Posted on 01/05/2002 8:39:33 AM PST by veronica
The latest Israeli population statistics show that its the Christian community is still growing, contradicting claims that the Jewish State is trying to rid itself of its Christian minority.
The number of Christians in Israel showed a slight increase to 137,000, or 2.1 percent of the total population, according to the Central Bureau of Statistics. Of these, 115,000 are Arab. The increase is important since pro-Palestinian Christian groups have charged that Israel is seeking a decrease to the Christian population in the Holy Land.
In contrast, the Christian community in Judea/Samaria and Gaza has dramatically dropped to less than 2.0%, as Arab Christians have fled Palestinian Authority rule, most taking flight abroad, but some escaping over into Israel.
In recent decades, Israel has been the only country in the entire Middle East where the Christian population was growing in proportion to the overall population. Official statistics showed that Israel's Christian population was outpacing the Jewish population increase percentage-wise despite the influx of almost 1 million Jewish immigrants, and was barely lagging behind the rapidly growing Muslim population in spite of its much higher birth rate.
The Jewish population grew 1.9 percent in 2001 compared to 2.3 percent in 2000. The Muslim birthrate is the highest with Muslim women averaging 4.7 children compared to 2.8 for Jewish and 2.6 for Christian women.
The number of immigrants to Israel was down more than 25 percent in 2001 from the previous year. The population growth is more than twice that of most European states.
According to the survey, 250,000 non-Israeli Christians live and work in the country, with about two-thirds having been in the land for more than a year. About 24,000 Christians arrived in the country with Jewish family members from Poland, Romania and the former Soviet Union, the survey shows.
Link please...unless it is Channel 2, in which case I'll pass. Thank you ever so much.
As a Catholic, I would feel completely at ease if I were to live in Israel. Actually, I'll bet I would be welcomed by most Jews! So there.
They are too busy on other threads bashing Israel and worshipping the peaceful and tolerant Palestinians.
The article is disingenuous in atributing the latter phenomenon to alleged Palestinian intolerance, however. Palestinian Christian groups, who I believe are the most qualified to speak on the matter, attribute it to the hardships caused by Israel's military occupation.
This article is disingenuous also in it that it does not tell what is the character of this increase. It is that many of Jewish immigrants from Russia are Christian or have Christian relatives with them, and that number of Jews in Israel CONVERT to Christianity.
I think you meant to say: "many of the immigrants from Russia coming in as Jews bring their Christian relatives with them, and these non-Jewish immigrants convert to Christianity."
There are not huge numbers of Israeli Jews converting to Christianity, but about 80% of the "Jewish" immigrants from Russia are not Jews at all.
No, I even know some Jews who became Christians (including one who became Christian in Israel). They are Jews and they are neither Poles nor Chinese. They are Jews by nationality, race, ethnicity.
There is a Jewish nation as well as Jewish religion. If Armenian becomes a Protestant he is still Armenian even if he does not belong to the Armenian Church (which is a separate religious body).
What I meant is that:
1) some of those Christians were not Jewish and they were members of families which immigrated,
2) some of the Jews who immigrated converted to Christinity before
3) some are Jews who converted in Israel.
All those three categories are responsible for the increase of number of Christians in the Holy Land. Palestinian Christians who are original inhabitans long before Islam and who were there from the first century AD are leaving the country.
While others have gotten to the meat of this deceptive propaganda, who is making this claim?
I heard that conversion from Judaism to another religion was tantamount to death in that culture, and that it was against the law to preach Christianity to Jews in Israel.
Is it true that devout Jews shun and consider "dead" those family members who convert out of their faith?
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