrey L. 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