Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Politics : Foreign Affairs Discussion Group -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Don Hurst who wrote (32772)	6/20/2002 12:38:12 PM
From: Nadine Carroll	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 281500

What exactly is a secular Jew? About 80% of Israelis. The Catholic model doesn't fit -- Catholicism (like Islam) is a universal, credal religion; it's based purely on belief. Judaism is a system of belief tied to an ethnos; the Jewish identity is based on ethnicity before belief. Any Jewish authority who tries to say 'you have to believe this to really be a Jew' provokes a firestorm. Jews are Jews by maternal parentage or by conversion, and conversion is not really encouraged. Thus Israel is an 'ethnic' state with an official religion (Orthodox Judaism) but not a theocracy. Over 20% of the citizens of Israel are not Jewish and they have full rights of citizenship under law. The main difference is that non-Jews are not drafted into the army, though they can volunteer. The IDF does have some Muslims in it, mainly Bedouin, and there is a Druse three-star general.