A few weekends ago, I went on a misadventure-filled camping trip with my temple’s youth group. I returned home brimming with stories of ill-fated hikes, tipped kayaks and rain-drenched sleeping bags. My friends, on the other hand, were less interested in my camping tales of woe and more intrigued by the fact that I still participate in youth group events.
“Why are you still going on those?” one friend asked. “I stopped going to church when my mom stopped forcing me to go.” They saw my temple involvement as uncool, as something to be ashamed of. The conversation quickly shifted to full-out religion-bashing, when all I had intended to talk about was the raccoon I’d seen while peeing in the bushes.
My friends’ hostility has nothing to do with anti-Semitism. I’m not taunted specifically for being Jewish but rather for practicing a religion in general — any religion. It’s not my Judaism that makes my friends uncomfortable, it’s religion in itself. Youth culture today is disenchanted with religion; in my community, it is almost frowned upon, viewed as unfashionable and conformist.
Young adults first extensively study the significance of religion on the historical stage during high school. Having previously been sheltered from the more severe atrocities of World War II and the bevy of religious wars in the thousand years prior, teens are understandably left with a bad taste in their mouths.
One need not look only at history to feel unsettled about religion. Skim through almost any newspaper and you’re sure to find news of hate crimes, extremists and religious wars — realities of the world that are all fueled by religion. These are admittedly extreme examples, but when the late-night news is plastered with images of human hardship and suffering as a result of religious disagreements, it’s hard not to despise the root of the conflict.
One cannot write off good ol’ rebellion when trying to solve the religion disenchantment puzzle. Pushing kids in one direction often has the unintended result of pulling them in the exact opposite direction, like matching poles of a magnet. When kids resent their parents for making them attend church every Sunday or fast on Ramadan, chances are they’ll begin to resent the religion itself. Of course, this is not always the case, but increasingly often, young adults steer their religious beliefs away from those of their parents.
Capitalism and the emergence of new wealth and entrepreneurship also play heavily into this sentiment. Capitalism isn’t just an economic model but a way of life, the American raison d’etre; why not pledge allegiance to the gods of capitalism rather than that old guy up in the clouds? Religion and capitalism, in their purest forms, aren’t as compatible as the Tea Party says they are: One relies on the belief that a higher power controls our destinies; the other preaches that to attain the American Dream, all one needs is cunning and a little elbow grease. Although most Americans today are able to reconcile the two in a way that works for them, it can be nonetheless confusing to navigate one’s spirituality under such paradoxical circumstances.
Privileged children in comfortable homes can often afford to live by the belief in hard work over destiny, that trying one’s best will eventually allow one to reap the ultimate reward. This optimistic and can-do attitude, which many young adults have been raised on as gospel, doesn’t prepare the future generation for the inevitable bumps along the way. You don’t pray to God when the road is smooth, straight and visible; you pray to God when you’re stuck in a pothole and your map blew away.
Young adults today aren’t prepared to fail, but if and when they do — an outcome that seems inevitable in today’s job market — they likely will want a supernatural, superhuman force to believe in. People characteristically turn to religion after experiencing death or catastrophe, so for young adults who have thus far not experienced hardship, religion doesn’t seem necessary.
People have turned to religion throughout history because they sought an explanation for their miserable lives, which no amount of hard work and diligence could change. Young people who have yet to experience significant adversity are quick to write off religion because they don’t necessarily need to believe in a higher power. And because they believe that religion is folly, they scorn those who are religious.
I do not believe in God. I do believe that humans affect their own destinies. I also know that these convictions don’t make me any less of a Jew. Religion isn’t about submitting oneself to the will of the gods. It is about community and culture, about having a safe place that slightly narrows down the heterogeneity of today’s world. Unlike accidentally melting my flip-flop on the side of the campfire (as I did on the temple camping trip), being religious is nothing to be ashamed of.
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I’ve discussed this at length in some relevant classes. Judaism can be regarded as both a religion and an ethnicity. Many people are culturally Jewish, but are religiously ambivalent or nonbelievers. My mother’s side of the family is Jewish, and my father’s side is Christian. Both religions claim me, but I do not adhere to either (or any) faith, nor do I believe in perpetuating the associated cultural rituals for the sake of it.
So, I lack a religion. I do have a culture and ethnicity, but it does not revolve around my religious heritage.
Part of the reason that Judaism is so successful in today’s modern world is because it is a culture as well as a faith. Christians get washed back and forth between different churches and wind up pigeonholing themselves in smaller conclaves — Judaism’s a funny religion in that it doesn’t matter so much that you believe in anything so long as you carry out the cultural acts. Self-victimization is a big commonly-held aspect of it, and it helps to cement a common identity and purpose, but that’s one of the main reasons I want no part in it.
The holocaust of the Palestinian people taking place in Israel is not something that anyone of this heritage (or any other) should be willing to overlook.
Jews are a people with a common historic and cultural heritage, a language, a cultural homeland, and various philosophies. An atheist Jew is still a Jew with a different philosophy. Catholicism, for example, is not a cultural heritage. Arabs , for example, have a historic cultural heritage, as they are from Arabia, Arabic is from Arabia, Islam is from Arabia. But also keep in mind that Jews and Christians lived in Mecca prior to the invention of Islam. What happened to them?
Antioch and Alexandria are much more important to the first 5 centuries of Christian history than Rome.
An older quote :
It is true, that a little philosophy inclineth man’s mind to atheism, but depth in philosophy bringeth men’s minds about to religion.
