{"id":544,"date":"2011-02-23T02:17:00","date_gmt":"2011-02-23T02:17:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theatheistrabbi\/2011\/02\/reply-to-aish-rabbis-open-letter-to-the-atheist-community.html"},"modified":"2011-02-23T02:17:00","modified_gmt":"2011-02-23T02:17:00","slug":"reply-to-aish-rabbis-open-letter-to-the-atheist-community","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theatheistrabbi\/2011\/02\/reply-to-aish-rabbis-open-letter-to-the-atheist-community.html","title":{"rendered":"Reply To Aish Rabbi’s “Open Letter To The Atheist Community”"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

Between busy-ness at work, some ill health and time with family, I have not been able to post recently.\u00a0 During that time I\u2019ve occasionally worked on this rather long post.<\/p>\n

Rabbi Adam Jacobs, director of the Aish Center in Manhattan, has written \u201cAn Open Letter to the Atheist Community<\/a>.\u201d\u00a0 I am going to reply in full and send it to him.\u00a0 Let\u2019s see what happens!<\/p>\n

I know it\u2019s long, but I hope you\u2019ll stick with it.\u00a0 I\u2019ll re-produce and reply to his entire letter, beginning here:<\/p>\n

My dear atheist friend,<\/p>\n

I have been actively involved in the education of Jews of all stripes (especially those with a built-in apathy or antipathy to theology) for the last 11 years. I have had a lot of time to reflect on your position and I\u2019d like to offer a few general observations that I\u2019ve culled from my experience over the years \u2013 not to convince you to change your mind (which, I\u2019ve discovered, is close to impossible) and not to judge your choices, but rather so that we can understand each other better and possibly \u201cwalk back\u201d some of the clamorous dialogue. Certainly we can open by agreeing that all human beings should be respected and, assuming no egregious misdeeds, treated with civility.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Adam, you and I have something very important in common.\u00a0 We are both professional Jewish educators.\u00a0 I have worked with the full spectrum of our community and, at least according to some, I\u2019ve had a modest positive impact.\u00a0 I have been especially successful with \u201cthose with a built-in apathy or antipathy to theology.\u201d\u00a0 Having discovered that these constitute the plurality (and quite possibly the majority) of our fellow Jews, I have endeavored to teach them that Jewish identity is not predicated upon belief in the unbelievable.\u00a0 You, on the other hand, labor mainly to bring our fellow Jews to \u201cHaShem,\u201d while, it is assumed, disregarding the possibility of other ways of be authentically Jewish.<\/p>\n

But you\u2019ve hardly begun.\u00a0 You next write:<\/p>\n

The first point I\u2019d like to explore is that there really are no true atheists. It seems to me that in order to claim with certainty that there is no God you would have to have knowledge of the totality of the universe \u2013 seen and unseen \u2013 and I don\u2019t think any of you guys are ready to make that claim. You have not observed an overarching creative force, a God \u2026 yet. Being a rationalist, of course, you know that failing to make such an observation is different from proving that there isn\u2019t one, which, by its very nature, is an impossible task. (You will counter that definitively proving the existence of God on purely rational grounds is similarly impossible, which, for the sake of argument, I will concede.) Given this, your assumption of the title, \u201catheist\u201d isn\u2019t so much a statement of fact as it is a statement of principle, or intent \u2014 a nom de guerre. To define oneself as simply agnostic (which I believe you truly are) sounds unsatisfyingly [sic<\/i>] wishy-washy and degrades your ability to take a firm stand against deism, in its various forms. While this is certainly understandable, I suspect that you have traded accuracy for titular intensity.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I am uncertain about why it is important to you to address the labels we use.\u00a0 For all practical purposes, there is no difference between an agnostic or atheist (for an exhaustive analysis of these terms, please see Michael Martin\u2019s excellent introduction to The Cambridge Companion to Atheism<\/i>).\u00a0 In fact, I am both.\u00a0 More significantly, we can all be classified as non-theists.\u00a0 What we share is a healthy skepticism about the truth claims of \u201crevealed\u201d texts and their interpreters.\u00a0 That is what I mean when I say \u201cfor all practical purposes.\u201d<\/p>\n

As for the charge that we call ourselves atheists for the \u201ctitular intensity,\u201d I admit that I named my blog as I did in order to garner attention.\u00a0 It\u2019s a bit like when Orthodox Jews employ the clearly polemical monicker \u201cTorah True Judaism.\u201d\u00a0 It\u2019s not entirely accurate, but it draws attention and makes a statement.\u00a0 As for the charge that using the label agnostic \u201cdegrades [our] ability to take a firm stand against deism,\u201d why should we want to take a firm stand against deism?\u00a0 What authority claims do deists make upon the world?\u00a0 There is no practical significance to deism in the real world.\u00a0 A deist is just a non-theist with a god that pulled the trigger.<\/p>\n

