Category Archives: Religion

The best way to Consider When Choosing a faith

Have you already recently decided that you would like to attend church? If you’re a grown-up, you have a wide range of different decisions to make. In case you have not attended church for some time now, you may be curious about attending a brand new church other than an issue that you may have visited during childhood. The fact is, many adults are currently embarking on choosing new religions. If you are interested in doing the same, you’ll want to go on reading on.

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When it’s time to pick a religion to comply with and assist, many individuals mistakenly make their decision instantly. Even if you are allowed to help make changes right now, you will see how the determination to adhere to and assist a precise religion is considered one that’s meant to follow you along with regularly. That’s the reason it is essential you carefully decide which religion you’d like to follow. That’s why this is a decision that should not be going to be made traveling on an impulse or a whim.

Whenever you reach the point within your life in which you are fascinated by devoting your self to a religion, whether it be now or in conjunction with the longer term, there are several essential factors that you’ll want to take into a note. A type of consideration might be your beliefs. A thing you need that a significant number of religions are known for might be their strong beliefs, many of which appear just as if they are set in stone. Yes, many religions are slowly beginning to evolve with time. However, this will still be an element that you would want to take into a note. Make sure to pick a religion that you may fully support and trust in.

Alongside getting a religion that you believe you’ll be able to truly back the. Additionally, it would help if you found a religion that appeals to your account. In the event you have already announced that you are looking and get a new religion or a new church to attend, there is a likely chance that you have already been receiving feedback or recommendations from the ones that you recognize, namely all your family members. While these recommendations could provide useful insight according to your needs, it is vital that you may stick with your own heart and also your own beliefs. The single last thing that you ought to do is attend a church, although your parents think it’s the “right,” action to take.

In keeping with paying attention to what you would like or believe in, in preference with what individuals around you think, it is also crucial that you not place too much concentrate on your community. North America, certain people, couples, and families have selected their religions dictated by the popularity in their community. Yes, Christianity can be accessible in the community; therefore could seem almost like any of your friends, kin, or neighbors are supporters; it doesn’t prove that you must be. Even if you must cross into a further town to be available for church services, it is advised that you may achieve this, so long as you’ll be able to follow and support the faith which you, yourself, handpicked.

The preceding mentioned points are all points that you will want to take into accounts if you do decide that must be time to refocus on religion. As you likely are aware, you have a great deal of work and research in advance of you, as deciding on a new religion often seems much like an overwhelming process.

Being a reminder, you must select your religion based on you and your private wants, needs, and beliefs. To assist ensure you are generating the most appropriate decision, you may wish to examine multiple religions. You can achieve this by reviewing printed materials, that may be found in many libraries and book stores, and also by utilizing the internet. It may require even analysis to schedule appointments with pastors of your local churches to view what assistance or insight they will be able to offer you within your resolution-making method process.

Author Resource Box:
Have you been quilting along with the Moda Bake Shop and …. https://my.modafabrics.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/MBS-QAL-cut-sew-press-repeat.pdf

Lebanese Druze

Lebanese Druze (Arabic: دروز لبنان‎) are Lebanese individuals that adhere considering the Druze faith, an ethno religious private group originating from the Near East who self identify as unitarians (Muwahhideen).

The Lebanese Druze people are considered to constitute about 5.2 percent of a given total population of Lebanon and also have around 1.5 million members worldwide. The Druze, who refer to themselves as al-Muwahhideen, or “believers in one God,” are concentrated in the rural, mountainous areas east and south of Beirut.

Under the Lebanese political division (Parliament of Lebanon Seat Allocation), the Druze community is known as one of the many five Lebanese Muslim communities in Lebanon (Sunni, Shia, Druze, Alawi, and Ismaili), even though the Druze are not used considered Muslim. Lebanon’s constitution was intended to guarantee political representation for any of a given nation’s ethnoreligious groups.

Below the regulations of an unwritten agreement known as the National Pact amongst the various political and spiritual leaders of Lebanon, the leading of a given General Staff must be a Druze.

