Why Are There So Many Jewish Atheists and Agnostics? And Why Do So Few Call Themselves Humanists (Yet)?

This speaker participated in our 2019 Conference. Learn more about our 2023 conference speakers here.

Medgar Evers College

Saturday, June 8
9:30am-10:00am

Most Jews in the United States don’t believe in the God of the Bible, yet still consider themselves Jewish. How does this work? Discuss lessons that Humanists of all backgrounds might learn from the overwhelmingly secular Jewish community, about acknowledging the familial and cultural pull toward tradition and history, and the benefits and pitfalls of ethnic and cultural “identity” that continues after secularization. Explore what prevents more Jews from knowing about Humanism and identifying as humanists, even though it aligns with what they already believe.

Paul Golin

Paul Golin is executive director of the Society for Humanistic Judaism (www.SHJ.org), the community-organizing arm of a movement that combines a Humanistic philosophy of life with Judaism as the cultural and historic experience of the Jewish people. He is a writer, speaker, advocate, and consultant on issues of importance to the Jewish community including secularity, intermarriage, disaffiliation, and inclusion. Paul co-authored two books and his writing has appeared in the Forward, the Jewish Week, Tablet, the Huffington Post, and elsewhere. He is the white Ashkenazi half of a “Jewpanese” (Jewish/Japanese) multiracial household and administers www.Jewpanese.com.