Ethnoreligious group

The elements that are defined as characteristics of an ethnoreligious group are "social character, historical experience, and theological beliefs".{{cite book |last1=Greer |first1=Joanne Marie |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YcTWZ52krLsC&pg=PA45 |title=Research in the Social Scientific Study of Religion |last2=Moberg |first2=David O. |last3=Lynn |first3=Monty L. |date=1 April 2001 |publisher=BRILL |isbn=978-1-55938-893-1 |pages=45 |language=en |quote=Historically, each ethnoreligious group had its own social character, historical experience and theological beliefs. (Robert P. Swierenga 1990, p. 149)}}

A closing of the community takes place through a strict endogamy, which is specifically for the community and that distinguishes an ethno-religious community, that is, as distinct from any other group.{{cite book |last1=Asatrian |first1=Garnik S. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=y1RsBAAAQBAJ&pg=PT10 |title=The Religion of the Peacock Angel: The Yezidis and Their Spirit World |last2=Arakelova |first2=Victoria |date=3 September 2014 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-317-54428-9 |language=en}}

In general, ethnoreligious communities define their ethnic identity by their religious affiliation or a combination of religious affiliation and other factors, such as language, territorial origin etc. Sometimes, ethnoreligious communities can be defined as ethnic groups with close associations with a religion that can be practiced by other ethnicities, such as Irish Catholics and Swedish Lutherans.Yang and Ebaugh, p.369: "Andrew Greeley (1971) identified three types of relationships in the United States: some religious people who do not hold an ethnic identity; some people who have an ethnic identity but are not religious; and cases in which religion and ethnicity are intertwined. Phillip Hammond and Kee Warner (1993), following Harold J. Abramson (1973), further explicated the "intertwining relationships" into a typology. First is "ethnic fusion", where religion is the foundation of ethnicity, or, ethnicity equals religion, such as in the case of the Amish and Jews. The second pattern is that of "ethnic religion", where religion is one of several foundations of ethnicity. The Greek or Russian Orthodox and the Dutch Reformed are examples of this type. In this pattern, ethnic identification can be claimed without claiming the religious identification but the reverse is rare. The third form, "religious ethnicity", occurs where an ethnic group is linked to a religious tradition that is shared by other ethnic groups. The Irish, Italian, and Polish Catholics are such cases. In this pattern, religious identification can be claimed without claiming ethnic identification. Hammond and Warner also suggest that the relationship of religion and ethnicity is strongest in "ethnic fusion" and least strong in "religious ethnicity". Recently, some scholars have argued that even Jews' religion and culture (ethnicity) can be distinguished from each other and are separable (Chervyakov, Gitelman, and Shapiro 1997; Gans 1994)."Hammond and Warner, p.59: "1. Religion is the major foundation of ethnicity, examples include the Amish, Hutterites, Jews, and Mormons. Ethnicity in this pattern, so to speak, equals religion, and if the religious identity is denied, so is the ethnic identity. [Footnote: In actuality, of course, there can be exceptions, as the labels "Jack Mormon", "banned Amish", or "cultural Jew" suggest.] Let us call this pattern "ethnic fusion."

2. Religion may be one of several foundations of ethnicity, the others commonly being language and territorial origin; examples are the Greek or Russian Orthodox and the Dutch Reformed. Ethnicity in this pattern extends beyond religion in the sense that ethnic identification can be claimed without claiming the religious identification, but the reverse is rare. Let us call this pattern "ethnic religion."

3. An ethnic group may be linked to a religious tradition, but other ethnic groups will be linked to it, too. Examples include Irish, Italian, and Polish Catholics; Danish, Norwegian, and Swedish Lutherans. Religion in this pattern extends beyond ethnicity, reversing the previous pattern, and religious identification can be claimed without claiming the ethnic identification. Let us call this pattern "religious ethnicity""

Some ethnoreligious groups' identities are reinforced by the experience of living within a larger community as a distinct minority. Ethnoreligious groups can be tied to ethnic nationalism if the ethnoreligious group possesses a historical base in a specific region.{{cite web |first1=Andreas |last1=Wimmer |title=Democracy and ethno-religious conflict in Iraq |url=https://www.econstor.eu/bitstream/10419/84714/1/zef_dp72.pdf |website=econstor.eu |archive-url= |archive-date=}} In many ethnoreligious groups emphasis is placed upon religious endogamy, and the concurrent discouragement of interfaith marriages or intercourse, as a means of preserving the stability and historical longevity of the community and culture.

