Why are Jews put out as a race, rather than a religion?

Answer 1

Good question.

IT'S A RELIGION NOT A BLOODY NATIONALITY!
So then why should they have their own country?
Israel is made up of several ethnic races- go to the cia factbook at http://www.ciafactbook.com for details on this-
the main ethnicities are:
Morrocan Jews
Arab Jews
American born Jews (33%)

...anyway more details at link
I think zionism was an evil and stupid idea.

Answer 2

The definition of a "race" of people according to dictionary.com is;
1 A local geographic or global human population distinguished as a more or less distinct group by genetically transmitted physical characteristics.
2 A group of people united or classified together on the basis of common history, nationality, or geographic distribution: the German race.
3 A genealogical line; a lineage.

Also;
The biological aspect of race is described today not in observable physical features but rather in such genetic characteristics as blood groups and metabolic processes, and the groupings indicated by these factors seldom coincide very neatly with those put forward by earlier physical anthropologists. Citing this and other points such as the fact that a person who is considered black in one society might be nonblack in another, many cultural anthropologists now consider race to be more a social or mental construct than an objective biological fact.

The Jewish people originated from a semetic tribe and despite some integration and intermarrage, still fit every one of those criterion. I hope this answers your question.

Answer 3

Because it is both. There are religious Jews and there are secular Jews. The secular Jews believe themselves Jewish by decendence and they believe themselves to be a part of the Jewish nation, but they do not practice the religion. The Jews are a people who once were the inhabitants of the land of Israel. When they were kicked out of that land, instead of calling themselves Jewish by religion and Israeli by race or nationality, they just kept the name Jewish for both because for a long time, that was one and the same.

Answer 4

Actually Jews are a Semitic tribe called Hebrews or Israelites. Their religion is called Judaism. One can be both. One can be a Hebrew - colloquially called a Jew - but claim no religion. One can join the Jewish faith but does not become an ethnic Hebrew. No Hebrew can become a non-Hebrew.

Jews also do not proselytize (seek converts) so only curious Gentiles will check out the religion and decide to join.

Answer 5

They are technical both.
Jews can be both a Religious belief and a physical race.

I am a Jews by blood, but a Christian by religion.

Answer 6

Because there is a Jewish physical make-up...like slavic or polynesian, rather than the broad catagories of asian, caucasian, oriental, etc. And this tends to form a society...the have historically had no population to disperse themselves amongst, they were never "Bred out" but migrated, so with whatever group the religion travelled too. But a person can be an Atheist and still be Jewish because of their body makeup.

Answer 7

The Jewish people have allways been ostrasized as a race ,look what Hitler did to millions of Jews during the war and probably before aswell .Its no ones fault what creed you are thers always going to be racisim in this world.

Answer 8

There are quite a few good answers to that actually:
1. They carry certain genetic traits specific to ONLY Jews.
2. Their customs do not allow marriage outside of their faith (or race).
3. They have definite cultural customs similar to many racial groups.

Answer 9

Actually they don't have their own country. There are many Arab Israeli's that live in Israel as well as Jews. Most of them coexist peacefully.

This is why it has been so difficult for Israel to identify Palestinian terrorists before they commit suicide bombings. They cannot visually distinguish between a Palestinian and an Arab Israeli and they do not want to discriminate against their own people.

Answer 10

originally they were a semetic people. over time,because of exile ect... they had so much stuff mixxed with that, that it no longer appears they are a race, but a bunch of them. the religion would be the defineing factor now.

but their religion tells them they are to be a race of priests.
this is where christianinty got the idea of nation of priests.
back then nation, race was the same entity.

Answer 11

That's a good question. I guess because people don't like Jews, so they classify them as their own race. It makes no sense at all.