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Secular Judaism?

What is Secular Humanistic Judaism?

  • Secularism - non-religious/non-theistic - To believe, act and/or live in a way that does not acknowledge or defer to the existence of a higher power.
  • Humanism - A human-centered philosophy defined by its values of personal responsibility, logic/reason, and compassion for others and the world we live in.
  • Judaism - The collective religion, language, history, mythology, traditions and culture of a people that date back thousands of years, now living all over the world, whose Jewishness has been defined in many ways, including ancestry, religion and lifestyle choice (conversion).

Therefore, a Secular Humanistic Jew is a person who is non-theistic, believes that the way to bring about change is through evidenced collaborative action amongst humans rather than reliance on G-d, and identifies as a Jew.

"Now hold on just a moment," we hear you say. "I have some questions..." (FAQ)

The History of Secular Humanistic Judaism

Secular Humanistic Judaism, in its modern incarnation, dates back to 1960's Detroit. The late Rabbi Sherwin Wine of Birmingham Temple found himself more and more unable to reconcile with the fact that adequate scientific proof of G-d's existence could not exist, and began to slowly rewrite his congregation's liturgy to remove any acknowledgment of a higher power, but retain its Jewish history, values and traditions.

By 1965, Rabbi Wine publicly admitted on a national scale to Time Magazine, "I am an atheist," in a landmark article. This shift culminated in the formation of the Society for Humanistic Judaism by the end of the decade, of which Secular Jewish Circle is a satellite shul.

In the modern day, most Jews are secular humanists and don't even realize it. According to nationwide surveys conducted by Pew Research Center in 2021, American Jews are far less likely to be religious or theistic compared to the average American.

Why Secular Humanistic Judaism?

Perhaps, like Rabbi Wine, the dissonance between your values and principles as an atheist, listening to theistic sermons and participating in theistic services, is growing too loud. It is important to you to say what you believe and believe what you say- and you just don't believe in G-d anymore, but you are afraid to let go of your theistic congregation because it feels essential to your Jewishness.

Perhaps, you were born a patrilineal or LGBTQ+ Jew in a conservative-leaning Jewish household, causing you to be essentially excluded from your own heritage and culture in many ways. You want to honor and embrace your Jewishness, but after all those years of being told your G-d has no place for you, you've lost any possible faith in it.

Perhaps, you married into Judaism, or out of Judaism (as it were) as part of an interfaith union, and you never quite feel like you belong. No matter how much you lean into or away from your Jewishness, someone isn't happy about it. You curse the inflexibility of a religion and culture that doesn't seem to want to make any effort to keep you in its community.

Or perhaps, you simply identify with Jewish values or culture...but that's not typically sufficient.

 

To every one of those hypothetical people:
Your Jewishness is valid here.
You are a Secular Humanistic Jew.

Wed, 25 June 2025