The term ethnoreligious has been applied by a reliable source to the following groups:

{{Main|Who is a Jew?|Jewish identity|}}

Prior to the Babylonian exile in the late 7th century BC and early 6th century BC, the Israelites had already emerged as an ethnoreligious group, probably before the time of Hosea in 8th century BC.{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KztVonFGqcsC&q=ethno+religious+israelites&pg=PA146 |title=Ethnicity and Identity in Ancient Israel: Prolegomena to the Study of Ethnic Sentiments and Their Expression in the Hebrew Bible |author=Kenton L. Sparks |publisher=Eisenbrauns |year=1998 |pages=146–148 |isbn=9781575060330}} The ethno-religious character of the Jewish people in antiquity has been expounded upon by scholars such as Salo W. Baron, who spoke of "the ethnoreligious unity of [the Israelite] people",{{Cite book |last=Baron |first=Salo W. |title=Social and Religious History of the Jews |year=1937 |volume=1 |pages=338}} and Shaye J. D. Cohen, when describing Jewish identity during the late Second Temple period.{{Cite book |last=Cohen |first=Shaye J. D. |title=The Beginnings of Jewishness |publisher=University of California Press |year=2001 |isbn=978-0520226937 |pages=137 |chapter=From Ethnos to Ethno-religion}}{{Citation |title=Theoretical Considerations: Nationalism and Ethnicity in Antiquity |date=2006 |work=Elements of Ancient Jewish Nationalism |pages=13 |editor-last=Goodblatt |editor-first=David |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/elements-of-ancient-jewish-nationalism/theoretical-considerations-nationalism-and-ethnicity-in-antiquity/CB4441D91310FB3557F79891F6AE8564 |access-date=2024-06-14 |place=Cambridge |publisher=Cambridge University Press |doi=10.1017/cbo9780511499067.002 |isbn=978-0-521-86202-8|url-access=subscription }}

Since the 19th century, Reform Judaism has differed from Orthodox Judaism on matters of theology and practice; however, toward the end of the 20th century and into the 21st century, the Reform movement has reoriented itself back toward certain traditions and practices it had previously relinquished (for example, wearing the tallit and/or the kippah; the use of Hebrew in the liturgy).{{cite web |title=History of the Reform Movement |url=https://www.myjewishlearning.com/article/reform-judaism/ |website=My Jewish Learning |publisher=70/Faces |access-date=2 July 2021}}

In the United States, the increasing rate of mixed marriages has led to attempts to facilitate conversion of the spouse, although conversion to facilitate marriage is strongly discouraged by traditional Jewish law.{{cite web |title=Conversion and Marriage |url=https://www.chabad.org/theJewishWoman/article_cdo/aid/387726/jewish/Conversion-and-Marriage.htm |website=chabad.org |language=en}} If a non-Jewish woman marrying a Jewish man does not convert, then although traditional interpretations of Jewish law recognize only descent along the maternal line, Reform Judaism will recognize a child born of the marriage as Jewish based on patrilineal descent if that child has "established through appropriate and timely public and formal acts of identification with the Jewish faith and people" that the child self-identifies as Jewish.{{cite web |title=How does Reform Judaism define who is a Jew? |url=https://reformjudaism.org/practice/ask-rabbi/how-does-reform-judaism-define-who-jew |website=ReformJudaism.org |language=en |date=6 June 2013}} In actual practice, most Reform Jews affirm patrilineal descent as a valid means of Jewish identification, particularly if the individual was "raised Jewish".{{cite web |last1=Kaplan |first1=Dana Evan |title=Who Is a Jew: Patrilineal Descent |url=https://www.myjewishlearning.com/article/patrilineal-descent/ |website=My Jewish Learning |publisher=70/Faces |access-date=2 July 2021}}{{cite web |last1=Fischman |first1=Sylvia Barack |title=Fathers of the Faith? Three Decades of Patrilineal Descent in American Reform Judaism |url=http://jppi.org.il/uploads/Fathers%20of%20the%20Faith-%20Three%20Decades%20of%20Patrilineal%20Descent%20in%20American%20Reform%20Judaism.pdf |website=JPPI |access-date=2 July 2021}}