The Druze faith doesn’t follow the Five Pillars of Islam, namely fasting during the month of Ramadan, and making a pilgrimage to Mecca. The Druze beliefs incorporate parts of Ismailism, Gnosticism, Neoplatonism as well as other philosophies. The Druze call themselves Ahl al-Tawhid “People of Unitarianism or Monotheism” or “al-Muwaḥḥidūn.”

The Tanukhids inaugurated the Druze community in Lebanon when the majority of them accepted and a new message that has been preached in the 11th century as a result of their leadership’s close ties with then Fatimid ruler Al-Hakim bi-Amr Allah.

The Druze community in Lebanon played a significant role in the formation of the modern state of Lebanon. Also, though they are a minority, they play a crucial factor in the Lebanese political scene. Before as well as throughout the Lebanese The civil war conflict (1975–90), the Druze were in favor of Pan-Arabism and Palestinian resistance represented from the PLO. Almost all of the community supported the Progressive Socialist Party formed right by their leader Kamal Jumblatt and then they will fight alongside other leftist and Palestinian parties contrary to the Lebanese Front that was mainly constituted of Christians. Right after the assassination of Kamal Jumblatt on March 16, 1977, his offspring Walid Jumblatt took the leadership of one’s party and played an essential role in preserving his father’s legacy after winning the Mountain War and sustained the occurrence the Druze community through the sectarian bloodshed that lasted until 1990.

In August 2001, Maronite Catholic Patriarch Nasrallah Boutros Sfeir toured the predominantly Druze Chouf topic of Mount Lebanon and visited Mukhtara, the ancestral stronghold of Druze leader Walid Jumblatt. The tumultuous reception that Sfeir received not only signified a historic reconciliation between Maronites and Druze, who fought a bloody war in 1983–84, but underscored the reality that the banner of Lebanese sovereignty had a broad multi-confessional appeal which resulted in being harmed a cornerstone when it comes to the Cedar Revolution in 2005. Jumblatt’s post-2005 position diverged sharply, beginning with the tradition of his family. He also accused Damascus of being behind the 1977 assassination of his father, Kamal Jumblatt, expressing the first time what many knew he privately suspected. The BBC describes Jumblatt as “the best leader of Lebanon’s strongest Druze clan and heir to your leftist political dynasty.” The second-biggest political party supported by Druze happens to be the Lebanese Democratic Party led by Prince Talal Arslan, the son of Lebanese independence hero Emir Majid Arslan.

On May 10, 2008, during the 2008 Conflict, clashes occurred between Hezbollah forces and Druze militias in their mountain, resulting in casualties on the two sides. The disputes were started in Aytat, near Kayfoun, and in a little while expanded to cover many spots in Mount Lebanon, including Baysur, Shuweifat, and Aley. A lot of the fighting was targeting Hill 888. After negotiations, a ceasefire was called in from outside the country before Hezbollah could call in artillery support. Releases from Hezbollah leaders in 2016 stated that bombing the mountain with close-range artillery due to the South and longer-ranged artillery from Syria were both one great option and much considered.

Author’s resource box:

Lebanese Druze – Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Druze_in_Lebanon

Exactly what does the Hebrew tradition say about spirituality?

Image result for Hebrew tradition

In the Hebrew Bible, these three words, while not perfectly interchangeable, are sometimes used similarly. Both ruaḥ and n’shamah check with the life span breathed by God into humankind and are conjoined in the same verse when Genesis speaks of nishmat ruaḥ ḥayyim, “the n’shamah of the ruaḥ of life.” Ruaḥ and nefesh frequently designate a person’s mental and emotional state and constitution, or what it is that we might call today his or her “self,” as in verses like “And it happened each day that he [Pharaoh] was troubled [va-tipa’em ruḥo, literally, “his spirit was excited”], or even the Psalmist’s “Thy comforts delight me [nafshi].” N’shamah tends to be a phrase for the life of human beings generally or for any living being, as in “And Joshua smote all the country considering the hills . . . and destroyed all that lived [literally, “every n’shamah”].”

