{"id":509,"date":"2011-03-18T15:53:00","date_gmt":"2011-03-18T15:53:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theatheistrabbi\/2011\/03\/secular-humanistic-judaism-in-the-news.html"},"modified":"2011-03-18T15:53:00","modified_gmt":"2011-03-18T15:53:00","slug":"secular-humanistic-judaism-in-the-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theatheistrabbi\/2011\/03\/secular-humanistic-judaism-in-the-news.html","title":{"rendered":"Secular Humanistic Judaism In The News"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

Here\u2019s a little Purim gift for Humanistic Judaism in the form of a terrific article in the Philadelphia \u201cJewish Exponent.\u201d\u00a0 It appears in their seasonal \u201cInside\u201d magazine and you can find it reproduced at this link<\/a> and in more readable form here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

There are some interesting points:<\/p>\n

There\u2019s little doubt among researchers that Jews (depending on how you decide who\u2019s a Jew) are more secular and prone to nonbelief than other ethnic groups. The 2008 American Religious Identification Survey found that, while 15 percent of Americans reported \u201cno religion,\u201d 37 percent of people who identified as Jewish reported \u201cno religion.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

That\u2019s a very significant number.\u00a0 The challenge for organized Secular Humanistic Judaism is to reach out to these people and help provide a framework of support and community in a humanistic context.\u00a0 It\u2019s not an easy task, but it\u2019s certainly helped by committed leadership like my friend, Rabbi Miriam Jerris:<\/p>\n

Miriam Jerris, a Humanist rabbi and leader in the Humanistic Judaism movement, says, \u201cThe overwhelming majority of people I meet tell me, \u2018I could no longer say the words I didn\u2019t believe.\u2019\u00a0 But the words are important.Saying things honestly and with philosophical integrity has value.Belonging to a community comforts us and reminds us that we are part of something greater than our individual existence,\u201d she adds. \u201cThis applies across the board when it comes to religion, and Humanistic Judaism fills that same need. There are many things that traditional religion provides that have great meaning, specifically in what the community can provide. There\u2019s also value in being among kindred spirits. You\u2019re no longer alone.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Though it\u2019s still a very small movement, our numbers are headed in the right direction with new affiliates coming in all the time.<\/p>\n

The article mentions that our groups are not anti-religious or atheist.\u00a0 This is technically true, but we are definitely non-theistic, providing a \u201cspace\u201d for atheists, agnostics and even the occasional deist.<\/p>\n

Anyway, it\u2019s always nice to get some good press.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Here\u2019s a little Purim gift for Humanistic Judaism in the form of a terrific article in the Philadelphia \u201cJewish Exponent.\u201d\u00a0 It appears in their seasonal \u201cInside\u201d magazine and you can find it reproduced at this link and in more readable form here. There are some interesting points:<\/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":[39],"class_list":["post-509","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blogentries","tag-secular-humanistic-judaism"],"yoast_head":"\nSecular Humanistic Judaism In The News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Here\u2019s a little Purim gift for Humanistic Judaism in the form of a terrific article in the Philadelphia \u201cJewish Exponent.\u201d\u00a0 It appears in their seasonal\" \/>\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\/2011\/03\/secular-humanistic-judaism-in-the-news.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Secular Humanistic Judaism In The News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Here\u2019s a little Purim gift for Humanistic Judaism in the form of a terrific article in the Philadelphia \u201cJewish Exponent.\u201d\u00a0 It appears in their seasonal\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theatheistrabbi\/2011\/03\/secular-humanistic-judaism-in-the-news.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Atheist Rabbi\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2011-03-18T15:53:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Jeffrey L. 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