Religion plays a significant role in Israeli society. Because numerous Christians worldwide look to the country where Jesus lived and died as a source of inspiration, Israel’s tiny Christian community is of interest.
Christians currently structure just 2% of Israel’s adult population. Christians made up a small share (4%) of the people within the Middle East-North Africa region as an entire.
A Pew research facility survey of Israel provides a rare window into this close-knit group’s religious beliefs and practices. Here are five key takeaways from our survey:
1. The overwhelming majority of Israelis who say they’re Christian also say they’re ethnically Arab. during this regard, they share an ethnicity with the larger Muslim population, which makes up an estimated 14% of Israel’s adult population and is nearly entirely Arab. Most of Israel’s Druze population identifies as ethnically Arab, although Druze is usually considered a singular ethnoreligious group.
2. Politically, Christians accept as true with Muslims in saying Israel can’t be a democracy and a Jewish state at an equivalent time. About seven in ten Christians (72%) and 63% of Muslims take this view. Israeli Christians have politics almost like those of their fellow Arabs on several other issues also. For instance, majorities of Christians (80%) and Muslims (72%) say the Israeli government isn’t making a sincere effort to realize a peace agreement with the Palestinians. Most Christians (79%) and Muslims (61%) in Israel also say the continued building of Jewish settlements within the West Bank hurts Israel’s security. And Israeli Christians (86%) and Muslims (75%) both overwhelmingly say the U.S. is just too supportive of Israel.
3. Israeli Christians tend to be less religious than Israeli Muslims but more religious than Israeli Jews on key measures of spiritual commitment. For instance, in Israel, 57% of Christians say religion is extremely important to them personally, compared with roughly two-thirds (68%) of Muslims and three in ten Jews. Israeli Christians also tend to fall between Muslims and Jews on other measures of spiritual commitment. About one-third of Israeli Christians pray daily (34%), and 38% say they attend religious services a minimum of weekly. By comparison, 61% of Muslims and 21% of Jews pray a day, and about half Muslims (49%) and 1 / 4 of Jews (27%) report attending religious services a minimum of weekly. If you want to Israel Christian tours so you can visit this website to book the ticket.
4. Israeli Christians have limited social and family connections with Jews, also like Arabs from other religious groups. An outsized majority of Christians say all (21%) or most (65%) of their close friends are Christian. Christians are also almost universally married to other Christians, and that they are uncomfortable with the thought of their child marrying a Muslim or Jew. Roughly nine-in-ten Christians say they might be “not too” comfortable (9%) or “not at all” comfortable (79%) with their child marrying a Jew, and eight-in-ten (80%) say they might be uncomfortable if a Muslim married into the family.
5. Certain religious practices are quite common among Israeli Christians. for instance, an awesome majority (94%) of Christians in Israel say they need to be baptized. Majorities also say they need icons of saints or other holy figures in their homes (81%), which they need to be anointed with chrism (83%) – a ritual performed annually or just in case of illness. A majority (60%) say they fast during Lent. Tithing – that’s, giving a percentage of one’s income to the church – is a smaller amount common among Christians in Israel; 39% say they tithe.