Continuing along:<\/p>\n

You may want to counter that you have many well-regarded and brilliant personalities who have provided more than sufficient evidence to knock theism back to the Bronze Age where it belongs. Hitchens, Dawkins, Weinberg, et al are big time, unapologetic, capital \u201cA\u201d atheists. I\u2019ve read many of their books and found much of them to be polemics against Christianity and ill-conceived take downs of classical philosophical and scientific arguments that make the idea of a Creator seem more than plausible. See here <\/a>for a great rebuttal of Dawkin\u2019s \u201cThe Ultimate 747 Argument.\u201d But even if the arguments were more persuasive and comprehensive, surely you are aware that believers are ready to parry with many philosophers and scientists of our own, people like Anthony Flew, the Oxford philosopher and sparring partner of C.S. Lewis (who was a pillar of academic atheism until he reversed his position late in his life), theoretical physicist Dr. Andrew Goldfinger, and the mathematical physicist and cosmologist Frank Tipler. You will quote your expert and I will quote mine. Strangely, they disagree \u2026 utterly. At the end of the day, it\u2019s always going to be a draw, each of us convinced that our own arguments are superior and that the other is (perhaps willfully) missing the point.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

As for the \u201c747 Argument,\u201d I\u2019ve read and responded to Dr. Averick\u2019s writing elsewhere<\/a>.\u00a0 If you want to talk about various experts, I can only point out to you that neither Flew nor Lewis came to YOUR specific conclusions about the deity.\u00a0 In fact, no two theistic religions have the same approach to the deity.\u00a0 For that matter, philosophical arguments for the existence of God hardly get you to your \u201cHaShem,\u201d dictator of commandments, laws and lifestyle to Israel.<\/p>\n

Having spent a sizable portion of my life as an atheist, I understand your perspective. What I have found hard to understand from my new vantage point, however, is why so many of you spend so much time trolling around the comments section of religiously-themed blogs or spend good money to buy billboards on the Jersey Turnpike asserting a negative. Wouldn\u2019t it make much more sense to just chuckle knowingly to yourselves and shake your heads at our folly in the way you might with children who believe they have magic powers? Yet, many of you seem to have a big axe to grind, and I only recently realized why. You believe that we are ruining the world and stunting its progress. You will point out all of the violence carried out in religion\u2019s name. We will point out that equally severe evils have been perpetrated by secularists such as Hitler, Mao, Stalin and Pol Pot. You deride us as anti-science, to which we respond that we\u2019re really not, but, rather, see scientific proof and inquiry as subject to certain inherent limits. You do not find our responses any more compelling than we find your criticisms to be insightful.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I don\u2019t agree with every utterance that comes out of every atheist\u2019s mouth.\u00a0 Atheism is not a belief system, it is a starting point.\u00a0 My atheism \u2013 or better, non-theism \u2013 leads me to secular humanism.\u00a0 As for trolls, well they are on every blog on the internet.\u00a0 If you don\u2019t want to see trolls, you should probably exit this information superhighway.\u00a0 More to the point, you question our use of good money for billboards.<\/p>\n

The ubiquity of churches on nearly every street corner in this nation is like one gigantic billboard for God.\u00a0 Plus you also have a whole lot of actual billboards.\u00a0 And Haredi Jews bring \u201cMitzva Tanks,\u201d tables and free synagogues to every Jewish neighborhood or far-flung Jewish travel destination in the world.\u00a0 We\u2019ve simply purchased a little advertising space. Most of it modestly says something to the effect of, \u201cMillions are good without God.\u201d<\/p>\n

In a nation where atheism is a synonym for satanism, we do feel a strong need to let people know that if they share our beliefs they are not alone.\u00a0 As a rabbi (go ahead and laugh, but I am one) who is also a non-believer, I want Jews to know that a least a few million Jews are also good \u2013 and still Jewish \u2013 without God.\u00a0 The moneys used to get across our message are minuscule compared to the hundreds of millions that pour into and out of Aish Ha-Torah and Chabad, just to take two examples.\u00a0 And that\u2019s just the Jews.\u00a0 The theists\u2019 desire for outreach is not more than ours, yet our attempts are laughably small in comparison.<\/p>\n

