View source for Jewish atheism

{{Short description|Atheism practiced by ethnic and cultural Jews}}
{{distinguish|Jewish secularism}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=June 2025}}
{{Nontheism and religion}}
{{Judaism}}

'''Jewish atheism'''<ref>{{Cite book |last=de Lange |first=Nicholas Robert Michael |url=https://archive.org/details/introductiontoju00nich/mode/2up |title=An Introduction to Judaism |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=2000 |isbn=0521466245 |edition=2nd |pages=79– |language=en}}</ref> is the [[atheism]] of people who are [[Zera Yisrael|ethnically]] and (at least to some extent) [[Jewish culture|culturally]] [[Jews|Jewish]].

"Jewish atheism" is not a contradiction<ref>{{Cite web |last=Мадорский |first=Лев |date=23 April 2022 |title=Евреи-атеисты(Jewish-atheists) |url=https://www.9tv.co.il/item/44426 |access-date=23 June 2024 |language=ru}}</ref> because [[Jewish identity]] encompasses not only [[Judaism|religious]] components but also, and for most Jews mainly, ethnic and cultural ones. [[Jewish law]]'s emphasis on [[Matrilineality in Judaism|descent through the mother]] means that even religiously conservative [[Orthodox Judaism|Orthodox Jewish]] authorities would accept an atheist born to a Jewish mother as [[Who is a Jew?|fully Jewish]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=What Makes a Jew "Jewish"? |url=https://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/45132/jewish/What-Makes-a-Jew-Jewish.htm |access-date=22 December 2018 |publisher=Chabad.org}}</ref>

[[Jewish secularism]], which describes Jews who do not explicitly reject the [[existence of God]] but also do not believe it is an important part of [[Jewish identity|their Jewishness]], has a [[American Jews|long tradition in the United States]].<ref>''Not in the Heavens: The Tradition of Jewish Secular Thought''. [[David Biale]]. Princeton University Press, 2015, p. xii.</ref>

== Statistics ==
{{Main|Who is a Jew?}}
{{Further|Matrilineality in Judaism|Patrilineal Jews}}

A 2013 [[Pew Research Center]] study found that 62% of self-described [[American Jews]] say [[Jewish identity|being Jewish]] is mainly a matter of [[Jewish ancestry|ancestry]] and [[Jewish culture|culture]], while 15% say it is mainly a matter of [[Judaism|religion]]. Even among Jews by religion, 55% say being Jewish is mainly a matter of ancestry and culture, while 66% say it is not necessary to believe in [[supernatural]] concepts (such as [[God in Judaism|God]] or the [[afterlife]]) to be Jewish.<ref>{{Cite news |date=1 October 2013 |title=A Portrait of Jewish Americans |url=https://www.pewforum.org/2013/10/01/jewish-american-beliefs-attitudes-culture-survey/ |work=Pew Research Center}}</ref> A 2025 Pew Research Center study found that 26% of self-described American Jews "don't believe in God or a universal spirit and they are certain in this belief".<ref>{{Cite web |date=8 February 2025 |title=Half of U.S. atheists say they are absolutely certain there is no God |url=https://www.pewresearch.org/religion/2025/02/26/religious-and-spiritual-beliefs/pr_2025-02-26_religious-landscape-study_011-08/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250307170152/https://www.pewresearch.org/religion/2025/02/26/religious-and-spiritual-beliefs/pr_2025-02-26_religious-landscape-study_011-08/ |archive-date=7 March 2025 |website=Pew Research Center}}</ref>

== Organized Jewish life ==
[[List of irreligious organizations|Irreligious]] and [[Jewish secularism|secular]] Jewish organizations mostly date to the 20th century, from the Jewish socialist [[General Jewish Labour Bund|Bund]] in early-20th-century Poland to the modern Congress of Secular Jewish Organizations and the [[Society for Humanistic Judaism]] in the United States.

