Philosophy and the Good Life: an Against the Grain collection 05.16.21 By C.S. Soong Atheism and the Secular Life ListenDownload Joseph Levine grew up in an Orthodox Jewish household and later became an atheist. The UMAss Amherst professor wrote about his journey in the volume “Philosophers Without Gods: Meditations on Atheism and the Secular Life.” (December 20, 2010)