Do we have an \u201caxe to grind\u201d with theists?\u00a0 We do with some of you; not with all.\u00a0 I have no problem with my liberally religious friends\u2019 and colleagues\u2019 ways of being religious.\u00a0 I don\u2019t agree with their approach and I don\u2019t participate in it, but I don\u2019t think it\u2019s harming the world (except when they give cover to movements like yours).<\/p>\n

Aish Ha-Torah, Chabad and their ilk are another matter altogether.\u00a0 You represent a stream of religious behavior that promulgates inequality between the genders, homophobia and frequently a hateful form of ultra-nationalistic ethnocentricity.\u00a0 You don\u2019t think you do because you think \u201cHaShem\u201d commanded you to behave as you do.\u00a0 Some of you may even couch your behaviors in terms of morality (\u201cWomen are equal, just different!\u201d \u201cGays shouldn\u2019t be mistreated, as long as they refrain from acting on it!\u201d).\u00a0 That\u2019s called making an authority claim.\u00a0 And again, that\u2019s just among\u00a0 we Jews, who are numerically the least threatening and problematic of the three \u201cAbrahamic\u201d faiths (except in Israel).\u00a0 Don\u2019t get me started on Islam or the Catholic Church.<\/p>\n

Speaking of ethnocentricity:<\/p>\n

To me, however, the crux of the matter is incontrovertible. It is not the product of rational argument, nor expression of faith, but simple historical fact. The faith to which I ascribe has brought substantial light and unique meaning to the world. Some great thinkers readily embrace this idea. Have a look at this quote from British historian Paul Johnson:<\/p>\n

\u201cTo them (the Jews) we owe the idea of equality before the law, both divine and human; of the sanctity of life and the dignity of human person; of the individual conscience and so of personal redemption; of collective conscience and so of social responsibility; of peace as an abstract ideal and love as the foundation of justice, and many other items which constitute the basic moral furniture of the human mind. Without Jews it might have been a much emptier place.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

This is an ahistorical statement from a widely acknowledged hack.\u00a0 It is patently ridiculous to ascribe all great moral progress to one small band of argumentative tribes.\u00a0 In a few weeks I will be commencing a dialogue on this blog with an Orthodox rabbi of a different stripe than you.\u00a0 He suggested that we frame our conversation around Robert Wright\u2019s The Evolution of God.<\/i>\u00a0 I recommend that you read it or any of the number of excellent books \u2013 many written by people who admire religion \u2013 that demonstrate human moral evolution.\u00a0 At its best, religion merely reflects moral growth.\u00a0 Even as one proud to call myself a Jew, I find it the height of arrogance to ignore the contributions of all the many other peoples of the world to advancing morality.<\/p>\n

Given this historical reality, since you\u2019re a rationalist who bases your world view on empiric evidence, could you be open to the possibility that religion isn\u2019t inherently bad?<\/p>\n

Of course not all religion is inherently bad.\u00a0 It\u2019s a completely human institution and it\u2019s as good or bad as the humans who run it.\u00a0 I, for example, propound a type of religion that is non- or post-theistic.\u00a0 Your version, however, engenders much that is bad and I have already touched on this above.<\/p>\n

As an empiricist, you are only prepared to believe in that which can be seen or measured. You don\u2019t enjoy my conviction that there are aspects of existence that are, by their nature, beyond the reach of science. Fine. So when we Theists look carefully at the astounding complexity and improbable fine-tuning of our universe and conclude that there\u2019s no way that this happened randomly, you then turn around and ask us to accept that it is the result of undetectable organizational forces or of an un-testable (and thus non-scientific) multiverse. Isn\u2019t your argument every bit an assertion of faith, rather than knowledge? Maybe we can at least agree that forces unseen, however we conceive of them, seem to be playing a major role in our lives?<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

You want to believe in God?\u00a0 Believe in God.\u00a0 Believe that Moses received commandments on Sinai or that Elijah flew to heaven in a magical fiery chariot.\u00a0 No one cares what you believe.\u00a0 We care about the behaviors that are driven by those beliefs.\u00a0 We care that you perpetuate antiquated doctrines that drive public policy, whether here or in Israel.\u00a0 Our assertion of faith drives exactly one policy statement:\u00a0 Leave the rest of us alone.\u00a0 Don\u2019t tell us how to be Jews.\u00a0 Don\u2019t tell us how to be human beings.\u00a0 Don\u2019t tell us how our lack of God brings down America, Israel or the world.\u00a0 We\u2019d also be awfully grateful if you\u2019d learn how to get along with your fellow theists and stop fighting over \u201choly\u201d lands and places.\u00a0 That would be just swell.<\/p>\n

