Well, you can be as suspicious as you wish, of course.
And, sure, if I agreed with you that cultural affiliation was contingent on belief—for example, if I agreed that to be Jewish I must embrace whatever theological beliefs are consensually held among Jewish theologians (supposing that there are any, and that I could figure out what beliefs they were)… or at least embrace only theological beliefs that are held by some Jewish theologians (though there’s a circularity there… who counts as a Jewish theologian, after all?), or… well, to be honest, I’m not actually sure what beliefs you’re saying I need to embrace in order to genuinely be Jewish, but regardless, if I agreed with you that there were some beliefs that fell into this category, then it would follow that when I stop believing those beliefs (whatever they are), it follows that I’m no longer Jewish.
But I don’t in fact agree with that—in fact, as above, I’m not sure it’s even coherent enough to disagree with.
Just to make this more concrete: I don’t believe, for example, that the universe was deliberately created by anything remotely person-like, nor that any such entity (supposing I were wrong about that first belief) shares in any singular sense identity with whatever entity or entities provided to early Jews the laws and tribal history currently known as the Torah, nor that those entities have any relationship worth mentioning to do with what happens to me upon my death.
If (as I suspect) you consider Judaism to be contingent on those beliefs, you would conclude that I’m not Jewish, and I would disagree.
Also: you seem to be saying, in addition, that I’m mistaken if I respond to expressed disrespect of Jewish cultural icons as though it were my culture being disrespected (for example, by being offended). I’m not quite sure that’s true, either, leaving aside the whole question of whether it actually is my culture.
I am in no sense a Canadian, for example, but I’m not sure I’d be mistaken if I respond to expressed disrespect of Canadian cultural icons as though it were my culture being disrespected (for example, by being offended on their behalf).
I don’t believe, for example, that the universe was deliberately created by anything remotely person-like, nor that any such entity (supposing I were wrong about that first belief) shares in any singular sense identity with whatever entity or entities provided to early Jews the laws and tribal history currently known as the Torah, nor that those entities have any relationship worth mentioning to do with what happens to me upon my death.
If (as I suspect) you consider Judaism to be contingent on those beliefs, you would conclude that I’m not Jewish
More specifically, what I would conclude is that your self-identification as “Jewish” (rather than “of Jewish parentage”) is a misguided effort to continue affiliating with a tribe that you’re used to belonging to, but that you would never have joined in the first place had you had your current beliefs at the time of joining and had you been taking them into account in deciding which tribe to join; and if, for example, it turned out that you were avoiding the use of electric lights on Saturdays, I would have no hesitation in labeling such behavior as irrational, even silly—and I would be entirely unsympathetic to the extent I viewed the behavior as a tribal affiliation signal rather than, say, a psychological compulsion (which I can understand and relate to).
I am in no sense a Canadian, for example, but I’m not sure I’d be mistaken if I respond to expressed disrespect of Canadian cultural icons as though it were my culture being disrespected (for example, by being offended on their behalf).
In all honesty, I would tend to view that with suspicion also—my instinctive perception would be of an obsequious attempt to curry favor with Canadians. This perception could be overridden, of course, depending on the circumstances; but I would sympathize with disapproval on the part of a non-Canadian more than offense per se.
Mostly, I think the place I disagree with you is that you see the beliefs as primary and the tribal membership as contingent on beliefs, at least when it comes to Judaism, and I see them as largely unrelated.
That is, I no more decided to be Jewish on the basis of religious beliefs than I decided to be American on the basis of national beliefs, and being Jewish no more constrains my Saturday activities than being Hispanic does. They are all affiliations I was born into and choose to endorse, despite not practicing them in traditional ways.
Well, you can be as suspicious as you wish, of course.
And, sure, if I agreed with you that cultural affiliation was contingent on belief—for example, if I agreed that to be Jewish I must embrace whatever theological beliefs are consensually held among Jewish theologians (supposing that there are any, and that I could figure out what beliefs they were)… or at least embrace only theological beliefs that are held by some Jewish theologians (though there’s a circularity there… who counts as a Jewish theologian, after all?), or… well, to be honest, I’m not actually sure what beliefs you’re saying I need to embrace in order to genuinely be Jewish, but regardless, if I agreed with you that there were some beliefs that fell into this category, then it would follow that when I stop believing those beliefs (whatever they are), it follows that I’m no longer Jewish.
But I don’t in fact agree with that—in fact, as above, I’m not sure it’s even coherent enough to disagree with.
Just to make this more concrete: I don’t believe, for example, that the universe was deliberately created by anything remotely person-like, nor that any such entity (supposing I were wrong about that first belief) shares in any singular sense identity with whatever entity or entities provided to early Jews the laws and tribal history currently known as the Torah, nor that those entities have any relationship worth mentioning to do with what happens to me upon my death.
If (as I suspect) you consider Judaism to be contingent on those beliefs, you would conclude that I’m not Jewish, and I would disagree.
Also: you seem to be saying, in addition, that I’m mistaken if I respond to expressed disrespect of Jewish cultural icons as though it were my culture being disrespected (for example, by being offended). I’m not quite sure that’s true, either, leaving aside the whole question of whether it actually is my culture.
I am in no sense a Canadian, for example, but I’m not sure I’d be mistaken if I respond to expressed disrespect of Canadian cultural icons as though it were my culture being disrespected (for example, by being offended on their behalf).
More specifically, what I would conclude is that your self-identification as “Jewish” (rather than “of Jewish parentage”) is a misguided effort to continue affiliating with a tribe that you’re used to belonging to, but that you would never have joined in the first place had you had your current beliefs at the time of joining and had you been taking them into account in deciding which tribe to join; and if, for example, it turned out that you were avoiding the use of electric lights on Saturdays, I would have no hesitation in labeling such behavior as irrational, even silly—and I would be entirely unsympathetic to the extent I viewed the behavior as a tribal affiliation signal rather than, say, a psychological compulsion (which I can understand and relate to).
In all honesty, I would tend to view that with suspicion also—my instinctive perception would be of an obsequious attempt to curry favor with Canadians. This perception could be overridden, of course, depending on the circumstances; but I would sympathize with disapproval on the part of a non-Canadian more than offense per se.
Mostly, I think the place I disagree with you is that you see the beliefs as primary and the tribal membership as contingent on beliefs, at least when it comes to Judaism, and I see them as largely unrelated.
That is, I no more decided to be Jewish on the basis of religious beliefs than I decided to be American on the basis of national beliefs, and being Jewish no more constrains my Saturday activities than being Hispanic does. They are all affiliations I was born into and choose to endorse, despite not practicing them in traditional ways.