Special Praise for
I DON’T KNOW WHAT TO BELIEVE
“RABBI BEN KAMIN is a compassionate expert on spiritual inclusiveness, especially as it applies to a generation of deeply feeling yet religiously disenchanted younger people. In this refreshingly accessible guide for those seeking a place to alight, he builds a bridge between ironclad traditions and newer demographics that require flexibility. His enlightened application of ‘spiritual pragmatism’ liberates biblical characters from theological traps and makes them as real, flawed, and human as we are.”
ERIC FINGERHUT
Former US Congressman
President of Hillel International
“TO BEN KAMIN, God is not a distant rule-giver, but a creator who continues, eon after eon and day after day, to interact with humans. This book, with its lyrical prose, invites readers to connect the stories of the Bible with their own realities of today in a way few clergy have done before. Far from asking spiritual seekers to abandon the Bible or their religion’s approach to it, Rabbi Ben invites readers to consider the human realities beneath the sometimes contradictory biblical stories. The book is a wonder of reasoning tempered with love, of historical fact tempered with modern realities. For those on a spiritual path, I cannot recommend it highly enough.”
LAURA HARRISON MCBRIDE
Publisher, Muffin Dog Press, author, and award-winning journalist
“AN EXTREMELY TIMELY and insightful book written for the many people who are dissatisfied with religion but want more than strict secularism. Millennials are looking for meaning, an older population is rejecting materialism, conscious capitalism is ascending, and Pope Francis is more and more appealing as a world religious leader. Rabbi Ben Kamin has captured the old-time spiritual values hidden in scripture. This is a must-read for everyone, regardless of faith background.”
JOSEPH W. JORDAN
Consultant, speaker, and author of the best-selling book Living a Life of Significance
“RABBI BEN KAMIN’S new book is filled with hope and tolerance and a unique understanding of the original intentions of the Bible. As a survivor of four Nazi death camps, I can attest to what happens when people completely judge and humiliate others just because we have a different view, a different background, or a different understanding of God. Kamin’s book is the inspirational opposite of racism and separatism. In speaking to people around the world about religious bigotry, I have found that so many are afflicted with the need to make themselves bigger by making others smaller. Rabbi Kamin reminds us that in the eyes of God, we are all the same size and we all have equal value.”
LOU DUNST
Holocaust survivor and inspirational speaker
“THIS IS A BOOK for all those who have voted with their feet and walked away from organized religion, yet, at the same time, have a spiritual yearning to deeply connect with what is holy and sacred in the world and make meaning of their lives.”
RABBI KERRY M. OLITZKY
Executive Director, Big Tent Judaism
Author of Life’s Daily Blessings and
The Rituals & Practices of a Jewish Life
“IN A WORLD WHERE anything is possible and everything is uncertain, Ben Kamin embraces the doubts we all have about religion and emerges with faith in human attributes that reflect divinity no matter what one’s path to God. I Don’t Know What to Believe is a superb book for anyone fed up with theologies that divide and thrive on fear. Kamin takes a deep dive into the Bible and demonstrates how being human is what it means to be Godly, and how no one has a monopoly on faith.”
RABBI MICAH D. GREENSTEIN
Senior Rabbi, Temple Israel
“RABBI BEN KAMIN presents ancient texts with futuristic precision as through a high-powered telescope that peers into the past with a command to experience the deeper edges of life within and in front of humanity. A great, mesmerizing storyteller, Kamin brings the mystery of faith doctrines into the reaches of contemporary contemplation and discovery. He audaciously invites ‘believers’ to argue with God and demand justice, liberation, and salvation for every human person. Personal, cultural, and global in scope, I Don’t Know What to Believe incites our appetite to explore the essence of life and find God within the sacred existence of every human person.”
REV. DR. ART CRIBBS
Executive Director, Interfaith Movement for Human Integrity
Administrative Pastor, Los Angeles Filipino-American
United Church of Christ
Central Recovery Press (CRP) is committed to publishing exceptional materials addressing addiction treatment, recovery, and behavioral healthcare topics.
For more information, visit www.centralrecoverypress.com.
© 2016 by Ben Kamin
All rights reserved. Published 2016.
No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the written permission of the publisher.
Publisher: Central Recovery Press
3321 N. Buffalo Drive
Las Vegas, NV 89129
21 20 19 18 17 16 1 2 3 4 5
978-1-942094-05-0 (e-book)
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Kamin, Ben.
Title: I don’t know what to believe: making spiritual peace with your religion / Ben Kamin.
Description: Las Vegas: Central Recovery Press, 2016.
Identifiers: LCCN 2015040821
Subjects: LCSH: Spirituality.
Classification: LCC BL624 .K33155 2016 | DDC 204--dc23
LC record available at http://lccn.loc.gov/2015040821
Author photo taken by Photos by Solange in San Diego, CA. Used with permission.
Every attempt has been made to contact copyright holders. If copyright holders have not been properly acknowledged, please contact us. Central Recovery Press will be happy to rectify the omission in future printings of this book.
Publisher’s Note: This book contains general information about spirituality and religious traditions. Central Recovery Press books represent the experiences and opinions of their authors only. Every effort has been made to ensure that events, institutions, and statistics presented in our books as facts are accurate and up-to-date. To protect their privacy, the names of some of the people and institutions in this book may have been changed.
Cover design and interior by Marisa Jackson
TO THE MEMORY OF MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR.
“We must learn that to expect God to do everything while we do nothing is not faith but superstition.”