Charles Darwin added three interesting quotes to later editions of the Origin of Species. Of these, the third, from Francis Bacon\u2019s Advancement of Learning, is especially revealing:<\/p>\n

\u201cTo conclude, therefore, let no man out of a weak conceit of sobriety, or an ill-applied moderation, think or maintain that a man can search too far or be too well-studied in the book of God\u2019s word, or in the book of God\u2019s works; divinity and philosophy; but rather let men endeavor an endless progress or proficiency in both.\u201d<\/p>\n

If Darwin himself could find room for belief in a God and stay faithful to his discoveries, maybe the common ground is much bigger than we currently imagine. We still have a lot to discuss. Let\u2019s do it with a caring heart, and open mind and a spirit of appreciation for our shared humanity.<\/p>\n

Sincerely,<\/p>\n

Adam<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

What Darwin believed or did not believe about God is thoroughly irrelevant to what any modern non-theist might think.\u00a0 Any system with a claim of absolute knowledge and authority \u2013 in the name of a god or any other dogma \u2013 that imposes said authority on others is illegitimate.\u00a0 It is especially egregious when it issues forth from the religious who claim to love and honor humanity while simultaneously working to keep women in their place, gays out of marriage and \u201choly\u201d lands and places in exclusive hands.\u00a0 Earlier you mentioned Hitler (not an atheist, by the way).\u00a0 As a Jew, here\u2019s what I learned from Hitler.\u00a0 The Jewish people spent millennia trying to please a god that never answered a single prayer that they piously sent heavenward.\u00a0 Hitler brought us the single worst instance of that experience; a last straw, if you will.<\/p>\n

God did not save our temples.\u00a0 God did not restore our land.\u00a0 God did not rescue our communities.\u00a0 God did not save one baby from the gas chambers.\u00a0 God simply did not.\u00a0 And though we prayed and prayed, no answers came.\u00a0 Just more destruction.\u00a0 Now we are grown-ups.\u00a0 We have the discoveries of science and reason, many of them revealed by our fellow Jews.\u00a0 Each new revelation points logically and reasonably to the absence of planning or design, either for Israel or the world.\u00a0 As the late Sherwin Wine pointed out, there is no management running the place.<\/p>\n

Please don\u2019t give me your complicated theologies and fairy tales about why God, in his love and mercy, put us through all of that.\u00a0 We understand now.\u00a0 He didn\u2019t.\u00a0 He could not have.\u00a0 He is not.<\/p>\n

