Race and Religion in the Holy Land

Something to add to the long list of shared characteristics that makes Israeli and Palestinian society weirdly similar. (Along with generally conservative social norms and mores, gender-segregated social circles, and an inability to form lines.) (To be fair I'm sure they can form lines just fine, I guess it's more of an apathetic *shrug,* "That seems like a lot of work, let's just all try to go at once and see what happens.")

(Spoiler: Often dealing without lines ends up going just fine, with perhaps an occasional setback and delay. Maybe it encourages people to be assertive? Plus it makes people rely more on social courtesy and respect instead of being able to rely on people simply "following the rules."?)


That thing to be added to the list that I haven't gotten to quite yet: The centrality of religion! As an idea! As a category that you are defined by.

"Religion" appears nowhere on the U.S. Census (our primary category for "people-sorting," it turns out, is race.) Which perhaps makes sense too, because it seems like the majority of Americans are in that vaguely secularish gray area where you don't go to church but still have a medley of religious beliefs floating idly and uninspected around your house.

In Israel and Palestine, however, that is simply not the case.

In Israel you essentially exist first and foremost in the eyes of the state *as a member of a specific religion.* You can be a secular Jew, or a secular Christian, or a secular Muslim, or a secular *other,* but you can't just be a secular because that's not a thing. 

And maybe that's because religion is seen almost as an ethnic category (especially in the case of the Jewish identity). It's something you simply are by merit of being born into a specific family.

My family is Christian, and thus I am Christian. This individual is Muslim or Jewish because their family is Muslim or Jewish.

Two things that are sort of results of that or perhaps partly columns in that system that help make it continue to make sense:

1) The American cliche of the child, probably born to a lax Christian or Jewish or secular background, who grows up and gets interested in one of those cool-sounding Eastern religions that they really have no authentic experience with -- is almost nonsensical and confusing to think about in this context. Conversions in general "don't happen," which might just mean it's something totally not cool to talk about or acknowledge.

Just like
2) intermarriage! By which I mean interfaith marriage. Something else that totally just "doesn't exist" over here, by which I mean is taboo and kind of frowned upon.



So yeah, that's interesting.



But at the same time it sort of makes sense. Even if many secular Americans wouldn't want to identify with any of these specific faiths, their cultures and upbringings in all likelihood have been thoroughly shaped and influenced by these religions.

And I can't say for sure if it's better or worse than "race" as a divider of people, but frankly neither are looking great right now.

(Also I'm not saying there isn't racism here. Cause oh my gosh.)