Nothing new for us in this article, but nice to see it in print as a topic that is still worth debunking in today's crazy world. One of the more interesting things I have learnt about quite a few Jews over the years is that they are also atheists, but they practice their religion as a part of their culture. Being Jewish is grounded in the Bible, especially the old testament, so it makes some sense that through their persecution by innumerable cultures throughout the centuries, the Jewish religion and faith has kept them together and given them hope to move forward against extraordinary odds. Obviously for me, I don't give two hoots for their religion, but I can't help but be impressed by their culture. Anyone else?
shame they treat the palestinians the way the germans [ and some poles] treated them in Warsaw in '44
Speaking as a (nominally) Jewish member here, I an say there's no requirement to believe any of the stories in the Tanach, only to follow the laws. And just for the record, a close read of the law in toto and in context shows it to be a pretty handy paradigm for a Bronze II / Iron I culture to not get demolished by plague, famine, and assorted other bad stuff. The general underlying principle is that happiness among the people is correlated to the level of empathy in a society. Of course, none of the rules require a deity of any kind to have written them.