Anyway, thanks for your letter.\u00a0 I hope you understand us a little better now.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Between busy-ness at work, some ill health and time with family, I have not been able to post recently.\u00a0 During that time I\u2019ve occasionally worked on this rather long post. Rabbi Adam Jacobs, director of the Aish Center in Manhattan, has written \u201cAn Open Letter to the Atheist Community.\u201d\u00a0 I am going to reply in […]<\/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":[6,13,16,20,22,24,26,30,31],"class_list":["post-544","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blogentries","tag-atheism","tag-haredim","tag-homophobia","tag-israel","tag-jewish-history","tag-liberal-judaism","tag-misogyny","tag-non-theism","tag-orthodox-judaism"],"yoast_head":"\nReply To Aish Rabbi's "Open Letter To The Atheist Community"<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Between busy-ness at work, some ill health and time with family, I have not been able to post recently.\u00a0 During that time I\u2019ve occasionally worked on this\" \/>\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\/02\/reply-to-aish-rabbis-open-letter-to-the-atheist-community.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Reply To Aish Rabbi's "Open Letter To The Atheist Community"\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Between busy-ness at work, some ill health and time with family, I have not been able to post recently.\u00a0 During that time I\u2019ve occasionally worked on this\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theatheistrabbi\/2011\/02\/reply-to-aish-rabbis-open-letter-to-the-atheist-community.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Atheist Rabbi\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2011-02-23T02:17:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Jeffrey L. Falick\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Jeffrey L. Falick\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"14 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theatheistrabbi\/2011\/02\/reply-to-aish-rabbis-open-letter-to-the-atheist-community.html\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theatheistrabbi\/2011\/02\/reply-to-aish-rabbis-open-letter-to-the-atheist-community.html\",\"name\":\"Reply To Aish Rabbi's \\\"Open Letter To The Atheist Community\\\"\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theatheistrabbi\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2011-02-23T02:17:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2011-02-23T02:17:00+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theatheistrabbi\/#\/schema\/person\/fc95554b64c99ed45146c32bf5cd2372\"},\"description\":\"Between busy-ness at work, some ill health and time with family, I have not been able to post recently.\u00a0 During that time I\u2019ve occasionally worked on this\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theatheistrabbi\/2011\/02\/reply-to-aish-rabbis-open-letter-to-the-atheist-community.html#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theatheistrabbi\/2011\/02\/reply-to-aish-rabbis-open-letter-to-the-atheist-community.html\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theatheistrabbi\/2011\/02\/reply-to-aish-rabbis-open-letter-to-the-atheist-community.html#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theatheistrabbi\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Reply To Aish Rabbi’s “Open Letter To The Atheist Community”\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theatheistrabbi\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theatheistrabbi\/\",\"name\":\"The Atheist Rabbi\",\"description\":\"The blog of Jeffrey L. Falick, Secular Humanistic Rabbi.\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theatheistrabbi\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theatheistrabbi\/#\/schema\/person\/fc95554b64c99ed45146c32bf5cd2372\",\"name\":\"Jeffrey L. Falick\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theatheistrabbi\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f4f93646f1bdd3c145883cb358ed21b6?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f4f93646f1bdd3c145883cb358ed21b6?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Jeffrey L. Falick\"},\"description\":\"Jeffrey L. Falick is the Secular Humanistic Rabbi of The Birmingham Temple Congregation for Humanistic Judaism in Michigan. He is also certified as a Senior Humanist Celebrant by the American Humanist Association and is president and founder of Humanists of Southeast Michigan.\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theatheistrabbi\/author\/jfalick\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Reply To Aish Rabbi's \"Open Letter To The Atheist Community\"","description":"Between busy-ness at work, some ill health and time with family, I have not been able to post recently.\u00a0 During that time I\u2019ve occasionally worked on this","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theatheistrabbi\/2011\/02\/reply-to-aish-rabbis-open-letter-to-the-atheist-community.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Reply To Aish Rabbi's \"Open Letter To The Atheist Community\"","og_description":"Between busy-ness at work, some ill health and time with family, I have not been able to post recently.\u00a0 During that time I\u2019ve occasionally worked on this","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theatheistrabbi\/2011\/02\/reply-to-aish-rabbis-open-letter-to-the-atheist-community.html","og_site_name":"The Atheist Rabbi","article_published_time":"2011-02-23T02:17:00+00:00","author":"Jeffrey L. Falick","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Jeffrey L. Falick","Est. reading time":"14 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theatheistrabbi\/2011\/02\/reply-to-aish-rabbis-open-letter-to-the-atheist-community.html","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theatheistrabbi\/2011\/02\/reply-to-aish-rabbis-open-letter-to-the-atheist-community.html","name":"Reply To Aish Rabbi's \"Open Letter To The Atheist Community\"","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theatheistrabbi\/#website"},"datePublished":"2011-02-23T02:17:00+00:00","dateModified":"2011-02-23T02:17:00+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theatheistrabbi\/#\/schema\/person\/fc95554b64c99ed45146c32bf5cd2372"},"description":"Between busy-ness at work, some ill health and time with family, I have not been able to post recently.\u00a0 During that time I\u2019ve occasionally worked on this","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theatheistrabbi\/2011\/02\/reply-to-aish-rabbis-open-letter-to-the-atheist-community.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theatheistrabbi\/2011\/02\/reply-to-aish-rabbis-open-letter-to-the-atheist-community.html"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theatheistrabbi\/2011\/02\/reply-to-aish-rabbis-open-letter-to-the-atheist-community.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theatheistrabbi"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Reply To Aish Rabbi’s “Open Letter To The Atheist Community”"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theatheistrabbi\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theatheistrabbi\/","name":"The Atheist Rabbi","description":"The blog of Jeffrey L. Falick, Secular Humanistic Rabbi.","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theatheistrabbi\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theatheistrabbi\/#\/schema\/person\/fc95554b64c99ed45146c32bf5cd2372","name":"Jeffrey L. Falick","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theatheistrabbi\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f4f93646f1bdd3c145883cb358ed21b6?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f4f93646f1bdd3c145883cb358ed21b6?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Jeffrey L. Falick"},"description":"Jeffrey L. Falick is the Secular Humanistic Rabbi of The Birmingham Temple Congregation for Humanistic Judaism in Michigan. He is also certified as a Senior Humanist Celebrant by the American Humanist Association and is president and founder of Humanists of Southeast Michigan.","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theatheistrabbi\/author\/jfalick"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theatheistrabbi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/544","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theatheistrabbi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theatheistrabbi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theatheistrabbi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2281"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theatheistrabbi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=544"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theatheistrabbi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/544\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theatheistrabbi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=544"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theatheistrabbi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=544"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theatheistrabbi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=544"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}