May atheists participate in Jewish rituals?
The Conservative movement teaches that belief in God is an essential element of Judaism. See "Emet Ve-Emunah: Statement of Principals of Conservative Judaism". However, the Conservative movement holds that neither faith nor observance should be coerced. Thus, several questions arise in regard to the role of openly professed atheists in the synagogue. The first three answers are from the chairperson of the CJLS, and the fourth is an official CJLS teshuvah.
A. May atheists be admitted to membership and hold elected office?
People who are born to Jewish mothers or are converted to Judaism in accordance with halakhah may belong to synagogues. This does not include those who profess another faith, e.g. Hebrew Christians. [This also includes "Jews for Jesus" and other "messianic Jews".] Hence, an atheist may belong to a synagogue. While this may not pose a problem to the membership committee, the atheist who chooses to join a synagogue must deal with the question of why he/she, a professed atheist, would want to belong to a house of God.
B. May they be given Aliyot?
This is less a problem for the honors committee than for the professed atheist. The professed atheist would be calling the congregation to worship God: "Barkhu et Adonai hamavorakh" to which the congregation answers Barukh...
It is recommended that the professed atheist be shown the blessings and their meaning discussed with him/her. If in good conscience the atheist can call the congregation to worship, this his/her atheism is less than he/she would avow and he/she may receive an aliyah.
C. May they serve as shaliach tzbbur [hazzan] or otherwise discharge others of religious obligations.
The fact that the individual is a professed atheist does not relieve him/her of religious obligations. However, the professed atheist should be shown the service and asked if he/she, in good conscience, can lead worship or kiddush, havdalah, etc. If he/she agrees, then there is no reason to deny the person the honor.
The preceding was a psak given by the Chairperson of the Committee on Jewish Law and Standards, 12/30/97; it is a valid teshuva, but is not an official position of the CJLS. The above psak needs to be read in conjunction with the offical CJLS teshuva "May an Avowed Atheist Serve as a shaliach tzbbur?" by Rabbi David Lincoln, which was accepted by unanimous vote.
Rabbi Lincoln writes "There has to be a basic theological or spiritual rapport between congregations and prayer leader. The issue in this case is not the choosing of one theology over another; our tradition includes many conceptions of God. In cases such as this, in fact, the rabbi must insure that the person in question, in claiming to be an atheist, is not simply asserting his rejection of a particular belief which he assumes to be normative. The rabbi must also do all that is possible to determine whether the person is just struggling with beliefs, especially since his desire to lead the congregation not only in its institutional activities, but specifically in prayer, constitutes a desire for action which belies his words. At some point however, we must believe what a person says. Certainly, if the person in question publicly declares his disdain for all conceptions of God for the purpose of affronting the very congregation he purports to lead, he is not an appropriate prayer leader, not for theological reasons, but for reasons of character." [Proceedings of the CJLS 1986-1990, p.475-478.]
Many people who profess atheism do so because they are only aware of certain theological positions that they assume to be normative. They feel that if they reject certain propositions, they must then be an atheist. However, there are many views of God acceptable within Judaism that most people are not aware of, some of which may hold appeal to people who would otherwise claim to be atheists. People should be encouraged to explore the full range of Jewish philosophical thought on this issue.
God: Jewish Views
People are encouraged to read these books on Jewish theology:
"Maimonides: A Guide for Today's Perplexed" by Kenneth Seeskin, pb. Behrman House, 1991. "How should we describe God? What is so important about monotheism? If God created the universe, why is there evil? How will we know when the Messiah has come? These are among the questions that Maimonides contemplated in the 12th century, and they still can perplex today. The classic questions in Maimonides original "Guide for the Perplexed" are now addressed in modern language. The philosophy and teachings of Maimonides are now accessible to all."
"A Question of Faith: An Atheist and a Rabbi Debate the Existence of God" by William E. Kaufman, Morton Shor, Pub. by Jason Aronson, 1994, 210 pages. Rabbi Neil Gillman writes: "This spirited encounter between a hardheaded atheist and a sophisticated theologian, on the nature and existence of God, can serve as a model for how to conduct a passionate and intelligent conversation on this most ultimate of issues. The exchange quickly takes us beyond the more elementary forms of theism into limited-God and process theologies. The findings of contemporary scientific inquiry are invoked on both sides of the issue. Hovering over the entire inquiry is the ever-present challenge posed by the presence of persistent and pervasive human suffering, clearly the core issue for any thinking human being."
"When Bad Things Happen to Good People", pb, Harold Kushner. How can an omnipotent (all powerful) and omniscient (all knowing) God allow evil things to happen (such as murder, starvation, the Holocaust, etc.) Kushner points out "All the response to tragedy which we have considered have at least one thing in common. They all assume that God is the cause of our suffering, and they try to understand why God would want us to suffer....Many of the answers were sensitive and imaginative, but none was totally satisfying. Some led us to blame ourselves in order to spare God's reputation. Others asked us to deny reality or to repress our true feelings. We were left either hating ourselves for deserving such a fate, or hating God for sending it to us when we did not deserve it." Kushner removes the dilemma by noting that perhaps God is not omnipotent, and is not to blame for mankind's abuse of free will. This view, while considered radical by some, actually has deep roots in Gersonides "The Wars of the Lord", and in parts of the Kabbalah, and may well be more consistent with the Biblical picture of God.
http://cspar181.uah.edu/RbS/JOB/dm000.html
"Knowing God: Jewish Journeys to the Unknowable" by Elliot N. Dorff. Jason Aronson Inc. Most Jews do not understand the Jewish concept of God, and their belief in God rests on childhood Hebrew school images. In response, Rabbi Dorff probes what we as adults can know about God through human reason, human and Divine words, and human and Divine action. Without assuming a background in philosophy, he takes us through some of the major philosophical options and conundrums in using each of these sources of knowledge about God, and the images of God that result. This results in a vibrant Jewish faith, one that takes due regard for both our emotional and intellectual sides.
"Contemporary Jewish Philosophies", pb, William E. Kaufman, Wayne State Univ. Press. This is a systematic critique of the theological and philosophical views of the major Jewish thinkers of the 20th century, including Franz Rosenzweig, Martin Buber, Richard Rubenstein, Eugene Borowitz, Emil Fackenheim, Leo Baeck, Abraham Joshua Heschel, Mordecai Kaplan, Arthur Cohen and Jacob Agus.
"The Case for God", pb, William E. Kaufman, Chalice Press, 1991. "In this riveting rejection of both atheistic skepticism and traditional forms of theism, Rabbi Kaufman offers a cogent rendering of the perspectives of Whitehead and Hartshorne on the way to presenting "the first Jewish process theology." The author examines the traditional views of God as omnipotent and omniscient. No longer finding such orthodox views tenable, the author studies philosophical responses to these questions, examining the perspectives of Bertrand Russel, Albert Camus, and Jean Paul Sartre. He then moves on to a study of Mordecai Kaplan's religious naturalism, and finally to the views of God in process theology. He argues that this latter view of God is compatible with Jewish theology, and is ethically and intellectually defensible.
http://www.ctr4process.org/p&f/thecase.htm
"Sacred Fragments: Recovering Theology for the Modern Jew" Neil Gillman, JPS, 1992. "Rabbi Neil Gillman addresses the most difficult theological questions of our time and, retaining the sacred fragments of Judaism, he urges readers to rethink and reformulate what they believe"
