Saturday, May 13, 2006

Welcome, Rabbis! (And a Round-up of Previous Posts)

Somehow it didn't occur to me until yesterday to read the names of the blogs listed as "Blogs a Rabbi Must Follow" in Rabbi Gil Student's PowerPoint presentation What a Rabbi Needs to Know About Blogs. I was wowed to see that I'm on it even though my place is a bit off the beaten path as J-Blogs go.

This provides a good opportunity to list some most of my more relevant posts. (Basically, I listed almost everything except the political ones.)

Orthodox Thought


Intellectual Cowardice in Orthodox Judaism
On Lively But Narrow Debate in Orthodox Judaism
Quote of the Day - Orthodoxy and the suppression of Ideas
Quote of the Day 2: Chazal [Would Maimonedes be an atheist if he were alive today?]
"Orthodoxy, of whatever color, seems to demand a lifeless, imitative style."
Are Scientists Stupid?

Orthodox People and Culture


Orthodox Judaism is Harmful: The Rabbis [Racist and ignorant statements I heard from actual rabbis.]
How Orthodoxy Causes Good Men to do Evil
Drugs and Sex in the Orthodox Community
Quote of the day [Auslander on conditions for love and continued membership in Orthodoxy]
Short Thought of the Day [On the mental divide between Jew and non-Jew.]
The Good Stuff I - Community
Highschool Coeducation

The Experience of Leaving Orthodoxy


How I Left Orthodoxy
Unchosen: The Hidden Lives of Hasidic Rebels [A review.]
Support for People From Ultra-Orthodox or Chassidic Communities Seeking to Enter or Explore the World Beyond Their Communities
Why Do I Argue Against Orthodoxy?
What Responsibilities Have Frum Skeptics and the Ex-Orthodox?
What's Good About Leaving Orthodoxy
Abstinence Only Sex Ed [What you need to know but weren't taught.]
Jewish Atheist's Top Ten Non-Kosher Foods
My Experience with Buddhism
My Reform Seder

The Torah


Who Wrote the Bible?
Was Man Created Before or After the Animals?
British Catholic Bishops Warning Worshippers Not to Take Bible Literally
Flood Stories from Around the World
The Brick Testament: An Illustrated Bible
What's a Firmament?
Wacky Bible Quote of the Day: Deu 25:11-12

Skepticism


Baloney Detection Kit
Quote of the Day: Belief and Reason
Quote of the Day: More Bertrand Russell [On freethinking.]
Quote of the Day: Science Vs. Religion
Quote of the Day: Belief and Denial
Quote of the Day: Intellectual Integrity and Social Importance
Quote of the Day - Other Religions [Twain on religion vs. religion.]
No Easy Answers
Dogma: The Real Enemy
Religion vs. Dogma, Part II

Morality


Is Absolute Morality Superior?
Values and Religion
Christians More Likely than Secular to Support Torture
If God Exists, Everything is Permitted
This Atheist's Moral Grounding, or Why I'm a Liberal

History and Psychology of Religion


Karen Armstrong and The Evolution of God
Quote of the Day - Religion and Comfortable Myths
Is God an Accident?
Bedrock of a Faith Is Jolted
Truth, Beauty, Meaning, Morality
The Search for Religious Truth
Quote of the Day: Religion as Theater

Evolution and Ancient Universe


Evolution of the Eye
Evolution of the Horse
How Evolution Works
Starlight and the Age of the Universe
Evidence of Common Descent between Man and Chimp
An Index to Creationist Claims
Creationists Say, "Stop Calling Evolution 'Just a Theory'"
The Bat, the Bird, and the Flatfish
The Dover Decision on Intelligent Design
Dover Decision II - ID Proponents "Distort and Misrepresent Scientific Knowledge"
More Evidence for Evolution: Endogenous Retroviruses
Why "Intelligent Design" is Not Science
Unintelligent Design, or Do We Come From Viruses?
Crucial Missing Link Found
Evolution: The Disguised Friend of Faith?


Why Atheism?


