Step 10: Get on with your life

I have signed the pledge to pay £5 towards the campaign to put an atheist advert on the side of a London bus. We need 4,678 people in total to pay £5 to put an atheist ad on the side of a London bus for a fortnight, and so far 90 people have signed up. The deadline for signups is 31st July, and you can also do it through Facebook.

You might think it slightly odd that a Jewish person is supporting atheist advertising. I believe in G-d, I pray, I observe festivals and all that jazz. Herein lies one of the fundamental differences between Jews and Christians - Jews don't proselytise. You wouldn't see Jewish adverts on a bus, because we don't actively seek converts. Converts are welcomed, but it's not just a case of saying "I'm a Jew now"; there's due process and it takes a good while, usually a year or two. Halachically [according to Jewish law], I'm not a Jew yet, mainly because there is no synagogue in the city I live in and I can't travel to Manchester every week to attend synagogue and conversion classes. I call myself Jewish not because I have forgotten about formal conversion, but because it's easier than having to explain to every single person who asks about my religion the term 'righteous Gentile' (especially with the English connotations of those words) and about the system for converting to Judaism and all the specific requirements and the time and effort involved in the process, and because I fully intend to complete the conversion course as soon as I am within reasonable distance of a synagogue or I have the energy and money to travel on a regular basis. I'm sure G-d understands.

Another important feature of Judaism is that we don't proselytise, and we don't want people proselytising to us either. Christians are notorious for this, and there are even some groups like Jews for Jesus aimed specifically at converting Jews to Christianity. This doesn't go down well. I also like the proposed text - "there's probably no G-d, now stop worrying and get on with your lives". In a strange way, it encompasses the spirit of Judaism. Don't spend all your time worrying about what's going to happen after you die, because nobody really knows and you'll just waste your life worrying about your death. Live your life! Focus on what's happening now rather than what might hypothetically happen in the future. If you live a good life, chances are you'll enjoy a good afterlife. It could also be interpreted as having some reference to tikkun olam - repairing the world. The Jewish people are called to repair the world and prepare it for the coming of the Messiah (again, the term 'Messiah' has very different connotations in Hebrew and modern-day English). You can't really work on making the world a better place if all your concern lies in your own afterlife.

And lastly, I like this because it pokes fun at the whole concept of religious advertising. Any worthwhile religion can stand to have a little fun poked at it now and then. Jews poke fun at themselves all the time - in my shul [synagogue] the rabbi tells a couple of jokes at the end of every Shabbat [Sabbath] service, to lighten the mood and make people smile as they go off to continue observing and celebrating Shabbat. These jokes often mock Jewish stereotypes, and everyone laughs at them because all stereotypes are a gross over-exaggeration with a grain of truth in them. It reminds us not to take ourselves too seriously. Our society perpetrates the myth that nothing can be said against religion, even in jest, and this causes people to be utterly humourless about religion, thus they view it as boring and don't engage with it, and somebody might never get a chance to know G-d because they only see books of rules with no life and spirit rather than seeing how people who have G-d in their lives live and why it makes a difference to them.

Again, my concerns about people not knowing G-d aren't based in a fear of eternal hellfire and damnation. Hell, in terms of a physical place with guys in red pyjamas sticking pitchforks in your butt, is a Christian concept, not a Jewish one. I would like people to see if G-d enriches their lives, and if they don't feel He does, then that's cool too. As long as you're a good person, you will have a place in Olam Ha-Ba [the world to come]. Being a good person isn't about belief or religion or any specific code - it's about helping others and trying to be the best person you can, and contribute to society in both an immediate and wider sense. My concerns are for this world, this life, and if that can be sorted then the subsequent time frame will work itself out.