Rise of secularism

Editor's Notes: Civility in flames - How public figures are tearing Israel apart

The rules of the game may encourage politicians and journalists to become more extreme, and a real, significant change might still be far off, but Dibur is in it for the long haul.

Hateful opinions divide Israeli society.
 Illustrative image of a bible.

Bible engagement falls below 40% among Americans, continuing a decade-long decline

HAREDI MEN protest outside the IDF recruiting office in Jerusalem.

Is secularism too seductive? Haredi youth should be allowed to serve in the IDF - opinion

 Re-CHARGING Reform Judaism conference on May 31, 2023

Awakening the secular soul: Reconnecting with Jewish heritage


70% of secular Jews in the US, 50% in Europe married to non-Jews

The issue of intermarriage, viewed as a complex reality of Jewish life, prompts questions about how communities should treat the resulting children.

 There is less holding a second marriage together (Illustrative photo of a wedding).

Can we find a compromise between religious and secular Jews? - opinion

Statistics do not lie. The reality is that the haredi sector is expanding, and will likely eventually become the majority in Israel.

 THE WRITER addresses the demonstration last Wednesday, outside the President’s Residence in Jerusalem, calling for a broad consensus.

In viral clip, French TV host asks Jewish guest why he wears a kippah in public

Though brief, the exchange illustrated the starkly different perspectives on religious expression in France, the United States and elsewhere in the western world.

A man wearing a yarmulke looks at the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin.

Secularists are cultural elites who despise faith - opinion

America today is engulfed in a culture war between those who believe that religion is backward and primitive and those who understand that faith in God is the foundation of American democracy.

New York City police officers block hassidic men from entering a synagogue, closed due to COVID-19, in Brooklyn, in March 2020.

The fall of universalism and the religion of secularism's rise

The European “secular religion” is missionary, aggressive and exclusive and “mono-atheistic.” It also doesn't work.

 GIVAT HAMATOS residents argue with left-wing activists during a protest of EU  representatives’ visit near Peace Now activities in the neighborhood, in Jerusalem,  November 16.

The trouble with a secular world without religious tradition

A Gallup poll reveals that fewer than half of Americans reported belonging to a house of worship. America, the most religious of Western countries, is losing its religion.

 Rabbi Jonathan Sacks laughs during a news conference after being awarded the 2016 Templeton Prize in London

Middle Israel: The three faces of Israeli secularism

Israel's Education minister Rafi Peretz

Unity is not about uniformity

A young Jewish leader’s vision on communal challenges.

A secular and religious Jew walk arm in arm as a celebration of Jewish unity

300,000 good deeds contribute to dedication of Torah in Jerusalem school

The new Torah scroll was written within the framework of Jerusalem50, a unique project initiated conjunctively by the Afikim Foundation and Orot.

The Israel Goldstein Youth Village (Havat Ha'Noar Ha’Tzioni) celebrating the inauguration of a Torah scroll written thanks to over 300,000 good deeds of Jews from Israel and abroad

The traditional Haggada and the non-believing Jew

It is perhaps the traditional Haggada that is most welcoming to the Jew who questions Jewish belief.

A Passover Seder

Religious and secular Israelis band together for Hanukka cheer

Hinam launches joint lighting ceremonies around the country

Hanukka