religious conversion

Submitted by Fred Schlomka (Israel), Jul 4, 2006 at 16:31

I think Mr. Hewlett, like many westerners, misses a critical distinction between the types of fluid religious faith common in the West, with religio/national identities more common in the Middle and Far East. For many in my part of the world, religious faith is inextricably tied to their ethnic and national identity. Their sense of peoplehood. It is not, as Mr. Hewlitt suggested, akin to a political belief. Far from it. Religious identity in traditional societies is less a matter of logic or choice, and more a matter of birth. In the Middle East, one is born a Christian, Muslim or Jew, and that identity defines one's place in society. It's as hard for me to shed my 'Jewishness' as it would be for you to shed your 'Americanness'. One can't be converted out of it. It's just a fact of life. Hitler understood this when he slaughtered my people.

That's also why Israel, like many other countries, defines nationality and citizenship as two distinct criteria, and wraps religion with nationality. Until recently our national identity cards had a line item for nationality. While all in Israel are citizens, nationality was defined as 'Jewish' or 'Muslim' or 'Russian', expressing Religious and ethnic background.

So while Americans may have shed their national identities, as is perhaps appropriate in a relatively new culture and country, other societies cherish their differences and don't take too kindly to folks from outside their countries coming in and telling them that they 'should' change their religion. The Missionary tradition is uniquely American and European. Jews or Muslims have never sent religious people around the world and coerced and slaughtered milions in the name of their G-d and conversion. However Western Christianity has done just that. Also milions of my people were recently used as furnace fuel in Christian Europe to satisfy the zenophobic culture there only sixty years ago. So you shouldn't be surprized when countries like Israel say no thanks when it comes to accepting foreign Western missionaries in our midst. You guys have a bad track record. Consider this:

What would the reaction of Christian Americans be if Israel demanded that you provide visas for a few thousand dedicated Jewish missionaries who would fan out over small town America and set up synagogues with the express purpose of converting as many Christians as possible. Would America sit back and say yes, let the marketplace of ideas allow each person to choose whether to convert to Judaism or not. Yet this is just what American Christian missionaries traditionally demand of other countries.

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