Israeli national identity is linked with Jewish identity as a result of Zionism.{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=oUHIAAAAQBAJ&q=ethno+religious+jews&pg=PA115 |title=The Pursuit of Peace and the Crisis of Israeli Identity: Defending/Defining the Nation |author=Waxman, Dov |publisher=Springer |year=2006 |page=115 |isbn=9781403983473}} In Israel, Jewish religious courts have authority over personal status matters, which has led to friction with secular Jews who sometimes find they must leave the country in order to marry or divorce, particularly in relation to the inherited status of mamzer, the marriage of males from the priestly line, persons not recognized as Jewish by the rabbinate, and in cases of agunot. The Israeli rabbinate only recognizes certain approved Orthodox rabbis as legitimate, which has led to friction with Diaspora Jews who for centuries never had an overarching authority.

{{Main|Ethnic Mennonite}}

Other classical examples for ethnoreligious groups are traditional Anabaptist groups like the Old Order Amish, the Hutterites, the Old Order Mennonites and traditional groups of Plautdietsch-speaking Russian Mennonites, like the Old Colony Mennonites. All these groups have a shared cultural background, a shared dialect as their everyday language (Pennsylvania German, Hutterisch, Plautdietsch), a shared version of their Anabaptist faith, a shared history of several hundred years and they have accepted very few outsiders into their communities in the last 250 years. They may also share common foods, dress, and other customs. Modern proselytizing Mennonite groups, such as the Evangelical Mennonite Conference whose members have lost their shared ancestry, their common ethnic language Plautdietsch, their traditional dress, and other typical ethnic traditions, are no longer seen as an ethnoreligious group, although members within these groups may still identify with the term Mennonite as an ethnic identifier.John H. Redekop: A People Apart: Ethnicity and the Mennonite Brethren, 1987.Royden Loewen: The Poetics of Peoplehood: Ethnicity and Religion among Canada's Mennonites in Paul Bramadat, David Seljak: Christianity and Ethnicity in Canada, 2008.

In Australian law, the Anti-Discrimination Act 1977 of New South Wales defines "race" to include "ethnic, ethno-religious, or national origin".{{Cite web|url=http://www8.austlii.edu.au/cgi-bin/viewdoc/au/legis/nsw/consol_act/aa1977204/s4.html|title=ANTI-DISCRIMINATION ACT 1977 – SECT 4 Definitions}} The reference to "ethno-religious" was added by the Anti-Discrimination (Amendment) Act 1994 (NSW).{{cite book |title=Faces of hate: hate crime in Australia |last=Cunneen |first=Chris |author2=David Fraser |author3=Stephen Tomsen |year=1997 |publisher=Hawkins Press |isbn=1-876067-05-5 |page=223 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=R8nmw1wlgeUC |access-date=2010-02-14}} John Hannaford, the NSW Attorney-General at the time, explained, "The effect of the latter amendment is to clarify that ethno-religious groups, such as Jews, Muslims, and Sikhs, have access to the racial vilification and discrimination provisions of the Act.... extensions of the Anti-Discrimination Act to ethno-religious groups will not extend to discrimination on the ground of religion".

The definition of "race" in Anti-Discrimination Act 1998 (Tasmania) likewise includes "ethnic, ethno-religious, or national origin".{{cite web |url=http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/legis/tas/consol_act/aa1998204/s3.html |title=Anti-Discrimination Act 1998 – Sect 3 |date=2 February 2010 |work=Tasmanian Consolidated Acts |publisher=AustLII |access-date=14 February 2010}} However, unlike the NSW Act, it also prohibits discrimination on the grounds of "religious belief or affiliation" or "religious activity".{{cite web |url=http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/legis/tas/consol_act/aa1998204/s16.html |title=AAti-Discrimination Act 1998 – Sect 16 |date=2 February 2010 |work=Tasmanian Consolidated Acts |publisher=AustLII |access-date=14 February 2010}}

