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How I Can Be Both a Jew and an Atheist

And why I’m not agnostic.

Darcy Reeder
7 min readJan 12, 2019
Hey, I can appreciate beautiful art. Photo by Hassan Saleh on Unsplash

No, I swear, questioning everything is part of being Jewish! Israel means to struggle with God!

I think you just think that because it’s what you do. I don’t think most Jews would say that.

Remember when I brought you to Temple? And the rabbi opened it up for discussion?

Yeah, it was like a college class. It was so much cooler than a church sermon.

See, Judaism’s about orthopraxy, not orthodoxy. You can believe anything. It’s about keeping traditions.

Yeah, I don’t know… maybe.

In our 9 years together, my husband and I have had this discussion so many times. He’s an atheist who was raised Christian. Since he was brought up in an orthodoxic religion, that’s what he thinks religion is: believing the same thing as everyone else.

I’m an atheist who was raised Jewish, and who is still a Jew. Since I was raised in an orthopraxic religion, I know religion can instead be about doing the same rituals and mitzvahs. I can believe whatever I believe and still be a Jew.

We’re raising our kiddo Jewish, and atheist, and we plan to keep exposing her to all the many different ways there are to be human.

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Darcy Reeder
Darcy Reeder

Written by Darcy Reeder

Empathy for the win! Published in Gen, Human Parts, Heated, Tenderly —Feminism, Sexuality, Veganism, Anti-Racism, Parenting. She/They

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