Jewishness: Strictly a religion or also an ethnicity?

I would not call Judaism an “ethnicity” seeing as Jews come from all different ethnic and geographic backgrounds. However, I would say that beyond being a religion, Judaism is a way of life.

It began as an ethno-religion (made up word), but because of the Diaspora, and intermarriages, they are less ethnically-based. These days it is primarily a religion.

Not true. I consider myself a secular Jew and we are Legion. All of my ancestors were Jewish; the fact that my mother is Jewish makes me one. I have belonged to Synagogues at times in my life but no longer attend services. But when the moment comes to stand up and be counted, I will always be Jewish.

its both. started out as an ethnicity. Back when abraham made the covenant with God. Now, those people who do not believe Jesus was the messiah are jews, while everyone else became orthodox christians (legalized with constantine). Jesus was a Jew only in ethnicity, but was fully God and fully man.

Some people get incredibly upset regarding this topic. My father is a Jew, even though he converted to Catholicism, and my mom is from Ireland and also Catholic. I was raised Catholic, yet I consider myself Half-Jewish. To me, it’s clearly more than a religion. Certain sizeable ethnic groups around Turkey and Southern Russia converted to Judaism, so many Jews can be identified as a Jew, simply by their physical appearance.

According to classical Judaism, someone can be a Jew through matrilineal descent or Jewish legal conversion. Thus, according to this view, an individual’s religious beliefs are largely independent of his/her status as a Jew.

In other words, according to traditional Judaism, someone can believe in Judaism but not be a Jew, and vice-versa. Classical Jewish law maintains heavier requirements of observence for someone who is technically a Jew. Consequently, conversion is usually discouraged unless the potential convert is dedicated to following the strict legal code required for Jews.

I think the confusion here lies in the term “ethnicity”. I am a secular humanist but am a part of the Jewish “culture”.

The answer depends on who you ask really.

What can we say – it’s complicated.

Judaism, like Christianity and Islam, is a religion. One can be Jewish, but secular and non-practising (or even be an Atheist), but the religion is Jewish. If the mother is Jewish, the child is Jewish. It doesn’t matter what your culture is, where you’re from, or what you practise.

Thankyou for asking this question, @rawpixels. It’s a really touchy subject. My Jewish friends don’t like to give me a straight answer, lol. Quite a few of them are atheist.. so clearly, being “Jewish” isn’t all about religion or even way of life. This cleared things up s bit.