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Atheism, Judaism, Christianity, Islam

Judaism

Read / Write Comments | By Vexen Crabtree

Judaism is one of the most ancient religions, and was perhaps the first religion to be comprehensively monotheistic. From Judaism sprang both Islam and Christianity.

UK2001 Census: There are 267 000 nominal Jews in England & Wales (0.5% of the population)

The religious and cultural identity of the Jews means that statistics include both religious "practising" Jews and secular non-religious ones.

The Disputed Ancient History of the Jews

In his description of Humanistic Judaism, Prof. Partridge notes that modern secular academics dispute the entire Biblical pseudo-history of the Jewish peoples.

According to Sherwin Wine, the major exponent of Humanistic Judaism, the traditional conception of Jewish history is mistaken. In his view, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob never existed. Furthermore, the Exodus account is a myth: 'There is no historical evidence to substantiate a massive Hebrew departure from the land of the Pharaohs. As far as we can surmise, the Hebrew occupation of the hill country on both sides of the Jordan was continuous. The 12 tribes never left their ancestral land, never endured 400 years of slavery, and never wandered the Sinai desert.' Moreover, Moses was not the leader of the Hebrews, nor did he compose the Torah. In this light, it is an error to regard the biblical account as authoritative; rather it is a human record of the history of the Israelite nation, the purpose of which is to reinforce the faith of the Jewish nation. [...] Humanistic Judaism thus offers an option for those who wish to identify with the Jewish community despite their rejection of the traditional understanding of God's nature and activity.

"Encyclopedia of New Religions" by Christopher Partridge (2004)1

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By Vexen Crabtree

References: (What's this?)

Partridge, Christopher (Ed.)
"Encyclopedia of New Religions" (2004 Hardback). Published by Lion Publishing, Oxford, UK.

Notes

  1. Partridge (2004) p118.^