CHRISTIANITY IN ISRAEL: 5 facts that will surprise you

CHRISTIANITY IN ISRAEL: 5 facts that will surprise you

October 9, 2024 Off By Mike

Following my previous article on the Church in Lebanon, I received questions about why I “never report on the church in Israel.” Although I have frequently discussed the Church in Israel, I felt this comment warranted a comprehensive examination to help Christians gain a deeper understanding of the body of Christ in Israel. I believe that a thorough exploration of faith in Israel will also shed light on the broader challenges faced by Christians in the region

ISRAEL DEMOGRAPHICS

Population: Israel has a population of 9,4 million people, ethnically divided as follows:

  • Jewish 73.5% (of which Israel-born 79.7%)
  • Arab 21.1%,
  • other 5.4% (2022 est.)

RELIGIONS

The four major religions in Israel are Judaism, Islam, Christianity and Druze.

  • Jewish 73.5%,
  • Muslim 18.1%,
  • Christian 1.9%,
  • Druze 1.6%,
  • other 4.9%

NON-RELIGIOUS

The above statistics, however, are according to the national census and do not reflect the diversity and complexity of the religious composition.   Even though 73.5% would identify as Jewish, 65% of Israelis declared in a poll that they are either not religious or convinced atheists.

According to an article in Haaretz, Israel’s biggest and most influential source of news coverage, Israel is NOT a nation of faith but one of the world’s least religious nations in the world where less than one-third of Israelis say they are religious – which is well below the norm in western Europe.

CHRISTIANITY

Christianity is the third largest religion in Israel, after Judaism and Islam.  At the end of 2022, Christians made up 1.9% of the Israeli population, numbering approximately 185,000.

Three out of four (75.8%) of the Christians in Israel are Arab Christians. Christians make up 6.9% of the Arab-Israelis.

Ten Christian churches are formally recognized under Israel’s confessional system, for the self-regulation and state recognition of status issues, such as marriage and divorce:

  • the Armenian Apostolic Church,
  • the Armenian Catholic Church,
  • the Chaldean Catholic Church,
  • the Episcopal Church in Jerusalem and the Middle East,
  • the Greek Orthodox Church,
  • the Latin Catholic Church,
  • the Melkite Greek Catholic Church,
  • the Syriac Catholic Church,
  • the Syriac Maronite Church,
  • and the Syriac Orthodox Church.

The practice of religion in Israel is free, with no restrictions on the practice of other denominations.

Approximately 300 Christians have converted from Islam according to one 2014 estimate, and most of them are part of the Catholic Church.

About 20,000 Israelis also practice Messianic Judaism, usually considered a syncretist form of Christianity.  They are mostly classified as being “without a religious affiliation” rather than being classified as either Jewish or Christian.

MESSIANIC JEWS

Israel Today recently interviewed David Serner and Alexander Goldberg, the authors of Jesus-Believing Israelis: Exploring Messianic Fellowship, published by Jerusalem’s Caspari Center in 2022. In their book, the two reported on the results of their survey that set out to discover how many Messianic Jews there are in Israel.

In their study, Serner and Goldberg tried to survey all Messianic fellowships in Israel, including house churches and as well mainline denominations from Pentecostal to Roman Catholics.

They did not include Arab Christian congregations in their survey and not all groups agreed to participate and some provided incomplete information.

To qualify as a Messianic Jew, the individuals had to believe Jesus was both fully human and divine and fulfilled Israel’s Law of Return requiring at least one grandparent to be Jewish.

Their survey revealed that there are:

  • 280 fellowships/churches in Israel
  • 15,323 members in 273 churches (They were unable to contact seven groups);
  • 8,125 of the adults are Messianic Jews

PERSECUTION

Since Netanyahu’s far-right government came into power there has been an increase in anti-Christian incidents

While there have long been periodic incidents of vandalism and harassment against Christian clergy in Jerusalem’s Old City, there has been a noticeable rise in attacks in recent times.  In November last year, two soldiers from the Israel Defense Forces’ Givati Brigade were detained on suspicion of spitting at the Armenian archbishop and other pilgrims during a procession in the Old City.

The next week, the Maronite community center in the northern city of Ma’alot-Tarshiha was vandalized by unknown assailants over the Christmas holiday.

