Bernie Sanders just came reeeeeeally close to coming out as an non-believer

[rug]

10/23/15 12:45pm
by Jon Green

Bernie Sanders is Jewish the same way I’m Jewish: emphasis on the ish. As the New Yorker reported in their October 12 issue, Sanders values his Jewish heritage, “less for the religious content than for the sense it imbued in him that politics mattered.” So while he still identifies as Jewish when asked, and his Jewish heritage has in many ways informed his political identity, he isn’t all that observant. And in an appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Wednesday night, Sanders gave his clearest indication yet that, if elected, he would be both our first Jewish and first non-believing president (and no, those identities are not mutually exclusive):

When asked about his electability, Sanders dropped a “God forbid” at the prospect of a Republican victory in the general election — a line that drew an applause break from the audience. But when Sanders finished answering the question, Kimmel used it as a followup, asking Sanders if he believed in God, or if his “God forbid” was ironic given “culturally Jewish” identity.

Rather than answering that question head-on, Sanders pivoted to an ecumenical case for reducing economic inequality, referencing his “spirituality” instead of his “faith”:

I am who I am and what I believe in and what my spirituality is about is that we’re all in this together. That I think it is not a good thing to believe that as human beings we can turn our backs on the suffering of other people. This is not Judaism — this is what Pope Francis is talking about — that we cannot worship just billionaires and the making of more and more money. Life is more than that.

It didn’t take very long for conservative media sites, such as The Blaze, to read between those lines: Sanders may have just outed himself as a non-believer.

http://americablog.com/2015/10/bernie-sanders-just-came-reeeeeeally-close-to-coming-out-as-an-non-believer.html

[Yorktown]

1. Sanders neatly pointed out being 'Jewish' has no real meaning

There is no consensus as to the definition of what makes someone a Jew.

There is now a half Korean she-rabbi in Israel.

Was she part of the group the Bible says was promised the land of Israel as a birthright?

Time and information are busting the religious myths like sledgehammers.

[Jester Messiah]

12. Just FYI, you survived an alert.

Juror #1 voted to HIDE IT
Explanation: A comment about someone's religion turned into an anti-seminate remark, imo.
Juror #2 voted to LEAVE IT ALONE
Explanation: Poster is correct on the facts. The truth is an absolute defense.
Juror #3 voted to HIDE IT
Explanation: No explanation given
Juror #4 voted to LEAVE IT ALONE
Explanation: No explanation given
Juror #5 voted to LEAVE IT ALONE
Explanation: No explanation given
Juror #6 voted to LEAVE IT ALONE
Explanation: No explanation given
Juror #7 voted to HIDE IT
Explanation: AT first I left it but on second thought I'm not so sure it's innocently clueless.

[Yorktown]

14. Thanks. But how desperate defenders of religious superstitions are..

My post was polite and factual. Just the facts, Ma'am, and one gets alerted upon?

Smacks of desperation.

[rug]

15. Jurora 1 and 7 are insightful.

I take it you are juror 2.

[LuvNewcastle]

2. I saw that interview the other night,

and he did come close to saying that he wasn't a believer. I don't think that non-belief would hurt him much with younger voters, but it could affect how much support he gets from older voters. Some Americans are even more afraid of atheists than they are of socialists. Someone is going to pin him down on it eventually, and it'll be interesting to see the reactions.

[murielm99]

3. I wish he could just tell people that

his beliefs are his own private, personal business.

Maybe it is time someone said that.

[erlewyne]

10. He's like me .... I know

Believing is Santa stuff.

Jesus knew.

[upaloopa]

4. "All in this together" is like the Buddhist idea of being one with everything if he includes all

living beings and all of nature,

[Bernblu]

6. His ideas are derived from a universalistic movement within Judaism

His ideas are Jewish and like many Jews he may not be aware of it. His ideas are derived from the Jewish mystical traditional (aka known as Kabbalah) that had a profound influence on Jewish culture and thought. In modern times, this tradition began to express itself in more universalistic forms and many non-religious Jews express this in the form of Tikkun Olam, "the repair of the world." The kabbalists, though deeply religious, had concepts of God that were considered heretical and bordering on atheistic by the more literal religious authorities. So, just because Sanders may not experience or relate to God as a personal being the way most Americans say they do does not mean he is not spiritual.

[rug]

11. You might be on to something.

Welxome to DU.

[MisterP]

16. it's unabashedly "theoretical physics for theology"

(and apparently you can make calves with it by rewriting reality)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sefer_Yetzirah

[Ed Suspicious]

7. My World Religions professor, Dr. Shay Pilnik from Israel explained that the label of Jew both

describes a religion and an ethnicity. "and no, those identities are not mutually exclusive"

http://www.jewishchronicle.org/article.php?article_id=15195

[jtuck004]

8. "Sanders may have just outed himself as a non-believer" < He did. He doesn't believe making

the wealthy richer on our labor, the policy we have been following for most of the past 35 or so years, is an acceptable policy.

I'm a non-believer in that as well.

He didn't answer the question head on because they need to eat before they can worry about going to church or anywhere else. He's not one who is more about image.

[thesquanderer]

9. A lot of people think socialists are also athesits to begin with.

And there is some basis for that, depending on the flavor of socilaism you're looking at.

[Jester Messiah]

13. They both spring from a common root...

of not believing in bullshit.