Judaism: religion or ethnicity?

Question

In the mid-1980’s, the United States Supreme Court ruled that the Jewish faith is a race, as opposed to a religion. Forged in the spirit of anti-discrimination, the implications of a “Jewish Race” are nevertheless reminiscent of anti-semitism. Because you can convert to Judaism, and cannot convert to, say, being Japanese, how is it possible for there to be such a thing as a Jewish race? On the contrary, if Judaism is just a religion, how is it that approximately 45% of Jews in America consider themselves to be secular Jews?

Answer 1

This question has already been asked, though not as eloquently, here: http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=ApU19DSLFF3hqRu1WFue4aPsy6IX?qid=20060813232746AA4khZJ

Follow the link to see different peoples' responses, or just keep reading, and I'll cut-and-paste my old answer (which is the most thorough and I think, the most accurate) below:

Throughout history, Jews have often been called a race and have even referred to themselves as such. But they aren't a race in the modern sense of the word. This is clearly the case in light of two facts:

1) One can convert to Judaism, and a convert is considered absolutely 100% Jewish. You can't convert to a different race.

2) There are Jews (not just Jews-by-choice, but Jews-by-birth as well) of many different races. I myself am Caucasian, but I've met White Jews, Black Jews, Latino Jews, Iranian Jews, all of them of visibly distinct ethnicities, but all of them Jewish.

Since Jews tend to defy common anthropological definition, we think of ourselves as a "nation" or "people". Judaism is a religion, but it's not just a religion. It's a culture, containing many sub-cultures. Jews have a national identity, but are a nation in diaspora. Nowadays, a Jewish state has been re-established, yet the exile remains. That being said, it's not just an ethnic thing, because there are so many subgroups (when most Americans think of Jews, they visualize a distinctive profile - white, with a big, eastern european nose... but that's just because the majority of the Jews in the States are Ashkenazi... but when European Jews began immigrating in large numbers to the Land of Israel in the early 19th and early 20th centuries, the local residents couldn't believe they were Jewish because they "didn't look Jewish" - that is, they didn't resemble their Mizrahi ("Eastern") compatriots. In other words, the whole notion of "looking Jewish" is a myth, perpetuated by people who have not seen the diverse array of Jews out there.

So, to re-cap, Judaism is a religion, but Jews are a nation. A Jew who practices a non-Jewish religion is still a Jew, but that does not make a non-Jewish religion Jewish. (Messianic Judaism is in fact a sect of Evangelical Christianity designed to attact Jews, but that's a whole other discussion.) Many would consider Jews a race (I have old Jewish prayer books that use the term), but they aren't a race in the modern sense of the word because one can become Jewish - one can't become White or Black or Asian... The Jews are a nation - I'm afraid that's the best I can give you. I hope it helps.

Answer 2

Actually, Judaism is separately an ethnicity/culture and a religion.

And the Supreme Court has consistently recognized Judaism as a religion, counting it one of the "most popular" (545 U.S. 844, 2005). Every reference to Judaism by the Supreme Court going back to the 1960s recognizes it as a religion.

In fact, the only reference at all by the Supreme Court to "Jewish" being a race is in Saint Francis College v. Al-Khazraji, 481 U.S. 604 (1987), where it discussed how encyclopedias in the 1800s referred to jews as being an race, along with gypsies, Finns, Italians, Swedes, and many other ethnic groups.

But by popular usage, the term also refers to an ethnicity, given that centuries of cultural insulation have concentrated certain genetic traits, which providing a coherent cultural heritage as well.

Answer 3

Judaism sounds like a religion to me, government decree notwithstanding. I didn't know about the 45%, but the meaning is clear, i.e., "I don't believe in any of the religious mumbo-jumbo, but I'm a Jew nevertheless. So that would be racial.

Answer 4

Originally, the Children of Israel, not called Jews until the dispersion of the 10 tribes before the days of Jesus, were a race of people who followed their own God. They were both a race and a religion. This religion was created for this race ONLY.

After the 10 tribes were dispersed, scattered and divorced by God, the only two which remained was Judah and Benjamin. Judah HAD to remain because the seed of David comes from Judah. They were called Jews by then.


Today, after much scattering, intermarriage, etc, the racial part is much much less than before. Recall the Children of Israel were not permitted to marry outside of their race. I think we see a good mixture of the Jews as a people and as a religion. You will NEVER be able to separate the race from the religion because of the history of Judaism. It was a religion CREATED for a specific RACE of people, God's people from Abraham. It is tied eternally to the race of people known as the Israelites.

Answer 5

Hurray Jewish Girl! Best and most concise answer!

If it were a race, I guess I would be a Jewish, Anglo-Saxon, European American.

It's a culture. We have our own language and traditions. Join us. There is so much more to be found in the Bible when read in Hebrew!

Answer 6

jews are neither race nor religion, they are a people. judaism is the religion of that people. just like all other nations today, you can either be born a jew or you can earn "citizenship."

Answer 7

well the word jew comes from the tribe of judah

there were twelve in all

so i am not really sure

i just understand that most jews are of semitic origin.

Answer 8

Heres an easy way to look at it. It is simply a tribe.

Answer 9

Both

Answer 10

it's a religion
religion is something u believe in but ethnicity is wat u r wat race yur from