Is any other religion defined on genetic testing besides Judaism?
Asked by
JLeslie (
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April 21st, 2018
from iPhone
Ancestry.com and the other genetic tests will tell you if you are part European Jewish or Ashkenazi Jewish. I have no idea if it also has a category for Sephardic Jewish. I also am wondering if any other religion is defined genetically as a group?
In some ways I find it a little odd. I don’t know what it is about European Jews that is genetically unique that the tests can pick it up. Does that make it a race in your mind?
I know a woman who has a friend who does genetic research, and uses Jews in some of his work. The way I understood her, because the group was so tighknit for so many thousands of years it’s easier to find genetic markers, like how they gathered the genetic sequence of the Icelandic people for the same sort of research.
Can they tell you if your ancestors were Catholic or Hindu? Would you want to know?
It’s just odd to me to single out a religion. We don’t do it on our census in America, which I’m glad, even though as a group it might be interesting information for migration, demographics, psychographics, and indeed politics and business do sometimes define the group and their habits.
I’m interested in your thoughts.
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15 Answers
It’s ethnicity, not religion.
You know this. You said it right in your question – the group was so tighknit for so many thousands of years it’s easier to find genetic markers
If you have a better label for that tight-knit group feel free to share.
^^I consider it a religion and ethnicity, and I’ve always steered away from race, but having genetic sequences that demonstrate Jewish blood is interesting and odd to me. I don’t really know why the Jews can be pinpointed like that.
In Iceland you need genetic testing in order to marry. I believe that they are Nordics.
I don’t really know why the Jews can be pinpointed like
Yes, you do – “The group was so tighknit for so many thousands of years it’s easier to find genetic markers”
“Jew” is the same as “Norwegian” or “Slav” or “Pacific Islander” for tracing the history of populations.
@Tropical_Willie I saw it on the news. To keep from inbreeding . You must prove that you are not related from having a not so wide of genetic dispersion of 300,000 people. Your link doesn’t work. I didn’t cast a wide search so it is possible that it is fake news. I did however hear about it in cable news in Canada years ago.
@Tropical_Willie I checked your link. I mean for locals to get married not tourists. Though I agree that it is not a religious based law, but they are a common culture.
A friend of mine here did the genetic testing with her husband and found out they are relatives. They had no idea they were related. I don’t remember how. A few generations back.
@Call_Me_Jay But, is it only the European Jews? How did we get there anyway? I mean weren’t the Jews first in the Middle East? I don’t fully understand the migration to begin with.
The Sephardic Jews also kept to their own, the ones who didn’t convert during the inquisition. The Sephardic Jews are a very small population too.
A friend of mine here did the genetic testing with her husband and found out they are relatives.
Times of Israel – Sept 10, 2014 - ’[Columbia University researchers] found that the Ashkenazi Jews’ genetic similarities were so acute that one of the study’s researchers, Columbia professor Itsik Pe’er, told the Live Science website that among Ashkenazi Jews, “everyone is a 30th cousin.”’
Looking at that story and some others, the origins of the Ashkenazi isn’t known, and there are conflicting stories, which I think is from different studies using small samples. For example, the story linked above described a DNA study of only 128 people.
But the broad outline I gather is that Jews moved from around the Mediterranean up to Central and Eastern Europe roughly 1,000 years ago, and were not marrying outside the group much after the middle ages.
^^The Sephardic Jews and Mizrahi Jews often are olive skin, or even if not olive, still not extremely pale skin, and dark hair and dark eyes. Fits in with the Mediterranean location.
The European Jews, we have a lot of very pale skin, blue eyes, and brown hair, and we are one of the groups with “high” amounts of red hair (although red is still low rate like with any group) similar to the people in the European countries we are associated with. I guess it makes sense with such a tight group you would see recessive traits come out a lot, but also it’s interesting to have such Caucasian European characteristics.
DNA test do not provide one’s religion. All Jews do not follow the Jewish religious tradition. Many gentiles do. This question made me laugh.
^^But, the DNA tests do tell you if you have Ashkenazi lineage. I now know three people personally who came back with a percentage of it when they hadn’t known it was in the family, and then there are people like my sister who did the test and she is over 90%, which is no surprise.
I don’t know what you mean by gentiles being Jews. Very few Jews are people who converted statistically speaking. I do know plenty of people who have converted, just to contradict myself, usually for marriage, but that doesn’t affect whether their ancestry was Jewish.
You have me wondering how often Ashkenazi Jews get a surprise that they are less than 50% European Jewish. What I always hear about is Christians finding out they are a percentage Jewish and being surprised.
The thing about being Jewish is, you can’t escape it when among the antisemites, even if you don’t practice Judaism, even if you practice another religion.
Many many Gentiles follow the religious tradition of Judaism. Understand? @JLeslie
^^But, do you understand they won’t necessarily come up with any Jewish ancestry? If they identify as Jewish I fully accept them as Jews, I’m not saying they aren’t Jewish.
The Q is asking can we pinpoint Shia? Hindu? Any other religion in a genetic test? What if someone found out they were 30% Catholic, when they were busy hating the Catholics in their little part of Ireland. What if Muslim sects that don’t get along in the Middle East could be defined?
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