Religion in Israel is a central feature of the country and plays a major role in shaping Israeli culture and lifestyle. Israel Israel officially the State of Israel (Hebrew: מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל (help·info), Medinat Yisra'el; Arabic: دَوْلَةُ إِسْرَائِيلَ, Dawlat Isrā'īl), is a developed state in Western Asia located on the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea. It borders Lebanon in the north, Syria in the northeast, Jordan in is the only country in the world where a majority of citizens are Jewish The Jews , also known as the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group originating in the Israelites or Hebrews of the Ancient Near East. The Jewish ethnicity, nationality, and religion are strongly interrelated, as Judaism is the traditional faith of the Jewish nation. Converts to Judaism, whose status as Jews within the Jewish ethnos is equal. According to the Israel Central Bureau of Statistics The Israel Central Bureau of Statistics , abbreviated CBS, is an Israeli government office established in 1949 to carry out research and publish statistical data on all aspects of Israeli life, including population, society, economy, industry, education and physical infrastructure, the population in 2005 was 76.1% Jewish, 16.2% Muslim A Muslim , pronounced /ˈmʊslɪm/, is an adherent of the religion of Islam. The feminine form is Muslimah (Arabic: مسلمة). Literally, the word means "one who submits (to God)". Muslim is the participle of the same verb of which Islam is the infinitive. Muslims believe that there is only one God, translated in Arabic as Allah, 2.1% Christian A Christian (pronounced /ˈkrɪstʃən/ ) is a person who adheres to Christianity, an Abrahamic, monotheistic, religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth, who Christians believe was the Messiah (the Christ in Greek-derived terminology) prophesied in the Old Testament/Hebrew Bible, and the Son of God, and 1.6% Druze The Druze are a religious community found primarily in Syria, Lebanon, Israel, and Jordan, whose traditional religion is said to have begun as an offshoot of Islam, but is unique in its incorporation of Gnostic, neo-Platonic and other philosophies, similar to other followers of Ismaili Shi'a Islam, with the remaining 4.0% not classified by religion.[1]
Israel has no constitution, but freedom of religion Freedom of religion is a principle that supports the freedom of an individual or community, in public or private, to manifest religion or belief in teaching, practice, worship, and observance; the concept is generally recognized also to include the freedom to change religion or not to follow any religion. Freedom of religion is considered by many is anchored in law.[2] Legal accommodation of the non-Jewish communities follows the pattern and practice of the Ottoman and British administrations with some important modifications. The religions officially recognized under Israeli law are: Eastern Orthodox The Orthodox Church, also officially called the Orthodox Catholic Church[note 1] and commonly referred to in English speaking countries as the Eastern Orthodox Church,[note 2] is the world's second largest Christian communion, estimated to number 700 million members. It is considered by its adherents to be the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic, Latin (Roman Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church,[note 1] is the world's largest Christian church. With more than a billion members, over half of all Christians[note 2] and more than one-sixth of the world's population, the Catholic Church is a communion of the Western, or Church, and 22 autonomous Eastern Catholic Churches (called), Armenian Apostolic The Armenian Apostolic Church is the world's oldest National Church and is one of the most ancient Christian communities. Armenia was the first country to adopt Christianity as its official religion in 301 AD, in establishing this church. The Armenian Apostolic Church traces its origins to the missions of Apostles Bartholomew and Thaddeus in the 1, Armenian Catholic, Syrian Catholic, Chaldean Catholic, Greek Catholic Melkite, Maronite Maronites are members of one of the Lebanese or Syriac Eastern Catholic Churches, with a heritage reaching back to Maron the Syriac Monk in the early 5th century. The first Maronite Patriarch, John Maron, was elected in the late 7th century. Although reduced in numbers today, Maronites remain one of the principal ethno-religious groups in Lebanon, Syrian Orthodox The Syriac Orthodox Church is an autocephalous Oriental Orthodox church based in the Middle East, with members spread throughout the world. It parted ways with Eastern Orthodoxy and Roman Catholicism over the Council of Chalcedon in 451, which the Syriac Orthodox Church rejects. It is a major inheritor of Syriac Christianity and has Syriac, a and Judaism Judaism is a set of beliefs and practices originating in the Hebrew Bible (Tanakh), as later further explored and explained in the Talmud and other texts. Judaism presents itself as the covenantal relationship between the Children of Israel (later, the Jewish nation) and God.[3] Three additional communities have since been added to the list: Druze The Druze are a religious community found primarily in Syria, Lebanon, Israel, and Jordan, whose traditional religion is said to have begun as an offshoot of Islam, but is unique in its incorporation of Gnostic, neo-Platonic and other philosophies, similar to other followers of Ismaili Shi'a Islam, Evangelical Evangelicalism is a Protestant Christian movement which began in Great Britain in the 1730s. Most adherents consider its key characteristics to be: a belief in the need for personal conversion ; some expression of the gospel in effort; a high regard for biblical authority; and an emphasis on the death and resurrection of Jesus. David Bebbington, Anglicanism Anglicanism is a tradition within Christianity comprising churches with historical connections to the Church of England or similar beliefs, worship and church structures. According to some writers, Anglicanism forms one of the principal traditions of Christianity, together with Protestantism, Roman Catholicism and Eastern Orthodoxy, and Bahá'í.[2] The fact that the Muslim A Muslim , pronounced /ˈmʊslɪm/, is an adherent of the religion of Islam. The feminine form is Muslimah (Arabic: مسلمة). Literally, the word means "one who submits (to God)". Muslim is the participle of the same verb of which Islam is the infinitive. Muslims believe that there is only one God, translated in Arabic as Allah population was not defined as a religious community is a vestige of the Ottoman The Ottoman Empire or Ottoman State , also known by its contemporaries as the Turkish Empire or Turkey (see the other names of the Ottoman State), was an empire that lasted from 1299 to November 1, 1922 (as an imperial monarchy) or July 24, 1923 (de jure, as a state.) It was succeeded by the Republic of Turkey, which was officially proclaimed on era, when Islam Islam (Arabic: الإسلام al-’islām, pronounced [ʔislæːm] [note 1]) is the religion articulated by the Qur’an, a book considered by its adherents to be the verbatim word of the single incomparable God (Arabic: الله, Allāh), and by the Islamic prophet Muhammad's demonstrations and real-life examples (called the Sunnah, was the dominant religion. The religious rights of the Muslim community are not affected by this, as even members of unrecognized religions are free to practice their religion.[2]
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