Thoughts from volunteer leaders and supporters of Jews for a Secular Democracy.
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Paul Golin, Executive Director of the Society For Humanistic Judaism walks us through the first major poll of the Jewish community in a decade and what it means.
Recorded on November 9, 2021, Monica Miller, Legal Director and Senior Counsel at the American Humanist Association, discussed the recent Texas abortion ban, which outlaws all abortions after 6 weeks and allows citizens to sue individuals who aid or abet an abortion, and why the Supreme Court let it stand for now. Having argued in front of the Supreme Court herself, she answered questions and addressed concerns for the future of reproductive rights, and what we might expect from the... Read More
This piece originally appeared in J. The Jewish News of Northern California on May 19, 2021 I’m thrilled that atheist/agnostic, nonreligious Jews like me seem to be growing in numbers. I’m concerned, though, that our full set of values is not made apparent by the new Pew Research survey of American Jews. Pew splits the community between “Jews by Religion” and “Jews of No Religion.” It suggests an increase among Jews of No Religion to 27 percent of all Jewish... Read More
Hosted by Temple Israel in Central Florida (https://tiflorida.org/), with an introduction and contributions from the synagogue’s Rabbi Joshua Neely, this interfaith panel discussion addressed questions including: What is Christian nationalism? How does it impact our national and local politics, and the Jewish community specifically? This session unpacks all of these big questions from various perspectives and presents attendees with how their congregation can advocate for the separation of religion and government. Panelists: Rabbi Merrill Shapiro, Immediate Past National President, Americans... Read More
During this joint presentation from the Society for Humanistic Judaism (http://SHJ.org) and its pluralistic social justice initiative, Jews for a Secular Democracy (http://JFASD.org), Paul Golin discusses some of the key findings about rising secularity among American Jews and how it impacts their political decisions, and the relationship between secularity/liberal religion with liberal political views. One issue discussed is how the questions in the survey are particularistic to an organized Jewish communal worldview, rather than reflecting the full view of Jews... Read More
Michael L. “Mikey” Weinstein, founder and executive director of the Military Religious Freedom Foundation (MRFF), discusses the organization’s work protecting the constitutional right to religious freedom for all members of the United States Armed Forces. A 1977 Honor Graduate of the United States Air Force Academy, Mikey was named one of the 50 most influential Jews in America by the Forward Jewish newspaper and was honored by Jews for Racial and Economic Justice with the Rabbi Marshall T. Meyer Risk-Taker... Read More