A rather key difference is that a Japanese person can also be a Christian.
Well yes, that is an interesting nuance but then again so what. If Israel wants to fence its society in the religious aspect, so be it. Plenty of other countries do as well. I don’t have to like it but I think it makes sense if you see it from the perspective of the Jews.
Yes, but take for example Muslim countries. In many you are not allowed to be an atheist. Whereas in Israel, if you are Jewish and "converted" to atheism, you are welcome to make aliyah, but if you by the same token you have become Muslim or Christian, you are not. That isn't really fencing the religious aspect. It is only excluding other religion, but not preserving their own religion as theoretically the whole country could become atheist with no repercussions.
I don't claim they're perfectly consistent in their fencing. I think the tolerance of atheist Jews goes back almost a century when many in the Jewish intelligentsia anticipated a final shedding of the antiquated and "useless" religious forms. Israel's founders were overwhelmingly leftists and atheists and the Israelis that took Judaism seriously were not looked highly upon in the first decades of Israel's existence. Indeed, in-migration of religious Jews from certain regions of the world were restricted because of their religiosity. An increasing openness to Judaism and the growing prominence of religious Israelis in politics maps pretty well with what we've experienced in the U.S, in the last 40+ years and is generally, I think, a reaction against materialistic Liberalism that was ascendant and dominant in the first half of the 20th century.
All that to say, I think that history with Jewish atheists is why, within the Jewish logic; atheism (along with dabbling in eastern mysticism) is kosher-ish whilst following Jesus is goy and converting to Islam is nonsensical.
HondurasKeiser wrote: ↑Mon Feb 23, 2026 9:28 pm
Well yes, that is an interesting nuance but then again so what. If Israel wants to fence its society in the religious aspect, so be it. Plenty of other countries do as well. I don’t have to like it but I think it makes sense if you see it from the perspective of the Jews.
Yes, but take for example Muslim countries. In many you are not allowed to be an atheist. Whereas in Israel, if you are Jewish and "converted" to atheism, you are welcome to make aliyah, but if you by the same token you have become Muslim or Christian, you are not. That isn't really fencing the religious aspect. It is only excluding other religion, but not preserving their own religion as theoretically the whole country could become atheist with no repercussions.
I don't claim they're perfectly consistent in their fencing. I think the tolerance of atheist Jews goes back almost a century when many in the Jewish intelligentsia anticipated a final shedding of the antiquated and "useless" religious forms. Israel's founders were overwhelmingly leftists and atheists and the Israelis that took Judaism seriously were not looked highly upon in the first decades of Israel's existence. Indeed, in-migration of religious Jews from certain regions of the world were restricted because of their religiosity. An increasing openness to Judaism and the growing prominence of religious Israelis in politics maps pretty well with what we've experienced in the U.S, in the last 40+ years and is generally, I think, a reaction against materialistic Liberalism that was ascendant and dominant in the first half of the 20th century.
All that to say, I think that history with Jewish atheists is why, within the Jewish logic; atheism (along with dabbling in eastern mysticism) is kosher-ish whilst following Jesus is goy and converting to Islam is nonsensical.
Yes, I remember watching an interview with an ultra orthodox rabbi (anti-zionist) talking about how irreligious the movement was and how the orthodox were looked down upon and mocked. That was quite a shocking discovery for. The whole idea that there were a lot of Jews antizionist I had never heard of.