However there is no word in the Hebrew Bible equivalent to “spiritual” or “spirituality.” Neither is there one within the Talmud, wherein, however, the word n’shamah represents a meaning of that sort in our English “soul”—a divine substance or presence that inhabits and animates our body while becoming endowed by us with a character uniquely its own. It is really an concept that the Judaism considering the first centuries of the Common Era shared with Christianity and various Gnostic and Neoplatonic groups; whether we know in a soul or otherwise, our contemporary notion of spirituality falls back on it.
However whereas Christianity had a term for “spiritual” from its inception—Paul, in his New Testament epistles, uses the Greek word pneumatikos, which the Latin church fathers translated as spiritalis—rabbinic Judaism, precisely because it resisted stressing the inwardly “spiritual” life at the expense of the outward lifetime of God-given commandments and their observance, did not develop its equivalent term of ruḥani till the Dark ages.

Moreover, ruḥani in medieval Judaism did not mean the same thing as “spiritual” did in Christianity or does today. Both medieval Jewish philosophy and Kabbalah divided a person’s psyche into three parts: the nefesh, which was liable for biological functions; the ruaḥ, that was accountable for intellectual ones; and of course the n’shamah, which was what nowadays could be thought of as a person’s “spiritual” side. In modern Hebrew, too, ruḥani is most often better translated as “intellectual” than “spiritual.”

In East European Hasidism, it s correct, rukhniyus (the Ashkenazi pronunciation of ruḥaniyut, in which the Hebrew suffix –ut is parallel towards the “-ity” of “spirituality”), instead of gashmiyus or “materialism,” was sometimes used as “spirituality” is in English today. However there are other, more common terms in Ḥasidism for a state of religious inwardness and closeness to God, and none among the ever posited a dichotomy amongst the latter and the outward practice of Jewish ritual, prayer, and custom. Quite the opposite: outward practice was a precondition for inward “spirituality.”

Author Resource Box:
https://mosaicmagazine.com/observation/religion-holidays/2018/08/why-theres-no-word-in-the-hebrew-bible-for-spirituality/

Buddhist Meditation

Remember those Chinese style movies that feature monks from their heads shaved off? Well, those folks practice Buddhism, which is undoubtedly a spiritual movement invented to make the person choose the facts of life. In the center with this is meditation, which happens to be the way of making this possible.

Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com

Yet to understand Buddhist Meditation, you have to know about Buddhism itself is centered upon the Four Noble Truths. First, we have to be aware that there is undoubtedly suffering on the earth which happens because of our ignorance and our desires. At times when we do understand ourselves, we could finally find a way to turn out this suffering. Individuals that obtain the answer took a state of Nirvana.

This then leads us into the core of Buddhist meditation that is the practice of the eightfold path. These virtues namely are the right action, right concentration, right effort, right livelihood, right mindfulness, right speech, right thought, and right view.

The proceedings of Buddhist Meditation are based upon two things. The very first is known as “Samatha,” which implies tranquility, and of course the second is named “Vipassana” this means mindfulness.

 Let’s explore this somewhat further. “Samatha” meditation involves a great deal of breathing, which happens to be invented to develop concentration, detachment, equanimity, and happiness. There are actually 40 Samatha meditations, and each teaches the brain to one single object to produce various states of tranquility.

Vipassana meditation, on the other hand, develops self-understanding by having in a position to comprehend the stuff that intends inside one’s head. By practicing this regularly, you certainly will soon develop wisdom that will make you with nonsuffering.

But must you become a follower of Buddhism so that you can practice this kind of meditation? The actual answer, no matter if this approach is based upon the doctrines of the religion and relates to concentration and mind control.

For those who wish to experience Buddhist meditation, the first thing you should do is find an inaccessible place where you are able to achieve this without being disturbed. Next, get that beautiful soft pillow or cushion to sit down on in the event the floor is certainly not that comfortable for you. 

Now, let your hands rest on their crib, considering the palms facing upward. It’s hard to lie in this position in just 5 minutes or maybe more so don’t hesitate to produce a few slight adjustments. The important thing may be that you happen to be comfortable in the manner you are.

Then it is almost time for them to close your eyes and focus on your breathing. We’ve made it simple to do this fact is that there are 4 proper methods. You could possibly inhale and exhale long, inhale and exhale short, inhale short and exhale long or inhale long and exhale short.

