Sami Michael - On Religion, Secularism, and Judaism

On Religion, Secularism, and Judaism

Sami Michael defines himself first of all as a Jew and only secondly as an Israeli. He comes from a secular Jewish family in Baghdad. "In the Jewish community in Iraq we lived in harmony, almost absolute between the religious and the secular. In Israel I demand the religious to respect my secularity. I have a personal permit to talk with my own personal god. For this I do not need the rabbinate." –Unbounded Ideas

Michael, an atheist, wrote on Judaism: "The Jewish religion is somewhat like a covenant between the people and godly justice, and at the same time constitutes a treaty of brotherhood and solidarity between people. Judaism has taken a dangerous route with the last generation in Israel). From within it an unbending nationalistic leadership has arisen that strives tirelessly to recruit the faith for clearly political goals. This leadership schemes to destroy the humane, spiritual side of the religion and use it as a weapon of war. Regrettably, this tendency is intensifying. In these times, Judaism, as a religion, is in desperate need of redemption. I had always thought that Judaism is a religion of compassion and grace, benevolence and of progress and freedom. Judaism is a religion where, at its very center, stands above all else the human being as a holy and superior entity. Life, all life, is supreme, even above good deeds and religious obligations. If freedom has meaning then mere attempts to free Judaism from its chains will be likened to a miracle.

"The marriage between politics and religion is the most destructive marriage that could be, both to the state and to the religion. This marriage has brought corruption of the Jewish religion in Israel. You can see, for example, a rabbi who goes round with a pistol or an Uzi, and, in his opinion, he has the right to murder and kill without any judgment or judge, like Rabbi Moshe Levinger. Judaism originally is a religion of life, but here in Israel an elite of black suited men has been formed. The Jewish religion of every generation was never involved in the government and its intrigues. Joining the coalition since the beginning of the founding of the state and until today has ruined the religious establishment.

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"If you define secularism according to the level of your struggle against the symbols of the religion, you become religious. I do not define my secularism by anti religious dimensions. I am not anti religious like the 'orthodox secular' in Israel who does not ask questions and who is just left with a shallow puddle of anti religiosity and in which he wallows. The highest degree of secularism is when a person becomes skeptic. The true secular has a daily dialogue between him and himself with questions about the creation, his relationship with his surroundings, and his relationship between him and other people in general. –Unbounded Ideas