Q: Can a Jew be an atheist?
A: Is not the Shma, which declares the oneness and existence of God the cornerstone of the Jewish faith? The whole underpinning of Judaism is supported by the believe in one God. As G.K. Chesterton said, “God is not the main character in the Bible, He is the only character.”
Modernity has seen many Jews who adhere to the Jewish way of living but who do not hold any absolute believe in God. We do not tell these cultural Jews that they no longer are considered Jewish. While secular Judaism is certainly a distortion of the tenets of our faith it does not disbar Jews. But it does not free them from responsibility either. As Rabbi Louis Jacobs put it, “A Jew was approached to be part of a minyan. “But, I'm an atheist,” he explained to the rabbi. “And if you are an atheist,” the rabbi responded, “you still have to daven Mincha”
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