 It will take the necessary time prior to obtaining the hang of things. For fun’s sake, don’t forget to unwind all your muscles, so your mind and body are able to represent one.

Buddhist meditation is just among several other techniques around that could help relieve you from stress, actually make you think far better to have a better outlook in life and do many different items that will optimize your overall physical health

If you do, in fact, appreciate what Buddhist Meditation can do, you could possibly already spend money on cushions, prayer beads, incense, and a few other accessories. It is often optional, so don’t think that just because they are not around that your particular experience is not just a sizable one.

Author Resource Box:

Buddhist MEDITATION | Alternative Knowledge-Pool. https://knowledge-pool-eso.blogspot.com/2017/05/buddhist-meditation.html

Learn The Basics Of Vipassana Meditation Technique | prCvir. https://prcvir.com/blog/vipassana-meditation-technique/

Jewish traditional teachings on being a good host and guest

Rabbinic literature is abundant in claims praising the application of hospitality on behalf of visitors and indigents. One even refers to it as “greater than welcoming the Divine Presence [Sh’khinah].”

A Midrash exhibits the biblical patriarch Abraham since the paragon of hospitality, because of his reception of wayfarers in Genesis 18. His position in the entry of his tent in the midday heat is viewed as a proactive seeking out of passing visitors. Other components of the storyline, too, play a role in Abraham’s reputation: his eagerness, his largesse, and his insistence on seeing his visitors off as they departed.

The citizens of Jerusalem, too, are depicted in Midrashic literature as excelling in this virtue. If the Holy Temple still stood in Jerusalem, that city was the getaway of pilgrims from throughout the Land of Israel in the three harvest festivals. The rabbinic storytellers of late antiquity relate that Jerusalem’s citizens opened their residences for free to those visitors.

Not just our food and accommodation to be offered for passing visitors, but the travelers should be accommodated graciously. The statement of the first sage Shammai this one should “greet every person with a cheerful facial expression” (Mishnah Avot 1:15) is understood midrashically (in Avot De-Rabbi Natan 13) as an admonition to hosts to not provide for their guests amply but angrily. Better, teaches the Midrash, to offer a guest but a little in a gracious tone than large portions proffered grudgingly.

At the start of a traditional Passover seder, Jews recite a formulaic declaration of an “open house” policy of hospitality: “Let all who will be hard-pressed come and eat. Let all that are in need come and share the Passover sacrifice.” This statement is an expansion of what the third-century Babylonian sage Rav Huna was proven to make each time he sat down to a meal: “Let all who will be in need come and eat!” (Babylonian Talmud, Ta’anit 20b).

Some Jewish communities of the past institutionalized the practice of providing cordial reception to wayfarers by developing a furnished home for such temporary visitors. Others offered them lodging when you look at the communal synagogue. The Diaspora tradition of reciting into the synagogue the kiddush prayer at the beginning of a Shabbat or holiday evening — a prayer usually offered where the festive meal is eaten — has its origins for the reason that use of the community’s gathering space.

To this day, it is a hallmark of many Jewish communities that unfamiliar participants in synagogue worship, specifically on Shabbat or holidays, are invited to local people’s homes for a meal — and, if arrangements are created in advance, frequently for lodging as well.

Traditional mandates extend into the guest as well. Guests should stay away from causing hosts extra work. They ought to accede with their host’s or hostess’s requests. A guest should not bring along another, unasked guest. If the guest and host are going into the home together, the visitor should defer to the host. Leaving together, a guest should leave ahead of the host.

Reference

Jewish Hospitality | My Jewish Learning. https://www.myjewishlearning.com/article/jewish-hospitality/

The difference between Judaism and Christianity

Christianity is based in Second Temple Judaism, however the two religious beliefs diverged in the first hundreds of years of the Christian age. Christianity stresses proper belief or orthodoxy, concentrating on the New Covenant as mediated through Jesus Christ, as documented in the New Testament. Judaism places importance on proper behavior or orthopraxy, focusing on the Mosaic covenant, as documented in the Torah and Talmud.

