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But jstone78 made the point -- which I believe is correct -- that a "Jew" can be an atheist, and nevertheless be accepted as a Jew, whereas a "Jew" who accepts Christianity is not accepted as a Jew. Is it really true that belief in God is not a main tenet of Judaism in the same way that belief that the Messiah has not yet come is? If true, it does seem mighty peculiar.

Well, the first thing that you need to understand Jews, is that if there are 4 Jews in a room, you'll typically have at least 5 views on any given topic!

Seriously, there are different "types" of Jews, for lack of a better term. There are Orthodox, Conservative, and Reform. However, the are subdivisions of those as well, and it's rare that they can agree on anything! For instance, there are some Ultra-Orthodox who refuse to accept converts as Jews, unless they went through their conversion under the supervision of Orthodox Rabbis, which actually threatened support of Israel from Conservative and Reform Jews!

There IS a basic tennant that is a child is born to an intermarried couple, that the child is considered Jewish if the mother is Jewish, but not the father. The reverse is NOT true. The reason being that the mother is responsible for raising the child. Depending on who you talk to, that child may or may not be considered Jewish. Even if he was raised Christian, Moselem, Hindu, etc...

There are a lot of different view on what exactly makes a Jew, and luckily, there IS a congregation that will accept you, if you just look for it.

If you deny the existance of G-d, I doubt that you'd be accepted into an Orthodox or Conservative congregation, if you voiced those opinions. On the other hand, a Reform temple might accept one who voiced those views, although for the life of me, I can't understand why someone who denies the existance of G-d would go to services!

Mark

although for the life of me, I can't understand why someone who denies the existance of G-d would go to services!

One might ask what goes on in these services, however. Similar to the way many Methodist churches have gotten dumbed down to a social and self spirituality gospel.

My supervisor at work once talked about her friendship with a "reformed" Jew I believe she said. The father was a Jew, his wife a Christian, and my supervisor explained that as the child of a Jew their children were Jews. I, being a smartass, said no, only if the mother is a Jew are the children Jews. She told me that "reformed" Jews don't accept that any longer. Well, what do I know? But the Bible is clear that children of Jewish mothers are Jews.

I've always thought that one of the most beautiful gifts of God....every child born of Jewish mothers is totally treasured and blest! It certainly elevated the status and protections of both women and children long before Western Civilization matured enough to follow this pattern!