Jerusalem’s Armenian community buildings were also targeted by vandals, with multiple discriminatory phrases graffitied on the exterior of structures in the Armenian Quarter. According to the Armenian Patriarchate, “revenge,” “death to Christians,” “death to Arabs and gentiles” and “death to Armenians” were all graffitied in the quarter.

The attacks kept coming. On a Thursday night in late January, a gang of religious Jewish teens threw chairs at an Armenian restaurant inside the city’s New Gate. The vandalism at the Church of the Flagellation occurred the very next week.

Some ultra-Orthodox Jews have been reported to have a decades-old practice of cursing and spitting on Christian clergymen in Jerusalem, and there have been cases where churches and cemeteries were defaced by price taggers.

From 2018 to 2023, a total of 157 attacks on Christian sanctities in Israel by extremist Jews were documented.

5 FACTS ABOUT ISRAELI CHRISTIANS THAT WILL SURPRISE YOU

A Pew Research Center survey of Israel provides a rare window into the religious beliefs and practices of this close-knit group. Here are five key takeaways from their survey:

1. The vast majority of Israelis who say they are Christian also say they are ethnically Arab. 

In this regard, they share an ethnicity with the larger Muslim population, which makes up an estimated 14% of Israel’s adult population and is almost entirely Arab. Most of Israel’s Druze population also identifies as ethnically Arab, although Druze are often considered a unique ethnoreligious group.

2. Politically, Christians agree with Muslims in saying Israel cannot be a democracy and a Jewish state at the same time.

About seven-in-ten Christians (72%) and 63% of Muslims take this view. Israeli Christians have political views similar to those of their fellow Arabs on several other issues as well. For example, majorities of Christians (80%) and Muslims (72%) say the Israeli government is not making a sincere effort to achieve a peace agreement with the Palestinians, and most Christians (79%) and Muslims (61%) in Israel also say the continued building of Jewish settlements in the West Bank hurts Israel’s security. And Israeli Christians (86%) and Muslims (75%) both overwhelmingly say the U.S. is too supportive of Israel.

It might be helpful for the church in the West to listen to their fellow believers in Israel

3. Israeli Christians tend to be less religious than Israeli Muslims but more religious than Israeli Jews on key measures of religious commitment.

For example, in Israel, 57% of Christians say religion is very important to them personally, compared with roughly 68% of Muslims and 30% Jews.

4. Israeli Christians have limited social and family connections with Jews as well as with Arabs from other religious groups. 

A large majority of Christians say all (21%) or most (65%) of their close friends are Christian. Christians also are almost universally married to other Christians, and they are uncomfortable with the idea of their child marrying a Muslim or Jew. Roughly nine-in-ten Christians say they would be “not too” comfortable (9%) or “not at all” comfortable (79%) with their child marrying a Jew, and eight-in-ten (80%) say they would be uncomfortable if a Muslim married into the family.

5. Certain religious practices are very common among Israeli Christians.

For example, an overwhelming majority (94%) of Christians in Israel say they have been baptized. Majorities also say they have icons of saints or other holy figures in their homes (81%) and that they have been anointed with holy oil (83%) – a ritual performed annually or in case of illness. A majority (60%) say they fast during Lent. Tithing – that is, giving a percentage of one’s income to the church – is less common among Christians in Israel; 39% say they tithe.

PRAYER FOR ISRAEL

Israeli Christians often pray for a variety of intentions, reflecting their deep concern for their country and its people. Here are some common themes in their prayers:

  1. Peace and Protection: They pray for peace in Israel and protection for all its inhabitants, including both Israelis and Palestinians.
  2. Wisdom for Leaders: They ask for wisdom and guidance for the leaders of Israel to make decisions that promote peace and justice.
  3. Comfort for the Grieving: They pray for comfort for those who have lost loved ones and for healing for those who are injured or traumatized.
  4. Unity and Reconciliation: They seek unity among different communities and reconciliation between conflicting groups.
  5. Spiritual Revival: They pray for a spiritual awakening and for people to turn to God for guidance and support.
  6. Protection from Evil: They ask for protection from evil and for God to thwart any plans that would bring harm to the nation.

These prayers reflect a deep desire for peace, healing, and spiritual growth in the region.

SOURCES

 

 

 

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TagsChristianity in Israel Religions in Israel