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mike_c

(37,011 posts)
9. sort of off topic but sort of not-- what does the term "secular Jew" mean...?
Tue Apr 9, 2013, 04:57 PM
Apr 2013

It sounds like it just means "secular," or maybe "former Jew." One never hears the terms "secular catholic" or "secular baptist." "Secular muslim?" Yet "secular Jew" seems commonplace. Does it mean someone from a Jewish family who does not practice the Jewish religion, i.e. is it a comment about non-religious ethnicity rather than about religious beliefs? Are non-religious people from Jewish families that ethnically distinct? Not in my experience, which is admittedly limited to my own circle of acquaintances.

In any event, I find it confusing. Most of the folks that I know who fit that latter characterization likely refer to themselves simply as atheists. I suppose I'm a secular rabid-fucking-insane-batshit-crazy-Christian, of the deep south bible belt variety, but "atheist" is so much shorter and more succinct.

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