Christians believe in individual redemption from sin through accepting Jesus Christ as their Lord (God) and messiah. Jews believe in individual and cumulative involvement in an endless conversation with God through custom, traditions, praying and moral behavior. Christianity commonly believes in a Triune God, one individual of whom became a human being. Judaism stresses the Oneness of God plus decline the Christian idea of God in human form.

Transactions

The 245th mitzvah is that we are commanded regarding the laws of buying and selling, in other words. the methods in which acquisitions and product sales amongst the purchasers plus the sellers become legally binding.

The Torah taught about one technique in G-d’s statement (exalted be He), “When you sell something to your neighbor, [or buy one thing from your neighbor’s hand…]” Our Sages said, “[The word ‘hand’ teaches that the purchase] refers to something that can pass from a single hand to some other,” in other words. meshichah [physically moving the object].

It really is explained that in Biblical law, transfer of money is adequate to complete the deal, and meshichah is necessary only by Rabbinic decree, as is mesirah [giving the automobile of control, e.g. the reins of a horse, to your buyer] and hagba’ah [lifting the object].

The Gemara explicitly states, “just like our Sages enacted a requirement of meshichah to ensure that a purchase to be valid, therefore too they needed meshichah to help a watchman relationship to become legitimate.” It is clear that the requirement of meshichah in exchanging is of Rabbinic origin, as explained within the relevant spot.

However, other methods of acquiring land, etc., in other words. by means of a document or chazakah are traced to Biblical verses [and are consequently of Biblical, not Rabbinic, origin.

Reference: https://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/961606/jewish/Positive-Commandment-245.htm

What does Buddhism say about karma?

In Buddhism, karma comes from Sanskrit: “action, work”) drives saṃsāra – the infinite pattern of agony and rebirth for every being. Good, skilfull deeds (Pāli: kusala) and evil, unskilful deeds (Pāli: akusala) produce “seeds” in the unconscious receptacle (ālaya) that mature later either in this life or perhaps in a subsequent rebirth. The presence of karma is a core belief in Buddhism, as with every significant Indian religion, it suggests neither fatalism nor that precisely what occurs to a person is caused by karma.

A central element of the Buddhist theory of karma is that intent (cetanā) matters, and it is essential to bring about a consequence or phala “fruit” or vipāka “result.” However, good or bad karma accumulates no matter if there is no physical action, and merely having evil or good thoughts produces karmic seeds; thus, activities of body, speech or mind all lead to karmic seeds. When looking at the Buddhist traditions, life aspects affected by the law of karma in the past and current births of a being through them as a type of rebirth, the world of rebirth, social class, character and leading circumstances of a lifetime. It functions just like the laws of physics, without external intervention, on every being in every six realms of existence, and this includes human beings and gods.

A notable aspect of the karma theory in Buddhism is merit transfer. A person accumulates merit not only through intentions and decent living but also, can gain merit from others by exchanging products or services, such for example through dāna (charity to monks or nuns). Further, a person can transfer a person’s good karma to living nearest and dearest and ancestors.

Hindu meditation is good for the body

In Hinduism (initially Sanatana Dharma), meditation has a place of significance. The fundamental objective of meditation is always to attain oneness associated with the practitioner’s spirit (atman with) omnipresent and non-dual almighty (Paramatma or Brahman). This state of one’s self is named Moksha in Hinduism and Nirvana in Buddhism. But as well Hindu monks and soon after Buddhist monks also are said to have achieved miraculous power by practicing meditation. The Hindu scriptures prescribe certain postures to achieve the state where the thoughts are in meditation. These positions are known as yoga. Clear references of yoga and meditation are located in ancient Indian scriptures like Vedas, Upanishads, and Mahabharata that features Gita. The Brihadaranyaka Upanishad defines meditation as having become calm and concentrated, one recognizes the self (atman) within oneself. Within the Hindu method of meditation you can find a set of rules to be followed in the process of yoga to successfully practice meditation. They are ethical discipline (Yamas), rules (niyamas), physical postures (asanas), breath control (pranayam), one-pointed concentration of mind (dharana), meditation (dhyana), and lastly salvation (samadhi). Hardly any can reach the stage of dhyana without the right knowledge and training from Guru, and fewer are thought to have reached the final stage. Gautama Buddha (originally Hindu prince), and Sri Ramakrishna, are thought to have been successful in achieving the final stage of salvation (samadhi)

Read more: Difference Between Hindu And Buddhist meditation | distinction between http://www.differencebetween.net/science/health/difference-between-hindu-and-buddhist-meditation/#ixzz5oDhEV4BF

How could a person be an ethnic Jew?

