# "Outed" Jews- Interesting article **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [October 10, 2006, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/outed-jews-interesting-article/375949 "2006-10-10T17:27:39Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2006, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/outed-jews-interesting-article/375949/1 "2006-10-10T17:27:39Z")
[Choosing to remain a ‘forced convert’](http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/772016.html) ---
**Author:** ![velvetjones](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/5f9b8f/32.png) [@velvetjones](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/velvetjones)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2006, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/outed-jews-interesting-article/375949/2 "2006-10-10T18:56:18Z")
I’ve often wondered why it is that Judaism is treated as a race rather than a religion. Why are Allen and Allbright jews if they’ve never practiced judaism and have been raised with another belief system? The article refers to each them as jewish several times but I fail to see what makes them so. Does that make me Catholic even though I’m an admitted athiest just because my mother is Catholic? What if my mother was Catholic but raised me as a Baptist and didn’t tell me she had been raised Catholic? Would I then be Catholic just because my mother was a closet Catholic. I don’t think so. It would be different if Allen and Allbright were secretly jewish but they’re not so why does their parentage matter at all? Or is this just another version of the one drop rule? ---
**Author:** ![friedo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8edcca/32.png) [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2006, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/outed-jews-interesting-article/375949/3 "2006-10-10T19:26:06Z")
[QUOTE=velvetjones] I’ve often wondered why it is that Judaism is treated as a race rather than a religion. [/quote] Mostly because Jews don’t proselytize, and so are largely concentrated into a few small ethnic groups. > [@](#): > > Or is this just another version of the one drop rule? Yep, that too. ---
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2006, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/outed-jews-interesting-article/375949/4 "2006-10-10T19:29:54Z")
[QUOTE=velvetjones] Why are Allen and Allbright jews if they’ve never practiced judaism and have been raised with another belief system? [/QUOTE] Officially, you’re a Jew if your mother was a Jew. Judaism \<\> Jewry. Jews can be Christians, Moslems, Buddhists, whatever. ---
**Author:** ![Mama\_Tiger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/6de8d8/32.png) [@Mama\_Tiger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mama_Tiger)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2006, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/outed-jews-interesting-article/375949/5 "2006-10-10T19:34:07Z")
Technically, anyone born to a Jewish mother is Jewish, whether they ever practice their religion or not; at least that’s what I’ve always been taught. I think a lot of people these days separate being culturally a Jew from being a Jew in the traditional religious sense. In Allen’s case, presumably then his children are _not_ Jews because descent is matrilineal. And in Albright’s case, if she was baptized a Christian, I honestly don’t know how that would shake out. ---
**Author:** ![Anne\_Neville](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Anne\_Neville](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anne_Neville)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2006, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/outed-jews-interesting-article/375949/6 "2006-10-10T19:49:28Z")
[QUOTE=velvetjones] I’ve often wondered why it is that Judaism is treated as a race rather than a religion. [/quote] It’s because there’s more to Judaism than what Americans typically think of as a “religion”. It’s also an ethnic identity. Mr. Neville has an aunt who became an atheist as a result of her experiences in a camp in WWII, but she still identifies herself as a Jewish atheist. Albert Einstein’s religious beliefs weren’t very close to traditional Judaism, but he still identified himself as a Jew. > [@](#): > > Why are Allen and Allbright jews if they’ve never practiced judaism and have been raised with another belief system? The article refers to each them as jewish several times but I fail to see what makes them so. Same reason I’m Swedish even though I don’t live in Sweden, don’t speak Swedish, don’t participate in any Swedish cultural activities, and practice cultural activities associated with other ethnic groups. It’s less of a big deal to be ethnically Swedish than it is to be ethnically Jewish, because discrimination against Swedes (if there ever was any in the US) is a lot further in the past than discrimination against Jews. I suspect Allen himself has some negative feelings about Jews, and that means this affects him emotionally. > [@Mama Tiger](#): > > in Albright’s case, if she was baptized a Christian, I honestly don’t know how that would shake out. There’s been [some debate on this](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Who_Is_a_Jew%3F) (of course, in Judaism, what issue _doesn’t_ get debated?). The Israeli government (which grants preferential immigration status to Jews) decided that Jews who practice another religion are not Jews for the purpose of immigration to Israel. If Madeleine Albright decided she wanted to convert to Judaism, some rabbis would probably make her undergo a formal conversion ceremony, some probably wouldn’t, and some would probably make her do the same things that non-Jews converting to Judaism do but wouldn’t call it a conversion. The same would probably apply to her children if they wanted to convert to Judaism. If her children wanted to immigrate to Israel and weren’t practicing a religion other than Judaism, they’d probably be allowed to immigrate as Jews- a number of Soviet Jews who didn’t practice Judaism and whose parents didn’t practice Judaism have been allowed to do so. ---
**Author:** ![Billdo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/billdo/32/315_2.png) [@Billdo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Billdo)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2006, 12:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/outed-jews-interesting-article/375949/7 "2006-10-11T12:55:15Z")
[QUOTE=velvetjones] I’ve often wondered why it is that Judaism is treated as a race rather than a religion. [/QUOTE] Here’s a [Staff Report](http://www.straightdope.com/mailbag/mjewish.html) from **CKDextHaven** on the dual nature of Judiasm as both a religion and a people.