1) EVERYONE in this thread who isn't defensively yelling "that's not true" is using that term. 2) We are describing an incredibly simple phenomenon 3) It's not ABOUT whether you believe in God. It's about whether you define "religion" based on a Christian understand of what that entails.
I do not know a single atheist who defines religion based solely on the Christian understanding of what that means. My understanding of religion draws on experience of multiple faith communities including Hindu and Buddhist.
"I do not know a single atheist....". Literally. On this thread. There are people who are athiests who can not believe that belief in God is not essential to being a Jew - and are telling us that we are wrong about that.
I believe Jonathan Miller even made jokes about it. It’s an old, old problem.
That’s a simple and common misunderstanding - the elision of Jewish, the ethnicity, with Jewish, the religion. I learned that in school half a century ago. It’s nothing to do with Christianity, it’s a simple category error complicated by the two things having the same name.
You are just wrong. Arrogantly and ignorantly wrong your “common misunderstanding” IS PRECISELY THE POINT. What you learned 50 years ago is a Christian understanding of Judaism, not a Jewish one
Ways you managed to be wrong: 1. Assuming a Christian taught me about Judaism / Jewishness, rather than a reform rabbi. 2. Assuming I was not an atheist from birth.
Or you are wrong. But that could never happen, right?