
Religious intolerance in IsraelPart 1: Overview.
Religion/state separation. 
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Overview:This is an enormously complex issue, which we have not fully researched at this
time. However, there appears to be several areas of religious friction and
intolerance in the country, including the following:
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Although most Jews are secular, Orthodox Judaism has considerable
authority to regulate life in Israel through their control over marriages,
burials, recognition of whether an individual is Jewish, issuance of
Kosher certificates to restaurants, and other items. This generates friction among
Orthodox, Conservative and Reform Jews, as well as secularists.
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The state of Israel is in a continuous state of war with some of its predominately
Muslim neighbors. This escalates Jewish - Muslim friction enormously.
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Israel is essentially in a state of war with the Muslim population of
lands that it captured in previous wars.
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Friction exists over the activity of some Christian groups to
convert Jews and Muslims to conservative Christianity. |

The lack of separation between religion and state in Israel:Their Declaration of Independence guarantees religious freedom:
"The
State of Israel will be based on the precepts of liberty, justice and peace
as envisaged by the prophets of Israel; it will ensure complete equality of
social and political rights to all its inhabitants regardless of religion,
race or gender; it will guarantee freedom of religion, conscience, language,
education and culture."
Guarantees of equality and freedom for persons of all
sexual orientations and sexual identities are
not included in the Declaration. Israel is a signatory to the United Nations International Covenant on
Civil and Political Rights, and the UN
Universal Declaration of Human Rights which guarantee freedom of
religious belief, a person's right to adopt and change their religion without
coercion or discrimination, and to manifest their religion or belief in
teaching, practice, worship, and observance. However, these principles have not been fully implemented, at least to
the satisfaction of many non-Orthodox Jews and secularists. There is no wall of
separation between religion and state in Israel as there is in the U.S., and
to a limited degree in Canada. The Orthodox branch of Judaism is the only
recognized form of Judaism in the country. They hold considerable power,
while more liberal Jewish traditions (Reform and Conservative) are
relatively powerless. Points of conflicts extend to many areas of life, "including:
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marriage, |
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drafting yeshiva students, |
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burial, |
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equal funding for secular schools and programs, |
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allowing public transportation... |
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opening food and entertainment establishments on Shabbat.... |
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seating of Reform and Conservative Movement representatives on
religious councils, |
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providing the opportunity for egalitarian prayer at the Kotel
(Western Wall), |
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recognizing conversions performed by the non-Orthodox streams of
Judaism." 1
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state funding for non-Orthodox synagogues. |
Various recent polls have indicated that:
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67.9% of Israeli adults feel that the religious political parties have too
much power. |
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63% favor giving Reform and Conservative Judaism equal legal status to
that possessed by the Orthodox tradition. |
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63% favored allowing couples to choose Reform and Conservative Jewish
marriage ceremonies; only Orthodox services are currently recognized. |
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64% supported operating public transportation on the weekly Sabbath, which
runs from Friday sunset to Saturday sunset. |
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78% favor opening shopping malls outside city centers on the Sabbath. |
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45% "either prefer or is open to receiving religious life-cycle
services from Reform" or Conservative authorities. 1
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The lack of religious equality for Conservative and Reform Jews in Israel should be considered in context. Many surrounding Arab
nations have infinitely more repressive laws concerning
religious conversion:
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Citizens
of Iran have been sentenced to death because they voluntarily decided
to convert from Islam to
the Baha'i Faith.
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An Egyptian court ordered a couple to divorce because one spouse wrote a
book calling for reform within Islam and was thus deemed by the authorities to
have become a non-Muslim. In many predominately Muslim countries, do not allow
a Muslim woman to be married to a non-Muslim man. |
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A man in Pakistan has been sentenced to death for recommending that a
neighbor read a book by Salman Rushdie called "The Satanic Verses"
(1988).
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Reference used:The following information source was used to prepare and update the above
essay. The hyperlink is not necessarily still active today.
-
"Religion and State in Israel: Background article," Israel
Religious Action Center, at:
http://www.irac.org/article_e.asp?artid=14

Copyright © 2000 to 2009 by Ontario Consultants on Religious Tolerance
Originally written: 2000-OCT-12
Latest update: 2009-SEP-07
Author: B.A. Robinson

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