Jewish Atheist has tagged my with a meme which may or may not be called the "Atheist 13". Let's dive in.

Q1. How would you define “atheism”?

Any omnipotent deity would have to be less moral than I am. That is too frightening a concept to accept.

Q2. Was your upbringing religious? If so, what tradition?

I grew up an ambiguous Jew. Family non observant but I did have a Bar mitvah. In college became fascinated by the origins of religion.

Q3. How would you describe “Intelligent Design”, using only one word?

a meaningless term.

Q4. What scientific endeavor really excites you?

Cosmology and evolution.

Q5. If you could change one thing about the “atheist community”, what would it be and why?

Most American atheism is defined more by its rejection of Christianity than by affirmation of any beleifs in man. That makes American atheism distateful for a Jew and inappropriately weak when dealing with ehtical and moral challenges.

Q6. If your child came up to you and said “I’m joining the clergy”, what would be your first response?

Fine by me .. as long as "clergy" here meant becomong a Rabbi. I beleive Judaism offers something far more valuable than Christianity and would be upset by a conversion.

Q7. What’s your favorite theistic argument, and how do you usually refute it?

Theists confuse two "gods." One might be called the first cause .. the idea that there mustr be a force or peronality underlying our relaity. I have no problem with that idea as long as it is stated as a hypotheisis rathger than a fact. In soe ways I subscribe to this idea.

The other is the idea that God is good. What should there be any connection between a creator and an ongoing force for good? This makes no sense. Moreover, it is obvious that the world is less than perfectly good.

Q8. What’s your most “controversial” (as far as general attitudes amongst other atheists goes) viewpoint?

Unfortunately for Jews, most American or European atheists base their beliefs on a dispute with Christianity. There not being a Christian God has little to do with there not being a jewish God as Jesus and Hashem are very different concepts.

At the same time, the term "atheism" itself is implicitly negative. Why should thjis be? Most atheeists I have met are profoundly committed to a moral life. THAT is, to me, the major argument for balancing the word atheirst with the word Jew. Judaism has a wonderful, long tradtion of ethics existing in and off its own right. One casn belong to the tradtion of Hillel, Akiba, Maimonides, Spinoza, Alinsky without ascribing to the relaity of a Deity.

Q9. Of the “Four Horsemen” (Dawkins, Dennett, Hitchens and Harris) who is your favorite, and why?

None of these. They all seem to me to be Christians in rebellion against their religion rather than true atheists. I am closer to Siddartha Gautam than to Dawkins.

Since, for me, the central tenets of ewish atheism is that Law exists in and off its own essence, I see athesim as a positive force. In re Christinaity, it is entirely possible for soenone to be a devout beliver in a Christian Deity whose devotion to deistic sacrifice is a surce of morality. I have no problem with respecting that POV esp,. because it mo5tivated many good people ..Chavez, John the XXIII, MLK, etc.

Q10. If you could convince just one theistic person to abandon their beliefs, who would it be?

The current Pope, His belief in ONE TRUTH is very dangerous.

Now name three other atheist blogs that you’d like to see take up the Atheist Thirteen gauntlet:

Not sure I know enough about other blogs to make a comment.