There is an interesting question suggested by Rabbi Micha Berger in a comment to another post. What is the ultimate motivation for dropping religious observance? Is it because of unanswered questions of faith leading one to intellectually dropping belief or is the real motivating factor an emotional state? Rabbi Berger says the following:
The difference between willing to live with a question, looking for an answer, and deciding the question disproves the whole, is almost always emotional state. That's true for people who leave, and true for people who fall in love with the experience of Shabbos.
This of course brings up the greater question of not only why do some people leave observance, but why do other people enter.
I agree with Rabbi Berger that emotional states are probably most often the genesis of a for search truth that may lead one away from observance. But that state may not be the precipitating factor. My hunch is that one does not necessarily leave because of emotional state but because of the unanswered contradictions between doctrinal faith and nature they found in a search for truth generated by it. The emotional state may then influence the decision to leave instead of staying and living with unanswered questions
This a key difference between many believers who see the same contradictions and have the same questions as those of former believers who are now atheists.
The former will have questions about both the state of the beliefs with which he has been indoctrinated but he will equally have questions about the validity of non belief which in and of itself raises many unanswered questions. He will stay with his former belief system and as a sort of why not? There is evidence for both… and lack of proof for both. Why not maintain one’s belief system that has so much going for it even though one may have serious questions about it.
The latter will maintain that... a) since being religious made them unhappy and… b) the questions are legitimate enough to raise serious doubt... why not utilize the scientific method? In other words, why believe in something that can't be proven and whose doctrines are so full of holes? They just assume the null hypothesis: if it cannot be proven in a laboratory assume it doesn't exist.
But what about the intellectual Baal Teshuva or the intellectual convert who searches for truth and finds it in the Torah? How does he or she come about it? What convinces them?
I’m not sure of the answer to that. But here too I think the intellectual search for truth begins with an emotional state of discomfort in one’s present. But it is the intellectual satisfaction that this person is looking for. The emotional satisfaction is important but secondary to such a person.
It may be that the truth sincere converts and Baalei Teshuva like these seek, is not found solely in the realm of reason. They of course do utilize reason but only as one tool in trying to find it. Those who find the truth of Torah utilize reason, emotion, learning, history and experience in reaching the lofty stage of becoming a Baal Teshuva.
The bottom line then is a complex thought process which combines both elements of emotionalism and questions raised in a search for truth. I wonder if converts, Baalei Teshuva, and former believers who are now atheists can corroborate any of the above?
I would add the following. I tend to believe that many… perhaps most cases of converts, Baalei Teshuva, and dropouts make that change because of primarily emotional reasons. It is not necessarily due to a search for truth, although that may be a part of it. It is entirely emotional for the majority. I believe that in most cases people who change do so because they are unhappy or unfulfilled with their present lives. This is not to say they are running away from an unbearable past in all cases. Although that may be true for some. It is to say that there is a feeling of something missing that is so strong that it warrants a life altering decision.
The question then becomes, did that decision actually affect the happiness or fulfillment one was looking for? Is the convert now happier and more fulfilled than before? What about the atheist …or just someone who drops observance without becoming an outright atheist? Does their response to unanswered questions now make them happier or feel more fulfilled? Are they satisfied that that have made the right decision in dropping observance?
Then there is the question of the relatively new phenomenon of Atheists who maintain a religious lifestyle. How do they fit into the equation? These are legitimate questions that I think might get different responses from people who have gone through the process of either dropping out or becoming an observant Jew.