{{Main|Mandla v Dowell-Lee}}

In the United Kingdom the landmark legal case Mandla v Dowell-Lee placed a legal definition on ethnic groups with religious ties, which, in turn, has paved the way for the definition of an ethnoreligious[http://www.policy.hu/barsa/policypaper_draft.html policypaperdraft] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210225070649/http://www.policy.hu/barsa/policypaper_draft.html |date=2021-02-25 }}. Policy.hu. Retrieved on 2010-12-23. group. Both Jews{{cite web |title=Are Jews a Religious Group or an Ethnic Group? |url=http://www.icsresources.org/content/curricula/ReligiousOrEthnic.pdf |work=Institute for Curriculum Services |access-date=21 October 2013 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131021112918/http://www.icsresources.org/content/curricula/ReligiousOrEthnic.pdf |archive-date=21 October 2013}}[https://books.google.com/books?id=V4qhTL61nXEC&pg=PA43 Ethnic minorities in English law – Google Books]. Books.google.co.uk. Retrieved on 2010-12-23.{{cite journal |jstor=2573430 |title=Jewish Ethno-Religious Involvement and Political Liberalism |author=Edgar Litt |journal=Social Forces |volume=39 |issue=4 |year=1961 |pages=328–332 |doi=10.2307/2573430}} and Sikhs[http://www.allacademic.com/meta/p_mla_apa_research_citation/2/4/2/1/7/p242171_index.html Immigrant Sub-National Ethnicity: Bengali-Hindus and Punjabi-Sikhs in the San Francisco Bay Area]. Allacademic.com. Retrieved on 2010-12-23.{{cite web |title=Mandla (Sewa Singh) and another v Dowell Lee and others [1983] 2 AC 548 |url=https://www.equalrightstrust.org/ertdocumentbank/Microsoft%20Word%20-%20Mandla.pdf |website=equalrightstrust.org}}[http://www.gfa.org/news/articles/ethno-religious-strife-closes-bridge-of-hope-center/ Ethno-Religious Strife Closes Bridge of Hope Center – Gospel for Asia] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091017191947/http://www.gfa.org/news/articles/ethno-religious-strife-closes-bridge-of-hope-center/ |date=2009-10-17}}. Gfa.org (2008-08-05). Retrieved on 2010-12-23. were determined to be considered ethnoreligious groups under the Anti-Discrimination (Amendment) Act 1994 (see above).

The Anti-Discrimination (Amendment) Act 1994 made reference to Mandla v Dowell-Lee, which defined ethnic groups as:

1. a long shared history, of which the group is conscious as distinguishing it from other groups, and the memory of which it keeps alive;
2. a cultural tradition of its own, including family and social customs and manners, often but not necessarily associated with religious observance;
3. either a common geographical origin, or descent from a small number of common ancestors;
4. a common language, not necessarily peculiar to the group;
5. a common literature peculiar to the group;
6. a common religion different from that of neighbouring groups or from the general community surrounding it;
7. being a minority or being an oppressed or dominant group within a larger community. For example, a conquered people (say, the inhabitants of England shortly after the Norman Conquest) and their conquerors might both be ethnic groups.

The significance of the case was that groups like Sikhs and Jews could now be protected under the Race Relations Act 1976.

In Malaysian law, as per Article 160(2),{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IB-cY6Nh6tUC&pg=PA40 |title=Contesting Malayness: Malay Identity Across Boundaries |editor= Timothy P. Barnard |page=40 |publisher=Singapore University Press |date= 2003|isbn=978-9971692797 }} it is stipulated that an individual classified as Malay must be a Muslim, converse in the Malay language, and adhere to Malay customs.

According to this legal framework, a Malay man or woman who undergoes conversion from Islam to another religion ceases to be recognized as Malay. Consequently, the privileges accorded to so-called Bumiputra, specifically the entitlements outlined in Article 153Adam, Ramlah binti, Samuri, Abdul Hakim bin & Fadzil, Muslimin bin (2004). Sejarah Tingkatan 3. Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka. {{ISBN|983-62-8285-8}}. of the Constitution, the New Economic Policy (NEP), and other related provisions, are forfeited in the event of such conversions.

• Ethnolinguistic group
• Folk religion
• List of ethnic religions
• Phyletism
• Religious assimilation
• Religious segregation
• Symbolic ethnicity

{{notelist}}

{{Reflist}}

{{Refbegin}}

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{{Refend}}

• {{Commons category-inline|Ethnoreligious groups}}

{{Ethnicity}}

Category:Sociology of religion