An ethnoreligious group (or an ethno-religious group) is a group of people with a common religious and ethnic background or, in some cases, a religious background exclusively. It can also be considered a sub-category of ethnicity, where members collectively believe that their shared religion is foundational to their ethnic identity.
In a narrower sense, they refer to groups whose religious and ethnic traditions are historically linked.
Characteristics The elements that are defined as characteristics of an ethnoreligious group are "social character, historical experience, and theological beliefs".
A closing of the community takes place through a strict endogamy, which is specifically for the community and that distinguishes an ethno-religious community, that is, as distinct from any other group.
Defining an ethnoreligious group In general, ethnoreligious communities define their ethnic identity by their religious affiliation or a combination of religious affiliation and other factors, such as language or territorial origin. Sometimes, ethnoreligious communities can be defined as ethnic groups with close associations with a religion that can be practiced by other ethnicities, such as Irish Catholics and Swedish Lutherans.Yang and Ebaugh, p.369: "Andrew Greeley (1971) identified three types of relationships in the United States: some religious people who do not hold an ethnic identity; some people who have an ethnic identity but are not religious; and cases in which religion and ethnicity are intertwined. Phillip Hammond and Kee Warner (1993), following Harold J. Abramson (1973), further explicated the "intertwining relationships" into a typology. First is "ethnic fusion", where religion is the foundation of ethnicity, or, ethnicity equals religion, such as in the case of the Amish and Jews. The second pattern is that of "ethnic religion", where religion is one of several foundations of ethnicity. The Greek or Russian Orthodox and the Dutch Reformed are examples of this type. In this pattern, ethnic identification can be claimed without claiming the religious identification but the reverse is rare. The third form, "religious ethnicity", occurs where an ethnic group is linked to a religious tradition that is shared by other ethnic groups. The Irish, Italian, and Polish Catholics are such cases. In this pattern, religious identification can be claimed without claiming ethnic identification. Hammond and Warner also suggest that the relationship of religion and ethnicity is strongest in "ethnic fusion" and least strong in "religious ethnicity". Recently, some scholars have argued that even Jews' religion and culture (ethnicity) can be distinguished from each other and are separable (Chervyakov, Gitelman, and Shapiro 1997; Gans 1994)."Hammond and Warner, p.59: "1. Religion is the major foundation of ethnicity, examples include the Amish, Hutterites, Jews, and Mormons. Ethnicity in this pattern, so to speak, equals religion, and if the religious identity is denied, so is the ethnic identity. [Footnote: In actuality, of course, there can be exceptions, as the labels "Jack Mormon", "banned Amish", or "cultural Jew" suggest.] Let us call this pattern "ethnic fusion". 2. Religion may be one of several foundations of ethnicity, the others commonly being language and territorial origin; examples are the Greek or Russian Orthodox and the Dutch Reformed. Ethnicity in this pattern extends beyond religion in the sense that ethnic identification can be claimed without claiming the religious identification, but the reverse is rare. Let us call this pattern "ethnic religion". 3. An ethnic group may be linked to a religious tradition, but other ethnic groups will be linked to it, too. Examples include Irish, Italian, and Polish Catholics; Danish, Norwegian, and Swedish Lutherans. Religion in this pattern extends beyond ethnicity, reversing the previous pattern, and religious identification can be claimed without claiming the ethnic identification. Let us call this pattern "religious ethnicity""
Some ethnoreligious groups' identities are reinforced by the experience of living within a larger community as a distinct minority. Ethnoreligious groups can be tied to ethnic nationalism if the ethnoreligious group possesses a historical base in or claim to a specific region. In many ethnoreligious groups, emphasis is placed upon religious endogamy and the concurrent discouragement of interfaith marriages or intercourse as a means of preserving the stability and historical longevity of the community and culture.