Description of an ethnic Jew

Ethnic Jew is phrase fundamentally used to identify a individual of Jewish parentage and background who does not fundamentally try to practice Judaism, but with that being stated identifies along with Judaism or any other Jews culturally or fraternally, or simultaneously. The idea regarding “ethnic Jew” may not really specifically omit practicing Jews, but these individuals referred to as “Jews” without possessing the determining adjective “ethnic”.

Concepts of philosophy
The idea of can relate to men and women of different beliefs and qualification because genealogy basically denotes who’s “Jewish”. “Ethnic Jew” is sometimes utilized distinguish non-practicing from practicing(religious) Jews. Other terms include”non-observant Jew”, “non-religious Jew”, “non-practicing Jew”, and “secular Jew”.

Religion
The notion of sometimes can refer solely to Jews who, for no matter what reasons, do not practice the religious beliefs of Judaism, or that are so informal with their relationship to this religion as to be effectively not Jews in the religious sense of adherent to Judaism. For the most part, cultural Jews are cognizant of their Jewish background, and may even feel strong cultural (no matter if not religious) ties to Jewish traditions in order to the Jewish men and women or nation. Like men and women of virtually any other ethnic background, non-religious ethnic Jews frequently absorb into a encompassing non-Jewish society, but, particularly in parts if there has a improve local Jewish culture, many may stay mostly part of that tradition alternatively.

Different varieties of Jews

“Ethnic Jews” include atheists, agnostics, non-denominational deists, Jews with just informal associations to Jewish denominations or converts to other religions, that could include Christianity, Buddhism, or Islam. Religious Jews of each denominations sometimes keep up with outreach to non-religious ethnic Jews. In the case of some Hasidic denominations which can include Chabad-Lubavitch, this outreach extends to actively proselytizing more secular Jews.

The Pew Research study of American Jews realized that 62% thought that being Jewish was mainly due to ancestry and culture, while 15% thought that it was mainly a focus of religion. Of those people that stated themselves to be Jews by religion, 55% thought that being Jewish was mainly a matter of ancestry and culture, while two-thirds thought that it was actually not essential to believe in God to get Jewish.

Israeli citizenship

Israeli immigration laws will accept a treatment for Israeli citizenship if there is proven documentation that any grandparent—not just the maternal grandmother—is Jewish. This does not prove that patient an “ethnic Jew”, but Israeli immigration will accept that person because he or she’s got an ethnically Jewish connection, and due to the fact that this same level of connection was sufficient to get persecuted as a Jew via the Nazis.

Definition of Jewishness

The standard European definition of Jewishness (although it in fact was not uniform across Europe) differs markedly that are caused by the definition being used by the usa. In the former Soviet Union, “Jewish” was a nationality by law, just like other nationalities such as Russians, Ukrainians, Georgians and others. There have been certain restrictions on their civil liberties in the early many years of the Soviet Union.

The European definition is traditional in lots of respects, and reflects simply not only the way in which Europeans saw Jews, but also how Jews saw themselves. The Israeli law draws on external definitions of Jewishness (for example the Nazi and Soviet definitions), rather than traditional halakhic guidelines.

תיאור של יהודי אתני

יהודי אתני הוא ביטוי ביסודו לזיהוי אדם של הורות ורקע יהודי שאינו מנסה באופן יסודי לתרגל את היהדות, אך עם זאת הוא מזוהה עם יהדות או עם כל יהודי אחר מבחינה תרבותית או אחווה, או בעת ובעונה אחת. הרעיון בדבר “יהודי אתני” אינו יכול דווקא להשמיט יהודים מעשיים, אך אנשים אלה נקראים “יהודים” בלי להחזיק בתואר הקובע “אתני”.

