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

To: Garden Rose who wrote (227032)	4/13/2007 6:46:46 PM
From: michael97123	Respond to of 281500

There is no more a religiously based state in the world than Saudi Arabia. I dont give a rats ass what they call themselves. When Israelis refer to Israel as the Jewish state, they are talking about a state where Jewish people are always welcome. Much like Italy where all folks of Italian heritage would be welcome, not beause they are all catholics or practicing catholics. It has little to do with religion and far more secular in nature. When Jews think of themselves they think of themselves as a people and as an ethnic group----some may be religious, some not but all with jewish heritage. Much like we view ourselves as Americans.

To: Garden Rose who wrote (227032)	4/13/2007 7:22:55 PM
From: Nadine Carroll	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 281500

Michael you said "Israel is a Jewish state in the same way that SA and Syria are arab states." Not so Michael, for the comparison to be correct, the SA and Syria would have to refer to their identity as an Islamist(religious connotation) state, and they do not refer to themselves as such. Israel is the only state which bases its identity on religion with the exception of Iran, which calls itself the "Islamic" Republic of Iran. That's the right comparison. So few words, so much ignorance. 1) Arab states call themselves proudly "Arab states" every single day. Arab is a linguistic and cultural designation, not regligious though in the current climate of growing Islamism it is becoming more and more religious. 2) Go learn something, anything about Saudi Arabia. They absolutely do id themselves as THE religious Wahabbi kingom, the keepers of the one true sort of Islam, as well as the two holy cities. 3) Jewish is an ethnic identification, not a just religious one. 80% of Jewish Israelis self-identify as secular. Iran is a theocracy. Israel is a liberal democracy. It is a common misperception of Americans to think that anything to do with a religion can have nothing to do with ethnicity or nationality. Not so.