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To: P-Marlowe
Voting for someone is now a measure of shared religious fellowship? I voted for Bush, but that doesn't mean we are in theological agreement.

what percentage of Jews would you say are "religious Jews"?

Hard to say exactly. Beyond the 10% in this country who are Orthodox, there are religious Jews among the other denominations. I have no idea what the percentages are.

And do you disfellowship non-religious Jews? Or do you just tolerate them in your midst?

As I said previously, Jews who lose their faith, but who do not publicly attack Judaism, or embrace another religion, will likely be treated differently than someone who is public in their renunciation. The goal, ideally, is to get them to return to God, not to push them out the door. In that way, it really isn't much different than the way Christian denominations handle things. There are Catholics "in name only" who never darken the door of a church, and who don't believe Catholic doctrine, but who nevertheless are still identified by themselves and by the church as Catholic. Such a person is different than someone who publicly attacks Catholic doctrine, or who converts to another religion. I have two friends who were raised Catholic who converted to Judaism as adults. In the eyes of the Catholic church, they are apostates who are excommunicate by virtue of their conversion to another religion. The only difference is, they don't go around referring to themselves as "fulfilled Catholics" and claiming to practice true Catholicism.

332 posted on 04/14/2005 8:29:10 PM PDT by malakhi
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To: malakhi; churchillbuff; Inyokern
Well I think we've beaten this horse to death.

Thanks for the interesting discussion.

333 posted on 04/14/2005 8:34:07 PM PDT by P-Marlowe
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