Can you still be Jewish if you don’t believe in God? For more than 60 years, a denomination of American Jewry has replaced theistic worship with a humanistic philosophy of life, celebrating Jewish holidays, lifecycle events, ritual, culture, food, and more, without reference to the supernatural. Learn about it with Paul Golin, executive director of the national organization of Humanistic Judaism.
Paul Golin is executive director of the Society for Humanistic Judaism, the community-organizing umbrella of a 60-year-old congregational denomination of American Jewry. He also serves as lead staff for SHJ’s pluralistic social justice initiative, Jews for a Secular Democracy, mobilizing Jewish voices to defend the separation of religion and government. Paul is a writer, speaker, advocate, and consultant on issues including secularity, intermarriage, disaffiliation, and inclusion. He co-authored two books and his writing has appeared in the Forward, Jewish Week, Huffington Post, and elsewhere. He is the white Ashkenazi half of a “Jewpanese” (Jewish/Japanese) multiracial household and administers the Jewpanese page on Facebook.