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World Population - Religion


No wonder our forum is so quiet!

Wow - 0.2%? I always thought it was more like 2%. I thought we were having this discussion before and it was higher? Is the number dropping over time?

you have to also consider the number is only practicing jews. Doens't include those secular jews and our number wopuld be higher i know ;0)

in the US we are according to those stats 2.069% of the population

Actually, I think this includes non-practicing Jews. Though, I don't know how they'd collect the stats. I saw some statistic somewhere claiming ALL Jews to have been counted....

but, then again, if you're not practicing, are you Jewish?
If you're a Jewish person born to a non-Jewish mother, would you be counted?

Who is doing the counting? Who decides how to count?

That's a very good question - it's treating Jewishness as a "race" rather than as a religion. I would have to say if someone was born to Jewish parents but chooses not to practice the Jewish faith that they shouldn't be counted in a "religions of the world" summary as Jewish. If it was a "races of the world" and they wanted to say they were of Jewish ethnic background, then that would seem kosher to me

When someone converts to Judaism, it is as though they were never non-Jewish. They, too, were at Mount Sinai when the Jews received the Torah.

Yet, from a traditional perspective, that person would have had to have an orthodox conversion. Likewise, I would assume from that perspective, even if you were born Jewish but aren't practicing, you are still Jewish.

If my child attends Jewish day school and meets a young girl there who he wants to marry, what do I do if that person's mom is a convert who did not convert in an orthodox setting? This family is sending their child to a Jewish school, they are a practicing Jewish family.... yet, there are some people who would not consider the child to be Jewish.

It is a complex topic that just goes deeper and deeper.

very much so Lisa ;0)

As my Rabbi (reform) says... a jew is a jew is a jew is a jew!

The thing is every person should only be counted once.

For a religious poll, if someone was born to Jewish parents but is an active Christian and goes to church, they should get one check in the "Christian" box. They shouldn't count once as a Christian and once as a Jewish person. And counting them as a Jewish person doesn't seem to make sense, since the point of those polls is to see who is actively following what faith's path.

I suppose it's similar to doing a race poll and asking someone "what race are you". They should only count in one box. So if they are half African American and half Chinese, they need to choose one. Either that, or they should have the poll allow half check boxes, that then add up to one.

thats where you and I differ Lisa. I am one of those people who don't fit nicely into a little box. I am Half Puerto Rican and the other half consists of Irish Scott Welsh (so northern euro). When I am asked for my input, it is hard because what do I choose?

They have the option for white, non-hispanic, hispanic, etc etc etc. Then there is the "all inclusive" OTHER. Do you like being called an other? Not I. I am a White Hispanic. Why cannot there be something like that on the form?

Jews are both a race and a religion. so we don't fit into a nice little box either.