The number of secular student organizations on college campuses is on the rise, with a 42 percent increase from last year, according to the Secular Student Association.<\/p>\n
This is great news.\u00a0 For many of these students, this isn\u2019t so easy:<\/p>\n
Despite the growing number of secular student groups, atheism is still considered taboo, Johnson said. It is not uncommon for atheists to face discrimination from their family or friends and hostility from the community in which they grew up, he said.<\/p>\n
Marc Mason, a junior international relations and communication and rhetorical studies major, adopted atheism when he was 14 years old. Before that, he was Orthodox Christian, as is his mother. And before Mason told his family about his religious beliefs, he imagined they could have had a negative reaction to the news, he said.<\/p>\n
It was a while before he gathered the courage to tell his family that he would no longer practice Christianity, or any religion, for that matter, he said. When he finally did tell them, he did not face as much hostility as he expected, he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a big reaction from them at first, especially because the norm today is to say that you\u2019re religious,\u201d Mason said.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Aside from the most religious families, such reactions are rare among Jews. \u00a0I\u2019m frequently asked to speak to young non-believing Jews whose parents feel that they will identify with me. \u00a0My story is increasingly similar to theirs.<\/p>\n
I am a secular humanist but I am also a Jew.\u00a0 I was raised a Jew, complete with Jewish culture and an outspoken Jewish atheist grandfather whose influence I feel to this day.\u00a0 I have a rabbinical degree, though some people have flat out told me that as a secular humanist and atheist I can\u2019t be a rabbi.<\/p>\n
To its great credit, National Hillel, which maintains relationships with dozens of national Jewish organizations, has a partnership with the Society for Humanistic Judaism.\u00a0 As a former Hillel director (thirteen years in the field) I wonder how many campus Hillels would be willing to reach out to these secular student associations to explore secular Judaism.\u00a0 They will find these organizations filled with Jewish kids.<\/p>\n
In contrast to Christians and Muslims for whom these identities are religious, Jews have a heritage that extends well beyond faith.\u00a0 The vast majority of my rabbinical colleagues will disagree with me on this.\u00a0 That doesn\u2019t make them right.\u00a0 The sorry state of their synagogues should remind them of that.<\/p>\n
The fact is that today\u2019s Jewish youth have moved faster and farther away from religious beliefs and practice than any previous generation.\u00a0 All the Birthright trips (good!) and Chabad missionary activities (bad) aren\u2019t going to change this.<\/p>\n
Our children are more secular and less religious than ever before.\u00a0 \u00a0 Like everyone else, they still need a sense of community and belonging.\u00a0 A revitalized secular Judaism can provide this for them.\u00a0 Either that or the Jewish community can just kiss them goodbye forever.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Via The Friendly Atheist, good news from campus: The number of secular student organizations on college campuses is on the rise, with a 42 percent increase from last year, according to the Secular Student Association. This is great news.\u00a0 For many of these students, this isn\u2019t so easy:<\/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":[6,30,39],"class_list":["post-650","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blogentries","tag-atheism","tag-non-theism","tag-secular-humanistic-judaism"],"yoast_head":"\n
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