Is Judaism a dying religion?

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samsproudmommy

im a practicing jew.
i think the biggest threat to my religion is secularism and intermarriage. i do not however think that my religion is dying. there are many sects like the hassidm who i believe will keep it alive no matter what. in addition, most modern orthodox jews, like myself hold fast to our religion. i do not plan on letting go of it anytime soon weve been around for many thousands of years and were here to stay

also, in most cases being a practicing christian means going to church on suday for a few hours and keeping basic moral laws. being a jew is significantly harder and involves a lot more, so i understand y there are more practicing christians then jews.

kanan:if someone wishes to convert to our religion, we welcome them with open arms, provieding he is sincere. and we are not allowed to kill or steal from anyone no matter what

Michael J

Judaism is significantly smaller than other world religions because they have a different approach to things. Christianity came to prominence because it borrowed all the perks of Judaism with none of the hassle (dropping circumcision, etc). This easy going religion spoke to people and actively recruited new members, creating the numbers they have today. Islam chose the path of conquest, with the Muslim hordes pouring out of Arabia to conquer greaths swaths of land and convert the populace. Both methods were very effective at garnering a population base, reflected today in the number of constituents. Judaism on the other hand was content with God's law and did not feel the need to force it on others or try to convince them - a very live and let live mentality. If someone wants to convert, that's great. But Judaism does not actively seek new members, and that is the reason behind the number disparity. Besides, with the amount of impact the Jews have had on the world, clearly this is a case of quality over quantity.

tharedhead ((debajo del ombÃº))

the jews that are being counted are only the ones that are affiliated with a congregation....

I am observant of many practices and don't currently belong to a congregation....

so your theory may be off, which is a pretty drastic statement only 1:13. those 13 million probably are members of a congregation or school of sorts.

not raising children with exposure to Jewish traditions is a threat to Judaism, but our population has been small; we make up less than 1/15 of 1 % of the worlds population. Some might even say that the establishment of the state of Israel, made people feel safer and less of a need to distinguish themselves from the rest of the populations outside of Israel (even in Israel there are many secular Jews)...they assimilated more and practiced less

Jews are Jews whether they practice or not, because it's also largely cultural based, has a language, food customs, and traditions. Also members of the cohen tribe have a DNA marker, that can be seen...which is a distinguishing mark of a race of people.

I forgot to ad...Jews don't proselytize or basically try to convert people like some other faiths...so because we are not out missionizing, which I prefer...existing Jews have to secure their future for generations that follow.

kismet

Keep in mind that we (Jewish people) are the only religion which does not seek out converts. There has been a growing movement of non-practicing Jews becoming orthodox...

SOLDER

many jews here in uk have changed their names to english name and are too afraid to express themselves has jewish, they are afraid to come out into the open, but we muslims we never afraid to expess our religion we dont change our names to english names. We have our mosques here in uk and islamic schools its realy good here.

Mr. X

lol. you wish.
we've been here for 5000 years, we're not going anywhere.

bad news for haters like you.

sheilasays

it doesnt really matter how many of us there is. we have the heart and soul and will practice our religion as G-d set forth. WE WILL NEVER DIE.

mr. roo .JPA.

Bear in mind centuries of persecution and forced conversions in both the Muslim and Christian worlds. Assimilation is a also a big threat, but Judaism and the Jewish people will survive.

"Tangential" relation to Christianity and Islam? Without Judaism those other two religions would never have come into being!

Bosco

Maya is right. There are only about 3 million practicing jews on earth,and then about another 10 million who are descended from practicing jews. If you want to view them an an ethnic group,the figure is 13 million,but if you want to view actual believers as a religion or religious group they are one of the world's smallest religions.

stop me if you can

The only thing i can add to support Jewish people is unlike Hamas, the Taliban and certain divorced mothers on yahoo, children of Jewish parents are not taught to hate other religions in their schools and in their homes. . If anything the Jewish people in America I know are the happiest,friendliest,most giving people I know.

The Nasserist

Seeing as how it says that it's alright for fathers to sell their daughters as sex slaves, that you should stone to death any one who dares work on Sabbath and that Jews should take over 3/4 of the Middle East, I would certainly hope so!

Helen Vagas

The greatest threat is Zionism. It is cannibalizing Jews. Converting them to the dark side of European ways.

Nastrodamos

4500 behind them 4500 (at least) to go.

Yes, 440 years ago I predicted this, at least 4500 more.
Now that I am back let me make a new prediction, they will live as long for as long as the univers will.

Galahad

Yes,there are only about three million practicing jews,the rest are merely descendents of religious jews.

moneymaxer

It's not dying, it was just exhaling for a while, and it is about to start inhaling.

Edit:
Respect is right, Jews are always afraid. Thousands of years of exile did it to them. As much as I may disagree with Muslims on A LOT of issues I can't help it but admire their respect for themselves. They don't always look pleasant to the rest of the world, but often they just don't give a flyin' duck, and being themselves. I respect them for it.

Kanan

It is indeed, simply because it is a racist religion that does not allow others "Gentile" to become a Jew. Gentiles are none Jews who can be killed, robbed or do any thing to them. They are decreasing in numbers and mainly reside in Palestine which they occupied since 1948 with brute force.

Axle

One can only hope..........just kidding. For some Jews, I believe, their Jewish blood may mean just as much as their Jewish religion.

Shalom.

jstaguy58

Well after 4000 years... well before Christianity and well before Islam.
No..
And don't even try to stop them.
There are a lot more than 13 million Jews in the world.
They don't say it but they are hiding.
Wouldn't you?

Blue Xull...

According to census the fastest growing belief is atheism(/secularism). I honestly think this is the right path for humanity.

I believe the 'last religions standing' today are results of the 'survival of the fittest' rule. unfortunately fittest is not the best*. for instance humans were the fittest, but as you can see they're not the most humane.
sorry, I'm missing the point. :)

mr _rieux - Just because Judaism is the older than the other two doesn't mean they have been derived from it. if so Zoroastrianism is the oldest religion with concepts you see in Abrahamic religions (e.g. heaven, hell, god, evil etc) and it is
believed to have influenced all Abrahamic religions.
(Duchesne-Guillemin,, Encyclopedia)

Maya

It is. Of the world's 13 million persons who describe themselves as "jewish" a mere two to three million subscribe to judaism. The rest are atheists. There are actually more Bahais (4-6 million) than practicing and/or believing jews in the world. It's suffered a preciptous decline since the early 20th century. It is only considered a "major" religion because of it's tangenital relationship to the world's two largest religions; Christianity (2 billion) and Islam (1.2 Billion).

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