מושגי הפילוסופיה
הרעיון יכול להתייחס לגברים ונשים בעלי אמונות שונות, משום שהגנאלוגיה בעצם מציינת מיהו “יהודי”. “יהודי אתני” מנוצל לפעמים להבדיל בין אימונים לבין יהודים מתרגלים (דתיים). מונחים אחרים כוללים “יהודי לא שומר מצוות”, “יהודי לא דתי”, “יהודי לא יהודי” ו”חילוני “.

דת
הרעיון של לפעמים יכול להתייחס רק ליהודים אשר, ללא קשר לאלו סיבות, אינם נוהגים באמונות הדתיות של היהדות, או שהם כה לא רשמיים עם יחסם לדת זו, כדי שיהיו למעשה לא יהודים במובן הדתי של דבקות יהדות. על פי רוב, יהודי התרבות מודעים לרקע היהודי שלהם, ואולי אף מרגישים קשרים תרבותיים חזקים (אם לא דתיים) למסורת היהודית, לגברים ולנשים או לאומה. בדומה לגברים ולנשים מכל רקע אתני אחר, יהודים אתניים לא דתיים סופגים לעתים קרובות את החברה הלא-יהודית המקיפה, אך בעיקר בחלקים מסוימים, אם יש שיפור בתרבות היהודית המקומית, רבים עשויים להישאר ברובם חלק ממסורת זו או לחילופין.

זנים שונים של יהודים

“יהודים אתניים” כוללים אתאיסטים, אגנוסטים, דייסטים לא דתיים, יהודים עם אסוציאציות לא פורמליות בלבד לעדות יהודיות או מתגיירים לדתות אחרות, שיכולים לכלול את הנצרות, הבודהיזם או האיסלאם. יהודים דתיים מכל אחת מן העדות נוהגים לשמור על קשר עם יהודים אתניים לא דתיים. במקרה של כמה זרמים חסידיים שיכולים לכלול את חב”ד-ליובאוויטש, ההישג הזה משתרע באופן פעיל על הגברת החילונים.

המחקר של פיו על יהודי אמריקה הבין ש -62% סברו כי היותם יהודיים נובעים בעיקר ממוצא ומן תרבות, ואילו 15% סברו כי הוא מתמקד בעיקר בדת. מבין אלה שהציגו עצמם כיהודים לפי דת, 55% סברו כי היותם יהודים הם בעיקר עניין של מוצא ותרבות, ואילו שני שלישים סברו כי אין זה הכרחי להאמין באלוהים לקבל יהודים.

אזרחות ישראלית

חוקי ההגירה הישראליים יקבלו טיפול באזרחות ישראלית אם יש תיעוד מוכח שכל סבתא – לא רק סבתא מצד האם – היא יהודית. זה לא מוכיח כי החולה “יהודי אתני”, אלא הגירה ישראלית יקבל את האדם כי הוא או היא יש קשר יהודי אתני, ובגלל זה באותה רמה של חיבור היה מספיק כדי לקבל נרדף כיהודי דרך נאצים.

הגדרת יהדות

ההגדרה האירופית הסטנדרטית של היהדות (אם כי למעשה לא היתה אחידה בכל אירופה) שונה במידה ניכרת הנגרמת על ידי ההגדרה בשימוש על ידי ארה”ב. בברית המועצות לשעבר, “יהודי” היה אזרחות על פי חוק, בדיוק כמו לאומים אחרים כגון רוסים, אוקראינים, גרוזינים ואחרים. היו מגבלות מסוימות על חירויות האזרח שלהם בשנים הראשונות של ברית המועצות.

ההגדרה האירופית היא מסורתית במובנים רבים, ומשקפת בפשטות לא רק את האופן שבו ראו האירופים את היהודים, אלא גם את האופן שבו היהודים ראו את עצמם. המשפט הישראלי מתבסס על הגדרות חיצוניות של יהודיות (לדוגמה,