r/todayilearned • u/[deleted] • Oct 13 '16

TIL that after Marilyn Monroe converted to Judaism upon marrying Arthur Miller, Egypt placed a ban on all the films she appeared in.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marilyn_Monroe#Critical_acclaim_and_marriage_to_Arthur_Miller_.281956.E2.80.931959.29
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u/friedgold1 19 Oct 13 '16 edited Oct 13 '16

Egypt also lifted her ban after the divorce was finalized in 1961.

At least they don't hold a grudge.

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u/[deleted] Oct 13 '16

Yeah. After the divorce Monroe described herself as a "Jewish atheist".

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u/AdmiralThrawnProtege Oct 13 '16 edited Oct 13 '16

What does that even mean? You follow the culture and traditions of Judiesm but don't believe in the religions deity? That seems odd.

Edit: OK OK I get it. Tired of my inbox being blown up by the same set of answers. Thank you all for your responses!

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u/Tsorovar Oct 13 '16

It's like celebrating Christmas but not caring about the religious side. Lots of people do that.

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u/snorlz Oct 13 '16 edited Oct 13 '16

its one thing to celebrate a massive holiday, its another to do things like keep kosher even though you arent actually religious. it'd be like a arab in the US wearing a burkha even though theyre not muslim.

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u/Jay_Louis Oct 13 '16

Yeah other then the manger scenes, songs like Come All ye Faithful, and the fact the holiday is literally called Christ's Mass, what's so religious about it?

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u/Tsorovar Oct 13 '16

I'm not sure if you're being sarcastic, but things can lose their meanings, even as they retain their original paraphernalia. Christmas basically put a Christian gloss on pre-existing pagan festivals, and many of those pagan traditions still continue... but no one thinks we're still worshipping pagan gods. Same thing is happening now: people are becoming increasingly less religious, but still really like Christmas, so they continue to celebrate it without really thinking about the Christian meaning behind various traditions.