#athnicity

On being a Jewish atheist:

While other atheists don’t identify themselves with their birth religion, why does a Jewish atheist continue to actively identify as Jewish? While other atheists don’t necessarily highlight ethics, why are ethics of such central concern to a Jewish atheist? While other atheists don’t necessarily emphasize the primacy of reason in human endeavor, why does a Jewish atheist see reason as redemptive? While other atheists may be indifferent to the flourishing of those who share their birth religion, why does the well-being of Jews remain of paramount concern to the Jewish atheist? These questions indicate a type of atheist with a pronounced ethical sensibility, committed to a reasoned moral universalism that would eliminate all boundaries between peoples, and yet who is acutely responsive to the particularism that goes by the name of “Jewish identity.” Jewishness matters to such atheists, in a way not logically entailed by — perhaps not even entirely reconcilable with — robust universalism, despite their abiding faith in the redemptive value of reason.