Converting religion in Israel

Israel rolls out red tape in fight to save faith

The Age (Australia), December 28 2002

"For Jews living in Israel, switching religions can become a bureaucratic nightmare. [Ed O'Loughlin reports from Jerusalem]. Israel was founded as a Jewish state for Jewish people, and the Jewish identity is based on the sometimes conflicting foundations of Jewish birth and Judaic religious belief. So what legally becomes of Jewish-born Israelis who decide to abandon Judaism and join a different faith? The answer, claims the Association for Civil Rights in Israel, is far from clear. A human rights advocacy group, the association is preparing a court challenge on behalf of four Jewish-born Israelis who want to convert to Islam. Instead, the association says, the four were told they could not legally convert without the approval of the Ministry of Religious Affairs, which in turn tried to make them change their minds. All four have been told they will have to justify their decisions before a special committee, including a psychiatrist and a social worker. ... The association contends that there is no legal basis for the religious ministry's committee of inquiry, which seems to function as a device to obstruct conversion. 'Those who agree to go to the committee are told to come at a certain day,' said Ms Shoughry-Badarne. 'They are then told the meeting is cancelled, or else given meetings with individuals from religious affairs who try to convince them that Islam is bad, Judaism is good.' One man has been summoned to the ministry four times, only to have the meeting cancelled each time. A clerk at the religious ministry allegedly insulted a Jewish-born unmarried woman in her 20s, saying she was a traitor and accusing her of wanting to convert so she could sleep with Arab men. So with all this hassle and red tape, why bother? Apart from the fact that religious registration is a strict legal requirement, Israeli law imposes different obligations and rights on Jewish and non-Jewish citizens. Notably, Muslims are informally exempt from compulsory military service. Moreover, Israel has no civil marriage or civil family law, so marriage and inheritance disputes must be resolved in religious courts, making it important to establish one's status clearly in advance. Mortgages, welfare and residency rights often depend on marital status. And while there is little official discrimination against non-Jewish Israelis, many (mostly Muslim or Christian Arabs) allege extensive informal discrimination in areas such as jobs, housing, allocation of state resources and treatment by the security forces. The Ministry of the Interior has not yet responded to questions ... Asked on what grounds the ministry might refuse someone permission to change their legal religious status she said: 'Matters of security, or something else.'"

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