Chicken processing day, shots from my (on foot) commute. We...

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Chicken processing day, shots from my (on foot) commute. We rarely start before dawn but the exception is that processing days are fixed start times, and as the days shorten, their starts edge closer to sunrise. So the clock is reasonable, but the sun’s being lazy.
The barnyard looks lovely in dawn’s first rosy-fingered blush, and the second photo– taken earlier, from my yurt’s front yard, shows Venus, and the fence wire carried on high poles past the garden, not a power line. (at Laughing Earth)

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tikkunolamorgtfo: earthboundricochet: tropicalcynicism: earthboundricochet: tropicalcynicism: ea...

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tikkunolamorgtfo:

earthboundricochet:

tropicalcynicism:

earthboundricochet:

tropicalcynicism:

earthboundricochet:

warpedellipsis:

tikkunolamorgtfo:

Some Goy: Did you just say religious Jews can be atheist and agnostic? LOL what an idiot you are! These things are incompatible! You cannot be a religious person and believe in “reason”! 

Me, a religious agnostic Jew: 

How does this work, though? How is a person religious if they don’t believe in a god? Is this like people who say they’re “spiritual but not religious”?

Agnostic, sure, but atheist is the direct opposite of religious. If you want to get pedantic sure, you could say one can be religious an not theist, but that’s not not what “atheist” has come to mean.

@warpedellipsis - Actually it is the exact opposite of “spiritual but not religious” it is more like “religious but not spiritual”- Judaism focuses pretty heavily on “doing” and as long as you are doing the religion then you are a religious Jew- anything else is actually pretty irrelevant.

There’s even a fairly well known story about three rabbis who stayed late into the night arguing over whether God exists and eventaully come to the conclusion that all evidence is against it and God does not exist. The next day one of the rabbis sees the others heading to shul and exclaims, “I thought we concluded that God does not exist!” and the other two reply, “yes, but what does that have to do with anything?”

Aah well, in that sense. 

That’s still a rather weird and controversial definition of atheist tho. Makes a bit more sense, but also why would you follow the teachings if you are an atheist? 

I always thought the definition for atheist was “does not believe in God” so that seems to fit the definition of atheist to me? 

There’s actually another story that involves a priest asking an atheist rabbi why he would live with so many restrictions if he does not believe- unfortunately I do not remember the conclusion to that one. So I have to offer my rather bland response-

They do so because they are Jewish. And I guess also because Judaism is a religion of doing- the specifics of what you believe about it are there to be debated- which includes the nature of God- which also includes whether or not he exists- and it doesn’t seem odd that some people would come down on the “he doesn’t” side?

I think in an opposite manner Christianity is a religion based on”belief” with a specific core doctrine that your belief in determines whether you are Christian or not. I don’t think Judaism has anything like that.

Ok, let’s put it like this then: 

Technically an atheist is “someone who does not believe in God”. 

Technically, fruits are “developed from the ovary in the base of the flower and contain the seeds of the plant”. 

Is a practicing religious person that does not believe in God an atheist? Technically yes. 

Is a tomato a fruit? Technically yes.

Yet, I suspect you would be at least a bit confused if I offer you fruit salad and then I bring you this:

So I don’t think it’s unreasonable for someone to be confused if you say you are an atheist when you’re a practicing religious person.

This is actually a great analogy, because in Korean cuisine, tomato salads absolutely are associated with fruit salad, thus proving that the issue here is not Judaism’s relationship with atheism, but actually your own refusal to accept or understand that your cultural framework is not standard or universal. 

Koreans put tomatoes in fruit salad. Reconciling Judaism and atheism is not “confusing” for Jewish people. You just don’t get the fundamental concept of cultural difference, because you can’t see past your own specific worldview. 

Thanks for illustrating your own ignorance so beautifully and succinctly!