Jewish atheists and agnostics may feel comfortable within any of the three major non-Orthodox [[Jewish denominations]] ([[Reform Judaism|Reform]], [[Conservative Judaism|Conservative]], and [[Reconstructionist Judaism|Reconstructionist]]). This is less of a contradiction than it might seem, given Judaism's emphasis on practice over belief, with even mainstream guides to Judaism suggesting that belief in God is not necessary for Jewish observance.<ref>{{cite web |last=Septimus |first=Daniel |date=10 January 2003 |title=Must a Jew Believe in God? |url=https://www.myjewishlearning.com/article/must-a-jew-believe-in-god/ |website=[[MyJewishLearning.com]] |access-date=22 December 2018}}</ref> But [[Orthodox Judaism]] regards the acceptance of the "Yoke of Heaven" (the sovereignty of the [[God in Judaism|God of Israel]] upon the [[Jewish peoplehood|Jewish people]] and the divine revelation of the [[Torah]]) as a [[Halakha|fundamental obligation for all Jews]], and the Reform Jewish movement has rejected atheistic temples' efforts at affiliation, even though many [[Reform Judaism|Reform]], [[Conservative Judaism|Conservative]], and [[Reconstructionist Judaism|Reconstructionist]] Jews are either atheists or agnostics themselves.<ref>{{Cite news |date=13 June 1994 |title=Reform Jews Reject a Temple Without God |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1994/06/13/us/reform-jews-reject-a-temple-without-god.html |url-access=subscription |access-date=22 December 2018 |work=The New York Times}}</ref> Nevertheless, there are many atheist and agnostic Jews in modern non-Orthodox Jewish denominations.<ref>{{cite news |last=Berlinerblau |first=Jacques |author-link=Jacques Berlinerblau |date=6 November 2007 |title=In Praise of Jewish Atheism |url=https://www.onfaith.co/onfaith/2007/11/06/paul-beattys-2001-novel-tuff/1129 |url-status=usurped |work=[[The Washington Post]] |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181223073500/https://www.onfaith.co/onfaith/2007/11/06/paul-beattys-2001-novel-tuff/1129 |archive-date=23 December 2018 |access-date=22 December 2018}}</ref>

== Jewish theology ==
{{Main|Jewish theology}}
{{Further|God in Judaism}}

19th-century and early-20th-century [[Reform Judaism]] in the [[United States]], which became the [[Judaism in the United States|dominant form of Judaism in the country]] by the 1880s, was profoundly shaped by its engagement with high-profile skeptics and atheist thinkers such as [[Robert G. Ingersoll|Robert Ingersoll]] and [[Felix Adler (professor)|Felix Adler]], and rabbis such as [[Isaac Mayer Wise]], [[Kaufmann Kohler]], [[Emil G. Hirsch]], [[Joseph Krauskopf]], [[Aaron Hahn]], and [[J. Leonard Levy]], resulting in a distinctly [[Panentheism|panentheistic]] U.S. Reform Jewish theology, which many would view as [[Atheism|atheistic]], [[Religious skepticism|skeptic]], and/or having [[Irreligion|irreligious]] tendencies.<ref>Langton, Daniel R. "Discourses of Doubt: The Place of Atheism, Scepticism, and Infidelity in Nineteenth-Century North American Reform Jewish Thought" in Hebrew Union College Annual (2018) Vol.88. pp. 203–253.</ref>

Liberal Jewish theology makes few [[Metaphysics|metaphysical claims]] and is thus compatible with [[atheism]] on an [[Ontology|ontological level]]. The founder of [[Reconstructionist Judaism]], [[Mordecai Kaplan]], espoused a [[Religious naturalism|naturalistic definition of God]], and some proponents of post-[[Holocaust theology]] have also eschewed belief in a [[personal god]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kaplan |first=Mordecai |author-link=Mordecai Kaplan |title=The Meaning of God in Modern Jewish Religion |publisher=Behrman's Jewish book house |year=1937 |location=New York}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Rubenstein |first=Richard |url=https://archive.org/details/afterauschwitzra00rube |title=After Auschwitz: Radical Theology and Contemporary Judaism |publisher=Bobbs-Merrill |year=1966 |location=Indianapolis |page=[https://archive.org/details/afterauschwitzra00rube/page/87 87] |access-date=22 December 2018 |url-access=registration}}</ref> The [[Jewish philosopher]] Howard Wettstein has advanced a non-metaphysical approach to religious commitment, according to which metaphysical theism-atheism is not the issue.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Wettstein |first=Howard |title=The Significance of Religious Experience |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2012 |isbn=9780199841363 |pages=27, 212–213}}</ref> [[Harold Schulweis]], a Conservative rabbi trained in the Reconstructionist tradition, has argued that Jewish theology should move from a focus on God to an emphasis on "godliness". This "predicate theology", while continuing to use [[Theism|theistic language]], makes few [[Metaphysics|metaphysical claims]] that non-believers would find objectionable.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Schulweis |first=Harold M. |author-link=Harold M. Schulweis |year=1984 |title=Evil and the Morality of God |location=Cincinnati |publisher=[[Hebrew Union College Press]] |isbn=9780878201563 |page=87}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Schulweis |first=Harold M. |author-link=Harold M. Schulweis |year=1995 |url=https://archive.org/details/forthosewhocantb00haro/page/133 |title=For Those Who Can't Believe: Overcoming the Obstacles to Faith |location=New York City |publisher=[[Harper Perennial]] |isbn=9780060926519 |page=[https://archive.org/details/forthosewhocantb00haro/page/133 133] |url-access=registration}}</ref>

