Jewish atheism

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Jewish atheism^[1] is the atheism of people who are ethnically and (at least to some extent) culturally Jewish.

"Jewish atheism" is not a contradiction^[2] because Jewish identity encompasses not only religious components but also, and for most Jews mainly, ethnic and cultural ones. Jewish law's emphasis on descent through the mother means that even religiously conservative Orthodox Jewish authorities would accept an atheist born to a Jewish mother as fully Jewish.^[3]

Jewish secularism, which describes Jews who do not explicitly reject God's existence but also do not believe it is an important part of their Jewishness, has a long tradition in the United States.^[4]