It was part of Roman history- Greco-Roman Egypt, Ptolemaic (ancient Greek) Egypt: 332 to 30 BC, Roman Egypt: 30 BC to AD 395, Byzantine Egypt: 395 to 645
Coptic News: “Since Christianity came to Egypt in 57 A.D., we, the Christians of Egypt, have not had conflict with the Jewish people. Copts have been a marginal population held in captivity for sixteen centuries. We constitute the largest non-Arab, non-Moslem minority in the Middle East. The Church of Alexandria, is one of the oldest organization in the Middle East. Despite this distinguished history, it is a church that has been under siege since the Islamic invasion.” Is that God’s will Matthew Weber?
Just keep moving those goalposts, peepsqueek, you’ll “get” me sooner or later.
“I do not believe in God. I do believe that humans affect their own destinies.”
I’ll take false dichotomies for $500, Alex. Also,you might want to buy a dictionary and check the meaning of the word destiny.
You’re right. I’ve never experienced hardship, death or catastrophe in my life. That’s totally why I’m an atheist. You’re right, though; I could easily see myself beseeching an invisible ghost if I were ever to get stuck in a pothole, or lose my map, or melt my flipflop in a youth group campfire associated with my parents’ religion.
Gosh, you’re just so very wise beyond your years. Such penetrating insight could only come from your miserable life of postsecondary education and camping trips.
Seriously? You’re saying people dont believe in religion because their lives are easy? Maybe we just dont believe in it because its senseless you preachy cow. This is a newspaper, or I thought it was, not your temple mailer.
Calling the writer a cow is way out of bounds.
oh nooooo. im so chastised now. i will definitely rethink my future actions -sarcasm-
And going on a kayak trip with a Jewish organization doesn’t make you any more Jewish than going to a Catholic hospital would make me an adherent of Papa Benedict.
You’re Jewish because your mother, presumably, was Jewish. That doesn’t allow you to honestly claim you’re a religious Jew when you publicly profess atheism. Just be honest about it. Admit that you like your “temple” (there is only one temple and it was destroyed 2000 years ago) youth groups because you enjoy spending time with people from a similar ethnic background, just like Filipinos like spending time with Filipinos, blacks like spending time with blacks, and Latinos like the company of other Latinos. It’s perfectly natural, normal, and harmless.
Stop trying to hide that from yourself by pretending you’re religious. It just makes you look dumb.
“about having a safe place that slightly narrows down the heterogeneity of today’s world”
WTF does this mean? Jesus. I can’t tell if it’s illiteracy or just post-modernist bullshit.
I think it means that Cal’s diversity is a bit overwhelming for her.
If you went to school at Cal Poly SLO you would have a very different experience…
“I do not believe in God. I do believe that humans affect their own destinies. I also know that these convictions don’t make me any less of a Jew. Religion isn’t about submitting oneself to the will of the gods. It is about community and culture, about having a safe place that slightly narrows down the heterogeneity of today’s world .” Wow! I hope you at least learned how to make smores, because being around temple has taught you absolutely nothing about your religion or any religion. You were doing such a good job with your article, and then you ended it by sounding like you are completely ignorant about religion. Michelle, tolerance is important, but it doesn’t mean acceptance. The God of the Jews would tolerate you as you can see by the fact that you are alive, but he won’t accept you if you don’t accept Him. Right now you are tolerated, but you are not accepted. At least, it sounds better than what your friends think of you.
Seconded. If religion was all about pissing near raccoons, your friends wouldn’t have had a problem with it. The fact is, you’re the one who has had the privileged upbringing; you’re the one whose vision of religion is so sheltered you think it’s primarily about s’mores and camping. God bless you, I hope you never find out how nasty religion can be.
How do humans affect their own destinies? Honestly, no matter how much lies the world feeds, we have no control over our lives. It is folly to actually believe that one is in control of his or her life. I don’t think I need to even explain myself on this fact.
Also, I guess “religion” isn’t about submitting oneself to the will of the gods is true to a sense that the term “religion” is defined differently among people.
I think the subject matter of the article is sound, because it highlights something important; the society today, especially the youth, do not tolerate religion.
“I do not believe in God. I do believe that humans affect their own
destinies. I also know that these convictions don’t make me any less of a
Jew.”
Ah, but that depends on who you ask. Personally, I’d say that religion without God is a waste of time, but maybe that’s just me.
Matthew said it well. I’m not Jewish, but when God set His people above all others (in the Old Testament/Torah) He said some things. Examples:
Exodus 6:7, Exodus 20:3, Deuteronomy 6:5
Religion can exist without a god. Many Buddhists believe in the teachings of their religion but don’t really have a deity. Many secular Jews enjoy their traditions and the support of their religious community without necessarily believing in Elohim. If the concept of a god is enough to motivate people to help each other and improve the community, then that god does not really need to exist. Michelle’s friends should just accept her for who she is and not pressure her to become a snob.
So this is what she writes about when she’s NOT being a snob? Good lord.
If you read carefully, you’ll note that I didn’t call religion without God nonexistent; I said it was a waste of time, and I stand behind that. It’s true that Buddhism is not necessarily theistic, but to call non-theistic Buddhism a religion is stretching the concept of religion to the breaking point.
As for secular Jews, I don’t know why they bother, and frankly to turn your religion into the worship of your ethnicity seems kind of creepy.
They are not your real friends, just big bundles of peer pressure. Berkeley is full of young rebels who think they’re on to something because they know of some contradictions in the Bible or Quran. You should not have to make excuses for your faith or cultural background, and if your friends would rather talk about their wild weekend party than your kayak trip it’s their loss.