== {{va|Secular}} Jewish culture ==
{{Main|Hiloni|Jewish secularism}}
{{Further|Irreligion in Israel|Secularism in Israel}}

Many Jewish atheists reject even this level of ritualized and symbolic identification, instead embracing a thoroughgoing [[secularity]] and basing [[Jewish identity|their Jewishness]] entirely in ethnicity and [[Jewish secularism|secular Jewish culture]]. Possibilities for secular Jewishness include identification with Jewish history and [[Jewish peoplehood|peoplehood]], immersion in Jewish literature (including such non-religious Jewish authors as [[Philip Roth]] and [[Amos Oz]]), consumption of [[Jewish food]], use of [[Jewish humor]], and attachment to Jewish languages such as [[Yiddish language|Yiddish]], [[Hebrew language|Hebrew]], and [[Judeo-Spanish|Ladino]]. A high proportion of Israeli Jews consider themselves secular, rejecting some religious practices (''see also'': [[Religion in Israel]]).

Jewish atheists and agnostics may continue to observe [[Jewish culture|Jewish traditions, holidays, and customs]], but view them more as cultural heritage than religious obligations. For example, celebrating [[Hanukkah]] or [[Passover]] can be seen as an important family and cultural ritual rather than a religious act.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Abidor |first=Mitchell |others=(link is invalid) Describes the phenomenon of secular Judaism in the United States |title=Cultural Jews: Secular Judaism in America |url=https://jewishcurrents.org/author/mitchell-abidor |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240506143041/https://jewishcurrents.org/author/mitchell-abidor |archive-date=6 May 2024 |access-date=24 June 2024}}</ref> In the documentary series ''[[:ru:Еврейское счастье (телепередача)|Еврейское счастье]]'' (''Jewish Happiness''), alongside exploring other aspects, the question "Who is a Jew?" is extensively discussed. In one episode, a family of atheists deeply engages in certain Jewish religious traditions, such as [[Shabbat]], which, one of the documentary's characters asserts, has come to us as a tradition from ancient times but fits very well into contemporary reality. Specifically, it provides the opportunity to spend a whole day communicating with one's children, free from pervasive modern issues like [[phubbing]] and [[FOMO]].<ref>{{Citation |title=Еврейское счастье (телепередача) |date=12 January 2024 |work=Википедия |url=https://ru.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=%D0%95%D0%B2%D1%80%D0%B5%D0%B9%D1%81%D0%BA%D0%BE%D0%B5_%D1%81%D1%87%D0%B0%D1%81%D1%82%D1%8C%D0%B5_(%D1%82%D0%B5%D0%BB%D0%B5%D0%BF%D0%B5%D1%80%D0%B5%D0%B4%D0%B0%D1%87%D0%B0)&oldid=135520872 |access-date=23 June 2024 |language=ru}}</ref>

Some Jewish atheists are active in secular and humanist movements that advocate separation of church and state, human rights, and a scientific worldview.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Dawkins |first=Richard |title=The God Delusion |date=2006 |others=Mentions a number of famous Jewish atheists and their contributions to the secular movement}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |others=(link is invalid) Describes the role of jewish atheists in various secular and humanist movements |title=Jewish Secularism: A Historical Perspective |url=https://jewishjournal.com |access-date=24 June 2024}}</ref>

