Name: Why Are There So Many Atheist Jews? w/ Paul Golin
Start: 2026-01-18T14:00:00-05:00
End: 2026-01-18T16:00:00-05:00
Location: University Club of Winter Park

$Why Are There So Many Atheist Jews? w\/ Paul Golin$

Most Jews in the United States don't believe in the God of the Bible, yet still consider themselves Jewish. How does this work? Paul will discuss how secular Jews find meaning in identity, including Humanistic Judaism as a nontheistic alternative to contemporary branches of Judaism. He will also universalize the trend to discuss the wider implications for secular and humanistic people of all backgrounds.
There are familial and cultural pulls toward tradition and history; rituals that can still enhance holidays and lifecycle events; and both benefits and pitfalls of ethnocultural identity that may continue after secularization. Must secular people reject religious tradition wholesale, or might we be throwing the baby out with the bathwater?
Paul Golin is executive director of the Society for Humanistic Judaism. For nearly two decades, Paul has helped Jewish organizations and movements better understand the key trends affecting North American Jewry, including intermarriage, engagement, disaffiliation, and inclusion. Paul’s writing has appeared in the Forward, the New York Jewish Week, Huffington Post, and elsewhere.
He co-authored the books: 20 Things for Grandparents of Interfaith Grandchildren To Do (And Not Do) To Nurture Jewish Identity In Their Grandchildren (2007) and How To Raise Jewish Children…Even When You’re Not Jewish Yourself (2010). Paul previously served as associate executive director of Big Tent Judaism/Jewish Outreach Institute where he helped pioneer and refine effective engagement techniques. Paul is the white Ashkenazi half of a “Jewpanese” (Jewish/Japanese) Jewish multiracial household. He maintains the Jewpanese page on Facebook and tweets sporadically at @paulgolin.
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