This post is designed to help individuals taking the following courses: HUM 130 and REL 134 and any basic religion course.
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Religion courses are easy for many people but for those who are staunch in their beliefs, religion can often be a difficult course This true of the most basic of theology classes because students that hold strong beliefs with their own faith often find it difficult to see other belief structures in an objective manner. This can create bias in papers and can cause conflict between students. For these reasons, I have created this posting which discusses Judaism as it compares and contrasts with Islam and Christianity. The post also discusses the basic conflicts of thought and inner conflicts pertaining to Judaism. In this way a student can see how they might tackle a topic of religion without becoming extremely biased.
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Although Judaism shares a large history and many theological similarities, with Christianity and Islam, the religions have become diametrically opposed fundamentally. These fundamental differences have caused serious violent altercations and have been at the root of many hostilities. The three major points of contention that outlines the fundamental differences between these religions:
1. Essential truths of the independent faiths
2. Political involvement
3. Cultural differences
Essential Truths
Judaism distinguishes itself from Christianity and Islam on the fundamental belief that Jesus Christ was not the savior and the Mohammad is not the final prophet. These beliefs are considered heretical by the opposing faiths. Along with this major difference in belief there is also the contention that is created from the belief of Islam that Jews refuse to accept later revelations which give a more accurate portrayal of the bible. Then there is the conflict of belief that Judaism and Islam share for Christianity in that the religion is heretical because if promotes idolatry in the belief that Jesus was God in man’s form. Despite the common beliefs in God these differences separate these religions and consistently keep them in opposition of one another.
Political Involvement
As a result of conflict occurring with essential truths, Judaism, Christianity and Islam have further escalated their divide because of their common trait of becoming involved with politics. Islam has become a political force in the Middle East with most of the countries there existing as theocracies. Amidst these Islamic states, Israel exists as the homeland for all Jewish persons. Christianity, although having been divided from government, still maintains extreme power through special interest groups within countries such as the United States and Europe.
Underlying the laws of Islamic states is the religion itself. The Sharia which is Islamic religious law, also serves as the primary law for Islamic nations. Under Judaism, although a democratic government is formed, the laws are still based in part on the Tanakh, Talmud, and, Shulkhan Arukh. These are Jewish biblical canons. Christianity also roots itself in many democratic governments with the Bible underlying many laws. This situation has caused the political associations of countries developed in this manner to be strained and at times resulting in war.
What mainly causes this political tension is the fundamental beliefs as directed through law. Judaism, similar to Christianity, can find a home in democratic systems but Islam is far from democratic and its culture has developed in a manner which is opposed to democratic thinking. For example, the view of women as being subordinate or as property is not acceptable in modern democratic systems. Interestingly enough, all three religions have at one time shared this view.
Judaism is also what is considered a religion of exclusion (Biale, 2011). While one can convert to Judaism many Jews do not accept these converts because they were not born into the religion. For this reason Judaism does not proselytize. This is in direct opposition to Islam and Christianity in which both religions proselytize and seek to convert others. This fundamental difference also generates hostility because each religion is seeking to either convert the other or to be opposed to their beliefs.
Cultural Beliefs
Due to the fundamental differences in belief, each religion has developed a significantly different culture which again drives conflict. Judaism like Islam has incorporated many daily practices into their culture. For example, many Jews practice attendance to synagogue three times a day (Judaism, 2009). This practice is dependent upon one’s level of commitment. Judaism has its own foods and also its own customs a traditions.
This is similar to Islam in which prayer and custom is built into the lifestyle and culture. In Islamic states, prayer is mandatory five times per day. This practice is part of the work and social culture.
Christianity maintains less daily traditions but does have its personal traditions such as praying daily. The difference in culture from Christianity to Judaism and Islam creates more conflict because the traditions and practices are viewed sometimes as heretical by the other. The respect for individual rights and the treatment of other persons is at the heart of these conflicts. Judaism continues distinguishes itself in practice and culturally through a unique phenomenon known as Jewish Secularism. Jewish secularism is the maintaining of cultural practices wrought from the religion but not the belief in the religion itself (Biale, 2011). This is a growing movement in the Jewish culture which separates the belief from the culture. Secular culture further divides and adds to the conflict between these religions as it is viewed as completely heretical.
Inner-Conflict
Judaism is today suffering from the problem of lack of community. As American Jews have increased in numbers and they have begun marrying outside their faith, the Jewish community is not nearly as tight knit as it once was (Cohen, 2009). Jews today do not feel the obligation to Judaism which just a few decades before, was more far more prominent. This combined with secularization has been a diminishing factor for Jewishness or the community of Judaism.
A further escalation of this problem is that the culture of American Jews is rapidly growing more distant from Israeli Jews. In part, this divide is being caused by the American value system in that it views religion as a personal choice rather than an obligatory tradition. Jews in America strongly define themselves as orthodox, reformed, conservative, etc… In Israel and other parts of the world Jews do not view themselves with this degree of division. As a result the culture of Jews is being lost in America because the view of it ethnicity has been altered to that of religion. For example, the Jew is placed not in the category or Irish or Italian, but today finds its own category to be religion and thus categorized with other religions (Cohen, 2009).
The differences between Judaism and Christianity and Islam have been an ongoing struggle. The inner conflicts of the Jewish faith and culture have also been ongoing and growing in concern. Today the Jewish people have been taking active measures to make changes in these situations such as taking part in interfaith councils. The cultural divide with Israel will however continue to challenge the faith as there seems to be no solution to the problem.
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References
Biale, D. (2011) Not in the Heavens: The Tradition of Jewish Secular Thought, Princeton University Press p.10
Cohen, SM. (2009) Changes in American Jewish Identities Since 1948: From Norms to Aesthetics The American Jewish Scene, The Blog Retrieved from http://ejewishphilanthropy.com/changes-in-american-jewish-identities-since-1948-from- norms-to-aesthetics/
Judaism 101. (2009). Welcome to Judaism 101! Retrieved March 4, 2012 from http://www.jewfaq.org/index.htm