== Notable people ==
{{Further|List of Jewish atheists and agnostics}}

Famous atheist or agnostic Jews include [[Albert Einstein]], [[Karl Marx]], and [[Sigmund Freud]]. Their views on religion influenced their work and philosophical positions as well as subsequent scientists and philosophers.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Storr |first=Anthony |author-link=Anthony Storr |title=Freud: A Very Short Introduction |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=1989 |series=Very Short Introductions}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Hoffmann |first=Banesh |title=Albert Einstein: Creator and Rebel |year=1972}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Schwartz |first=Stephen |title=The Faith of Albert Einstein |year=1997}}</ref> Many well-known Jews have rejected a belief in deities. Some have denied the existence of a traditional deity while continuing to use religious language. Marx was born into an ethnically Jewish family but raised as a [[Lutheran]], and is among the most notable and influential atheist thinkers of modern history; he developed dialectical and [[historical materialism]], which became the basis for his critique of [[capitalism]] and theories of [[scientific socialism]]. He was a major influence on other prominent Jewish intellectuals, including [[Moses Hess]]. One of Marx's most cited comments on religion is "Religion is the sigh of the oppressed creature, the heart of a heartless world, and the soul of soulless conditions. It is the [[opium of the people]]."<ref>{{Cite book |last=Marx |first=Karl |title=Zur Kritik der Hegelschen Rechtsphilosophie. Einleitung |date=1844 |language=de}}</ref>

The contradictory symbiosis between religiosity and atheism among atheists in the Jewish context has ambivalent qualities and is discussed extensively in ''The Cambridge Companion to Atheism'', as is how Jewish thinkers deal with these dynamics. This nuanced connection is also evident in other prominent Jewish atheists who maintained their cultural identity. The text discusses how the concept of religion developed in a Judeo-Christian context can be incorrect when applied outside that context. But careful application of these concepts can shed light on the unique perspectives of Jewish atheists who still value their cultural heritage.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Sherwin |first=Baruch |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/cambridge-companion-to-atheism/6236955319782AE6B18D5E45B4B5129E |title=Jewish Religious and Philosophical Ethics. In The Cambridge Companion to Atheism |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=2006 |isbn=978-0-521-84270-9 |editor-last=Martin |editor-first=Michael |doi=10.1017/CCOL0521842700}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Cohn-Sherbok |first=Dan |url=https://archive.org/details/judaismhistorybe0000cohn |title=Atheism and Agnosticism in Judaism. In Judaism: History, Belief, and Practice |date=1994 |publisher=Routledge}}</ref> In Freud's ''[[The Future of an Illusion]]'', he eschews religious belief and outlines its origins and prospects. But Freud also urged a Jewish colleague to raise his son in the Jewish religion, saying, "If you do not let your son grow up as a Jew, you will deprive him of those sources of energy which cannot be replaced by anything else."<ref>{{Cite book |last=Ariel |first=David S. |title=What Do Jews Believe? |publisher=Shocken Books |year=1995 |isbn=9780805210590 |location=New York |page=248}}</ref> Other researchers have written about Freud's views on religion and Jewish identity.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Gay |first=Peter |url=https://archive.org/details/freudlifeforourt00gayp |title=Freud: A Life for Our Time |publisher=New York: W.W. Norton & Company |others=This biography describes Freud's views on religion and Jewish identity |year=1988 |isbn=978-0-393-02517-0}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Yerushalmi |first=Yosef Hayim |url=https://www.academia.edu/63566867 |title=Freud's Moses: Judaism Terminable and Interminable |publisher=New Haven: Yale University Press |year=1991}}</ref>

[[Ayn Rand]], a Russian-born American philosopher of Jewish descent, was a staunch atheist and considered atheism an integral part of her philosophy of [[objectivism]]. Her ideas significantly influenced [[libertarianism]] and [[individualism]].<ref>{{Cite web |last=Hicks |first=Stephen R. C. |title=Ayn Rand (1905—1982) |url=https://iep.utm.edu/rand/ |access-date=13 August 2024 |website=The Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy |publisher=Rockford University}}</ref>

