Criticizing religion, or specific religions or schools of thought of specific religions seems to be a generally acceptable practice, especially in the US. You can soapbox all day and say that “Fundies” teach things that are contradicted by science, that the Roman Catholic Church teaches social practices that lead to familial trauma, and that Islam indorses violence much more than other religions.
But it seems inappropriate to criticize Judaism, in the sense of attacking the beliefs or practices (not Jewish people or any specific Jew).
There are other religious groups that are strongly associated with an ethnicity, such as the Amish, but they don’t get any sensitivity protection beyond that of any other religion.
Why is this? Why is it so unacceptable to criticize the doctrines or practices of Judaism?
For the same reason that attacking any minority’s religion can veer into plain old racism very fast.
Not that Judaism, as Islam shouldnt be criticized, but using the same harshness against either that you’d use against what was the West’s dominant religion, can be overkill.
Just off the top of my head, might it have something to do with the idea that (at least as far as I’ve seen) there isn’t any attempt to impose Jewish religious beliefs on the rest of the population, or incorporate them into the laws of the land?
I guess because of the history of antisemitism and general persecution. Dissing the religion may for some be the thin edge of the wedge of criticizing jews in general, so it is a topic where you have to show some care.
Also, I dispute the premise of the OP. While you may be able to criticize some fundi beliefs, in certain situations, there are very few occasions where you could openly criticize more common Christian beliefs or denominations.
The Amish don’t attempt to impose their beliefs on the rest of the population (US or otherwise), but it’s still far more acceptable to criticize their beliefs and practices.
I agree. For example, the annulment of vows on Yom Kippur was been misconstrued to mean that Jews welsh on their monetary debts to Christians.
Criticizing Judaism has often been used for antisemitic purposes.
On the other hand, the various denominations of Judaism criticize each other quite often.
Guilt over past practices that eventually culminated in the Holocaust. Guilt run amok and going to great extremes. Guilt exploited for personal and cultural gains.
So it’s kinda like: In the past, criticism of Judaism and it’s cultural/ethnic followers led to a lot of extremism that resulted in a very long history of persecution and genocide against the Jews. So we have to be very careful in allowing criticism of this group because we have seen how it can easily go overboard. (Whereas we do not have similar histories with Muslims, Catholics, Baptists, etc)
Any set of beliefs or practices are up for criticism, debate or mockery. Judaism is no different.
Espousing hatred for the individuals and fomenting hate against a group is not acceptable but there is a world of difference between that and criticism.
That goes for any…absolutely any…religious, political, or philosophical world view. Nothing is out of bounds. If free speech means anything it means that what I believe is free game for criticism.
Criticizing or even mocking religious beliefs and behaviors is quite fine. Hating people because of their genes isn’t.
When someone does the former, it can be misconstrued as the latter by particularly defensive people. It’s not like members of any religion are known to have thick skins when it comes to someone criticizing/mocking their particular sacred cow. I remember Tommy Lapid (leader of the secularist Shinui party) being compared to the Nazis by some Orthodox because he made fun of them. Yep, the Orthodox pulled a Godwin against a Jewish Israeli party leader who lived through the Holocaust and lost his father to it.
Adding to the confusion, some people who want to do the latter may realize that they can’t get away with it and try to do it indirectly through the former. So you can easily be mistaken for someone who is anti-semitic but trying to hide behind a “I’m only criticizing the beliefs and behaviors” facade when in fact, you just hate Jews, notwithstanding any beliefs and behaviors.
Example, or cite? I grew up in an area with a sizeable percentage of Jews, and now live in an area with a rather small percentage of them. I don’t recall, in either environment, seeing anyone called on the carpet for criticizing Jewish beliefs or practices per se. Of course, such criticism is rather rare, as most disparaging comments on the subject include attacks on the people themselves. So where is it you see folks getting grief for criticizing Jewish theology, etc., when said criticism does not go on to disparage the Jews as individuals or as a group?
Can’t really recall anyone particularly criticizing Amish beliefs. I’m not even sure exactly what beliefs they hold, because they tend to keep themselves to themselves.
People criticize Judaism all the time, because Jews, while not prostheletizers, tend to interact with society at large (or at least, most of 'em do), they are split among many different varieties, those varieties criticize each other, and finally Judaism is in contrast to the majority religion which in and of itself contains an inherent critique of Judaism.
Have a look at this video, which completely mocks Judaism.
Note that around 4:15, the interviewer puts on an “eruv hat” and eats a bacon and cheese sandwich in front of his orthodox Jewish interviewee. I challenge you to find a video, shown in the mainstream media in the past 10 years, where a devout Muslim interviewee is mocked right to his face by an interviewer like this.
Anyway, can you give some examples of specific criticisms which are appropriate for all but Judaism?
The only criticism I’ve heard of the Amish is when someone gets stuck behind a buggy. Considering them weird, yes, but not criticism of their faith.
As for Judaism, perhaps it is because after 1600 years of persecution in the West , topped off by the Nazis, it was considered time for civilized people to give it a rest?
Since most visible habits of the Orthodox come directly from the Bible, which Christians theoretically believe in, it is hard to call these beliefs strange or to disagree with them. Thus the dispute boils down to the unmitigated gall of not believing in Jesus. Which these days is incorrect to directly criticize, though chortling about the horrors anyone like us will undergo seemed to be fine in the Left Behind series.
Another aspect of this is of course that as Judaism is not a “top down” religion, many Jews believe in all sorts of things contradicted by other Jews - it is hard to get ahold of anything that Jews, as a group, believe in, for the purposes of criticism.
Contrast with Catholics. Catholics of course do not all believe the same things, but there is a certain core unanimity to Catholic beliefs and their impact on social issues, because Catholicsm is more of a “top-down” religion in structure.
So you can say stuff like “I don’t like the Catholic position on homosexuality” or “I think that Catholicism only having male priests is a bad thing”. You can’t really say the same for Judaism without qualifying that by identifying which Jewish sect you are referring to - for example, some forms of Judaism are fully egalitarian, accept homosexuality as normal despite what it says in Leviticus, have female Rabbis, etc.
Funny you should say that–over the last week I’ve been bombarded by Facebook petitions against Amish puppy mills (Google that for a taste of what I’ve been getting). There’s a lot of people out there claiming that the Amish are uniquely cruel to animals in the US. Make of that what you will.
I think Jews have traditionally been criticized possibly more than any other religious group. But then once the Holocaust happened, people took a step back and realized “Whoa - it’s gone too far” and became a lot more sensitized to them in particular.
