re: #84 marjoriemoon

After the Holocaust, a lot of Jews turned atheist, including many members of that generation in my family - maybe even all, but Judaism is complex as far as there is The Word, but also the culture. My grandfather, born in 1902 in Poland and witnessed a lot of evil acts himself, confessed to me that he didn’t believe in God, but yet he said all the prayers at the family gatherings. So to whom was he praying? I concluded that he didn’t so much disbelieve as he was angry.

That’s an unfortunate theme among believers, however it isn’t accurate. Atheists are atheists, they aren’t believers angry at god. It is very difficult to get mad at the tooth fairy, Santa Claus, leprachauns and god when they are all viewed as fairy tales.

Your grandfather was likely not praying but going through the motions to show his respect for the beliefs of his family.