What makes you a Jew? ?

☭Godless Anti-Imperialist JPA✡ asked:


I’m kind of confused. What constitutes a person being a Jew? I have heard now that Messianic Jews are not Jews; I would agree completely, they’re not practicing Judaism. Yet, I hear other Jews say you cannot go from Jew to non-Jew. I have not practiced Judaism in about 5 years. I am a staunch anti-theist, in fact. My mother and father are Jewish. Their parents were/are Jews. And so on and so forth, not a single non-Jew in the family tree.

Yet, I don’t consider myself a Jew. I’m terribly confused. Is Jew an ethnicity? A religion? A culture? What is it?

For instance, I am a tremendous critic of the evangelical con-men known as Jews for Jesus, because they present themselves as Jews. Yet, I see so many Jews say that they are not Jews (I would agree, as Christianity is so far divorced from Judaism that the two cannot be reconciled or made compatible.), and then in the same token, say that if someone is born of a Jewish mother, they are Jewish for life, no matter what they do?

So are there different categories? Religious Jew? Ethnic/Cultural Jew?
What am I? A Haredi friend of mine said that I am still a Jew, although I am an apikoros; a non-believer. As a Jew who is now an atheist/hostile to religious beliefs, am I pretty much just as Jewish as the so-called Messianic Jews? I’m terribly confused.
– No, I have not affirmed another religion. I occasionally observe Shabbat dinners and High Holidays with family, friends, girlfriends/etc. for social reasons.

–Yes, I was Bar-Mitzvahed.

So, a Jew who’s converted to any other religion (i.e. Messianic Judaism (Christianity)) is an ex-Jew…but if they’re born of Jewish mothers, aren’t they still considered Jews by Halakha? Or am I mistaken?

So, I’m an atheist, does that make me an ex-Jew? Or just a Jew who is not practicing?

I have not affirmed any other religion, and out of respect for my own people and culture, I never will affirm any other religion (though I do not and will not likely ever believe in Judaism as I once did.)
I appreciate your concern, but no, I do not want to become a Christian. I do not believe there is, was, or ever will be a Messiah. I believe that’s silly.
Leia, and Kosherninja, thank you so much for your (as usual) insightful responses.

So Jewish law views atheism/secularism/agnosticism as different from Christianity/Islam/Hinduism/Buddhism?