Why do Jews who are Atheists Enjoy Jewish Rituals

I have relatives who are Jews as well as friends. I've never asked any of them directly, "Do you believe a God exists?" but I've often wondered. One told me he lost his interest in the faith while he was in high school because memorizing huge amounts of material took too much of his time. Yet today he observes many rituals of the faith.

Anyone interested in the generic question, "What role does 'faith' play in my life if I don't believe there is a god" might enjoy reading this link. It is an interview with about ten people who refer to themselves as Jews but are atheists or agnostics. I saw in their responses to questions like "Do you pray?" parts of my Jewish friends and relatives. Like Christians, their answers to the question, "Do you pray?" was varied. Some pray though they do not believe there is a God or gods. Others never pray. 

Several joked that even though they pray, they know the act of praying is always, "Beg, beg, flatter, flatter, beg, beg, flatter, flatter."  Christian and Jewish prayers are the same. 

The interview never refers the group of atheist Jews as "cultural Jews' as is done often in the media. If seems to me, however, there is a uniform recognition that their linage is different than the society they were born into and this outside status is something that links them together. As one of them put in (paraphrasing), "It's like a group was sitting around a campfire and figuring out how to carry on their lives. They concluded they had to stay together as a group. Then they decided the force of the group was God. So they said there was a God."

Even in Israel today, where Zionists are said to run the government, there are lots of atheist Jews. A couple I know who have lived there for several decades do not seem very interested in religion. Their interest in moving from the U.S. to Israel stemmed from their belief a better society could be built from common ownership and reward. They do not like the constant turmoil over territorial disputes. 

To me the atheist Jews interviewed reflected healthy long views of generations past and those to come. They are different from the narrower Christian preoccupation with the afterlife.