Great "This American Life" Episode about God [Julia Sweeney's story of how she came to atheism.]
What Kind of Atheist am I? [Also, how did I become an atheist?]
Leading Scientists Still Disbelieve in God
On Scientific Naturalism
Common Questions I - The Cosmological Argument
A Parable [Warning: curse words and mocking of religion.]
Quote of the Day - Religion and Heredity
Over Three Hundred Proofs of God's Existence
Bad Religious Arguments: Pascal's Wager
Why Douglas Adams Was an Atheist
Kissing Hank's Ass: The Video!
The Atheist's Dayenu
Which God Do You Believe In?
Atheist Testimony, Free Verse Style
Intelligent Design for Atheists

Secular Living


Quote of the Day: Albert Einstein on Religion and the Desire for Transcendence
Is a Belief in God Beneficial? Or, What's an Atheist to Do?
Quote of the Day: Atheism and Freedom
The Affirmations of Humanism: A Statement of Principles
Atheists are America's Most Distrusted Minority
Literature As Spiritual Exercise
Beautiful Science
Non-religious Parents Raising Children With Religion
On Intermarriage and Interdating


Gay Marriage


Letter to Dad [From a gay daughter to her religious father]
On Marriage
Church Ceremony Celebrates Gay Pairs
Partner's Death Ends Happy Life on Ranch

8 comments:

Ben Avuyah said...

Hey, I just noticed my blog is on that list too !! I feel greatly honored to be a blog that "Rabbi's should follow" !! I like your idea, I am going to go ahead and role out the welcome mat too!

Baconeater said...

If you don't know yet, we've been diagnosed by a mad "scientist"

Jewish Atheist said...

ben avuyah: awesome. :-)

BEAJ: How... bizarre. Strange fellow, it seems.

Anonymous said...

as a young female who left orthodoxy very recently, I sooo appriciate this blog. You seem to be a very shrewed and intelligent man. Your blog gives me endless insight, and lots of new things to think about. I'm leaning towards athiesm, but my greatest fear is, when i die i'll meet god and he will just laugh at me and say: i told u i exist, lol. It gets really complicated and extremely frustrating when i havto pretend for the sake of my kids. I try not to think bout it to much cuz i get very resentful. So thank u again jewish atheist, i'll keep coming back. BM

stc said...

Congratulations on making it into the powerpoint presentation.

And that's an impressive body of work, JA!

Jewish Atheist said...

Anonymous:

Welcome! I'm glad you like my blog. The way I look at the death issue is if it turns out I'm wrong, God and I can have a good laugh about how he tricked us atheists with all the fossils, silly religious arguments, and wacky religions out there. I can't believe He'd hold an honestly held belief against me.

It gets really complicated and extremely frustrating when i havto pretend for the sake of my kids.

I know that must be really hard. I don't have any advice because I was lucky enough to get out before marriage and kids. However, maybe a (secular) psychologist might have some ideas on how to walk the line.

Q:

Thanks! :-) I was amazed myself how many posts I've written.

Anonymous said...

Thanks for replying. I like your point of view, i might just be an extremist coming from one extreme severe chasidic upbringing and i'm so repulsed so i just run as far as i can, straight into atheism, lol. I'm not sure i don't believe in god, i'm just not sure how relevant he is in our daily lives.
The torah i'm convinced was mostly written by man.
Where do u turn when no human being is there to help? where do u draw comfort from?
All i know is nobody knows the truth, we all worship or belive what feel is right and honest to ourself. My defense regarding not believing is i tried to live my life morally, and my religion is being kind to humanity.
I'm also very bothered by the fact that the orthodox community doesn't care very much bout darfur. We who feel the effects of the holocaust know what its like. but they are just some blacks in a third world country, why help them? why are we complaining that the world didnt care much when the holocaust was ongoing. now i understand how ppl just went on with their lives, just like most of us do. well so it goes. BM

Jewish Atheist said...

Anonymous,

i might just be an extremist coming from one extreme severe chasidic upbringing and i'm so repulsed so i just run as far as i can, straight into atheism, lol.

:-) The zeal of the converted. No worries, you'll eventually settle down into something you're comfortable with.

Where do u turn when no human being is there to help? where do u draw comfort from?

It's hard. First, try to make sure there are humans around to help. Therapists if necessary. Second, we can draw inspiration from fiction or philosophy or whatever.

My defense regarding not believing is i tried to live my life morally, and my religion is being kind to humanity.

Sounds good to me. Even if God does exist, I can't believe He'd object to that.

I'm also very bothered by the fact that the orthodox community doesn't care very much bout darfur.

They're starting to. See my post about it.