[[File:Ben Gurion 1959.jpg|thumb|Israeli Prime Minister [[David Ben-Gurion]] did not believe in God]]
Other famous Jews have wholeheartedly embraced atheism, rejecting religiosity altogether. The anarchist [[Emma Goldman]] was born to an Orthodox Jewish family and rejected belief in God,<ref>{{Cite book |title=[[The Portable Atheist]] |publisher=Da Capo Press |year=2007 |isbn=9780306816086 |editor-last=Hitchens |editor-first=Christopher |editor-link=Christopher Hitchens |location=Philadelphia |pages=129–133 |chapter=The Philosophy of Atheism}}</ref> while the Israeli prime minister [[Golda Meir]], when asked if she believed in God, answered: "I believe in the Jewish people, and the Jewish people believe in God."<ref>{{Cite news |last=Rosen |first=Jonathan |author-link=Jonathan Rosen |date=14 December 2003 |title=So Was It Odd of God? |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2003/12/14/books/so-was-it-odd-of-god.html?pagewanted=all |access-date=22 December 2018 |work=The New York Times |quote=He seems to subscribe to Golda Meir's observation: 'I believe in the Jewish people, and the Jewish people believe in God.'&thinsp;}}</ref> Of [[David Ben-Gurion]], the founder of [[Israel]] known for his atheism, it was often said: "Although he didn't believe in God, it seems God believed in him."<ref>{{Cite book |last=Peres |first=Shimon |url=https://archive.org/details/bengurionpolitic0000pere |title=Ben-Gurion: A Political Life |last2=Landau |first2=David |year=2011 |isbn=978-0-8052-4282-9}}</ref> [[Woody Allen]]'s work often explores the tension between his Jewishness and religious doubt ("Not only is there no God, but try getting a plumber on weekends").<ref>{{Cite web |title=Woody Allen Quotes |url=http://www.quotationspage.com/quotes/Woody_Allen/ |access-date=22 December 2018}}</ref> [[David Silverman (activist)|David Silverman]], president of the [[American Atheists]] from 2010 to 2018, swore after his bar mitzvah that he would never again lie about his atheism.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Freethought Arizona |date=12 December 2013 |title=Dave Silverman "I'm an Atheist (And So Are You); Why I've Changed My Mind on Jewish Atheism" |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4NQOnjswuFI |url-status=live |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211222/4NQOnjswuFI |archive-date=22 December 2021 |access-date=22 December 2018 |website=[[YouTube]]}}{{cbignore}}</ref> American Jewish author [[Philip Roth]] was an outspoken atheist and called himself [[Antireligion|anti-religious]].<ref>{{cite news |last=Krasnik |first=Martin |date=14 December 2005 |title=Philip Roth: 'It no longer feels a great injustice that I have to die' |url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2005/dec/14/fiction.philiproth |work=[[The Guardian]] |location=London |publisher=[[Guardian Media Group]] |issn=1756-3224 |oclc=60623878 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141108003646/https://www.theguardian.com/books/2005/dec/14/fiction.philiproth |archive-date=8 November 2014 |access-date=20 June 2025 |quote="I'm exactly the opposite of religious," he says. "I'm anti-religious. I find religious people hideous. I hate the religious lies. It's all a big lie." [...] "I have such a huge dislike. It's not a neurotic thing, but the miserable record of religion—I don't even want to talk about it. It's not interesting to talk about the sheep referred to as believers. When I write, I'm alone. It's filled with fear and loneliness and anxiety—and I never needed religion to save me."}}</ref>

== Research studies ==
Jewish atheism has a long history, with recorded sources dating to the 17th century. Dutch philosopher [[Baruch Spinoza]] is considered the Jewish herald of the secular age.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Nadler |first=Steven |title=A Book Forged in Hell: Spinoza's Scandalous Treatise and the Birth of the Secular Age |date=2011 |publisher=Princeton University Press |pages=166–168}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Пивоваров |first=Д.В. |year=2012 |title=Спиноза: философия религии |url=https://cyberleninka.ru/article/n/b-spinoza-filosofiya-religii |access-date=9 July 2024 |website=cyberleninka.ru |publisher=Вестник экономики, управления и права, no. 1 (18) |pages=65–75 (2012) |language=ru}}</ref> In his ''[[Historical and Critical Dictionary]]'', [[Pierre Bayle]] called Spinoza "the greatest atheist". Jewish thinkers of the 19th century were especially zealous in accusing Spinoza of atheism (criticizing his work ''[[Ethics (Spinoza book)|Ethics]]''),<ref>{{Cite book |last=Graetz |first=Heinrich |title=Geschichte der Juden |date=1853 |publisher=Jewish Publication Society of America |others=11 volumes |language=de |trans-title=History of the Jews}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Hirsch Weiss |first=Isaac |title=Dor Dor ve-Dorshav |others=8 volumes |year=1871 |language=hebrew |trans-title=Each Generation and its Scholars}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Bell |first=David R. |title=Spinoza in Germany from 1670 to the Age of Goethe |date=1984 |publisher=University of Chicago Press}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Harvey |first=Warren Zev |title=The Rise of Modern Jewish Thought |date=2000 |publisher=Brandeis University Press}}</ref> especially in terms of his denial of "[[revelation]]", but this was not atheism in the modern sense.

