42% of Jews identify as secular

[dayag]

So roughly two-thirds of Israeli Jews are either secular or not very religious traditionalists and almost half of Israeli Arabs are non-religious or not very religious.

Only 42 percent of Israeli Jews aged over 20 describe themselves as 'secular' according to the Central Bureau of Statistics annual social survey, released on Sunday. An additional 25% of Jews defined themselves as 'not very religious traditionalists'.

Among Israeli Arabs 18% categorized themselves as 'non-religious' and 27% as 'not very religious'.

Eight percent of Israeli Jews described themselves as 'haredi,' similar to the percentage of Arabs who defined themselves as 'very religious.'

More haredi women than men are part of the workforce according to the data. Over 90% of non-haredi Jewish men were described as "belonging to the workforce" as against 52% of haredi men. Among women, the figures were 80% of non-haredi women compared with 61% of haredi women.

The survey also found that 88% of Jews are satisfied with their lives and 82% of Arabs. Satisfaction was highest among haredi men.

source: http://www.jpost.com/Israel/Article.aspx?id=175700

[andak01]

How many are atheists? Even more, how many are atheists that proselytize?

[Agnosthiest]

Thank God religion is losing its grip everywhere.

[ranchcer]

I have a friend who is a Christian Jew converted to Islam... Triple bashing

[bararallu]

I have a friend who is a Christian Jew converted to Islam... Triple bashing

I heard the Sikhs are drafting

[Aliyah1995]

What is a working definition of "secular" for the purpose of Jews and Judaism? If one keeps a lot of the Jewish customs and takes part in the festivals, but does not believe in G-d, then would he/she be considered "secular"? What about one who has trouble relating to tradition and custom, but is very spiritual and believes in G-d? To me, it seems like "secular" is to vague a term.

[curlyg]

What is a working definition of "secular" for the purpose of Jews and Judaism? If one keeps a lot of the Jewish customs and takes part in the festivals, but does not believe in G-d, then would he/she be considered "secular"? What about one who has trouble relating to tradition and custom, but is very spiritual and believes in G-d? To me, it seems like "secular" is to vague a term.

It's more a loose social grouping than anything else. But so is Masorti, Dati, Haredi, etc. These are not measures of religiosity, they are social groupings which adhere to a particular lifestyle. A Dati can be as faithful as a Haredi, the difference between them is the way they live. If you look at it this way you could even have an atheist Haredi, who no longer believes in God but nevertheless lives in that society and adheres to its rules because he was raised in it and can't fathom leaving it - or an ultra-religious secular, who is very deeply spiritual but will go out to nightclubs and theatres and have bacon on his morning toast.