Philip

What leads you to believe that the Bible has got anything to do with God, rather than The Vedas, The Book of Mormon, The Quran, The Agamas or any of the world’s other holy books?

I think, therefore I am.

As I see it the only reasons to believe in God are a desire to explain the unknown, fear of the unknown, fear of death and a longing to be reunited with departed loved ones.

So, as knowledge increases and if death receeds, so too will the need to believe in God and the move towards secularism will accelerate.

“The good thing about science is that it’s true whether or not you believe in it.”

I think that the main reason is we now understand things which one could only be explained as acts of God.

Over time, many phenomenon that could only be explained by God.  At one time, thunder and lightning could only be explained by an angry God. A good harvest was the result of enough prayer. Recovery from serious illness was a miracle.…[Read more]

@sree

… there are some Jews who don’t give a flying flip about Judaism. >> That is like saying there are some Muslims who don’t give a flying flip about Islam

It’s difficult to know how to put this more simply.

Jews are an ethnic group.  Some are religious, the majority are not.

Muslims are a religious group. They are all religious by defi…

@timb

I can see that it is quite possibly insulting to secular Jewish people.

I’m glad that we are in agreement.

As an atheist, I wouldn’t be happy if I was always assumed to be religious and constantly referred to as a religious person.

But I think that is a side-issue. The main point is that it very misleading, in print, blogs and speeches,…[Read more]

@timb

I do think equal pay for women is a more important issue…….

I wasn’t comparing which was the most important issue or what is your personal view on equal pay for women.

I was saying that it’s the same style of arguement. Back in the 60’s and 70’s, women’s equality was not taken seriously. Most people in those days considered them right…[Read more]

@write

 Despite their small percentage of the world’s population, Jews have significantly influenced and contributed to human progress in many fields, both historically and in modern times, including philosophy,[35] ethics,[36] literature,[37] politics,[37] business,[37] fine arts and architecture,[37] music, theatre[38] and cinema, me…[Read more]

@timb

I know that they can be and often are atheists

If you know it, they why are you happy for them to be refered to as atheists? Why reject our allies?

Would you be happy if North Americans were always refered to as white, caucasian? Why continue with something so obviously wrong?

@theoneguy

Not sure it’s a big concern as most Americans already think of Jews as an ethnic group first and a religion second.

Just my point. Jew are not a religion first, second or at all. They are a people.

It would be like refering to Arabs, instead of Muslims.

@timb

I think there are problems of greater concern in the world today – That’s the arguement that was always used against equal pay for women or any push for equal rights for women. It’s not important. It’s a distraction from the real issues etc etc.

If we can erroneously classify a whole race of people as religious, what else have we got…[Read more]

@sree

•  I’m curious why you think that it’s wrong.
•  Jews are not prohibited from eating bacon and can eat bacon quite openly. Muslims are prohibited from drinking whiskey and will be get in trouble for doing so. Why would you think that it’s the same?

• Whether people think that I’m correct
• Whether people agree that it’s a serious issure
• Whether people can think of a better term than “Religious Jews”, to descibe jews that follow Judaism.
• Whether people believe it’s serious enough to take it on board and change their terminology
• Whether people believe it’s serious enough to encourage…

[Read more]