In the 19th and 20th centuries, many Jews embraced secular and socialist ideals. Particularly in the Soviet Union and other Eastern European countries, many Jews became atheists under the influence of communist ideology.<ref>{{Cite book |title=The Atheist Jewish Community in Soviet Russia / YIVO Encyclopedia of Jews in Eastern Europe |others=This encyclopedia provides an overview of the history of Jewish atheism in the Soviet Union |isbn=9780300119039}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |others=(link is invalid?) Describes the conditions under which many Jews became atheists in the USSR |title=Jewish Atheism in the USSR |url=https://www.chabad.org/}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Posner |first=Menachem |date=19 August 2019 |title=Leibel Mochkin, 95, Daring Chassidic Activist in the USSR and Beyond |url=https://www.chabad.org/news/article_cdo/aid/4466650/jewish/Leibel-Mochkin-95-Daring-Chassidic-Activist-in-the-USSR-and-Beyond.htm |access-date=24 June 2024}}</ref>

Confirming the diverse history of Jewish atheism, reflecting a wide range of views and approaches to faith and identity, a blog entry by Vladimir Minkov on the ''[[The Times of Israel|Times of Israel]]'' portal notes that a significant portion of modern U.S. Jews identify themselves as atheists or agnostics. Minkov argues that this is due to various factors, including lack of deep understanding of Jewish religious teachings and desire to find a Jewish identity outside traditional religious frameworks.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Minkov |first=Vladimir |date=26 June 2014 |title=About half of Jews are atheists – why it is so and why they are Jews |url=https://blogs.timesofisrael.com/about-half-of-jews-are-atheists-why-it-is-so-and-why-they-are-jews/ |website=The Blogs at The Times of Israel}}</ref> Some interviews with Jewish atheists show that many of them continue to observe Jewish traditions and participate in cultural activities despite renouncing their religious beliefs. This demonstrates ambivalence when cultural-ethnic identity and a certain religiosity are preserved even in the absence of faith in God.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Pogrebin |first=Abigail |date=16 March 2023 |title=Ritual, Even as an Atheist, Has Enormous Power |url=https://www.tabletmag.com/sections/community/articles/the-minyan-jewish-atheists |website=tabletmag.com}}</ref> Thus atheism among Jews is not only widespread but multifaceted, providing rich material for research and discussion on the topic of faith and identity in the Jewish context and making atheism among Jews an interesting subject for interdisciplinary research.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Harris |first=Rachel S. |url=https://www.press.jhu.edu/journals/journal-jewish-identities |title=Journal of Jewish Identities |date=2024 |publisher=Johns Hopkins University Press |volume=17}}</ref>

== See also ==
{{Portal|Israel|Judaism|Philosophy}}
{{div col|colwidth=20em}}
* [[Apostasy in Judaism]]
** ''[[Baal teshuva]]''
** [[Jewish outreach]]
** [[Jewish schisms]]
** [[Proselytization and counter-proselytization of Jews]]
* [[Criticism of Judaism]]
* [[Galut nationalism]]
* [[Haskalah]]
* [[Jewish assimilation]]
* [[Jewish emancipation]]
** ''[[Aliyah]]''
** [[Homeland for the Jewish people]]
** [[Napoleon and the Jews]]
** [[History of the Jews in the Ottoman Empire|Ottoman–Jewish ''millet'']]
* [[Jewish identity]]
** [[Israelites]]
** [[Jewish peoplehood]]
** [[Twelve Tribes of Israel]]
** [[Who is a Jew?]]
* [[Religion in Israel]]
* [[Secularism in Israel]]
{{div col end}}

== Notes ==
{{reflist|30em}}

{{Jews and Judaism}}
{{irreligion}}

[[Category:Disengagement from religion]]
[[Category:Jewish atheism| ]]
[[Category:Jewish secularism|Atheists]]
[[Category:Religious atheism|Jewish]]