Jews
Prior to the Babylonian exile in the late 7th century BC and early 6th century BC, the Israelites had already emerged as an ethnoreligious group, probably before the time of Hosea in 8th century BC. The ethno-religious character of the Jewish people in antiquity has been expounded upon by scholars such as Salo W. Baron, who spoke of "the ethnoreligious unity of [the Israelite] people." This was expounded upon in 2001 by Shaye J. D. Cohen, when describing Jewish identity during the late Second Temple period.
Anthony D. Smith, the principal theorist of the ethno-symbolist approach to nationalism, argues that Iron Age Judah, under kings such as Hezekiah and Josiah, achieved the status of a full ethnic community, which he is willing to call a "nation". After this polity was abolished, Smith describes the post-exilic Jewish population as rebuilding itself under foreign rule, without a monarchy, as an "autonomous ethnoreligious community" centered on the Temple and the Mosaic Covenant. He argues that this community developed back into "the formation of a national community" during the Hasmonean and Roman periods, driven in part by the Maccabean Revolt (in the 160s BCE) and later articulated through Pharisee and Zealot expressions of national sentiment.
Jewish ethnoreligious national identity has historically included many diverse communities of Jews with divergent, schismatic, or outright heretical religious beliefs. From Classical Antiquity and the Medieval period to the Modern era, the majority of Jews worldwide were and are Rabbinic Jews. However, sectarian religious movements like Karaite Jews continued to be considered by the Rabbinic majority as part of the broader Jewish nation. Likewise, in the Modern era, Jewish ethnoreligious national identity continues to include both secular and atheist Jews.
There are multiple Jewish denominations within modern Rabbinic Judaism, each with their own opinions on the scope and applicability of Halakha (Jewish religious law). Reform Judaism, founded in mid-19th century Germany, has differed from Orthodox Judaism on matters of theology and practice; however, toward the end of the 20th century and into the 21st century, the Reform movement has reoriented itself back toward certain traditions and practices it had previously relinquished (for example, wearing the tallit and/or the kippah, also known as a yarmulke, during religious services; and the use of Hebrew in the liturgy).
Traditional interpretations of Jewish law recognize descent only along the maternal line.In the United States, the increasing rate of mixed marriages has led to attempts to facilitate conversion of the spouse, although traditional Jewish law strongly discourages conversion to facilitate marriage. However, if a non-Jewish woman marrying a Jewish man does not convert, Reform Judaism will recognize a child born of the marriage as Jewish based on patrilineal descent if that child has "established through appropriate and timely public and formal acts of identification with the Jewish faith and people," thereby self-identifying as Jewish. In actual practice, most Reform Jews affirm patrilineal descent as a valid means of Jewish identification, particularly if the individual was "raised Jewish." Reconstructionist Judaism takes a similar view, considering a child Jewish "if the parents have committed themselves to rear their children as Jews by providing circumcision for boys, Jewish education for boys and girls, and if the children fulfill the requirements for bar/bat mitzvah or confirmation." Like the Orthodox, Conservative Judaism does not recognize patrilineal descent.
In Israel, the Declaration of Independence expressly proclaimed Israel as a Jewish state, and many of the subsequent Basic Laws of Israel refer to Israel in similar language. Israeli national identity is thus linked with Jewish identity as a result of Zionism. In Israeli law, religious courts have authority over marriage and other personal status matters for their respective communities (which the state inherited from the Ottoman millet system as preserved under British Mandatory rule and codified in Israeli statutes). That religious courts have this authority instead of non-religious institutions has led to friction with, for example, secular Jews who sometimes find they must leave the country in order to marry or divorce. The majority of these cases relate to individuals not recognized as Jewish by the official rabbinate, to the inherited status of mamzer (a person conceived in certain forbidden relationships or incest), the marriage of males from the priestly line—kohanim (kohen), and to agunot, women who have not been able to receive a religious divorce decree from their husbands. The Israeli rabbinate recognizes only certain approved Orthodox rabbis as legitimate, which has led to friction with Diaspora Jews who for centuries never had an overarching authority.
Anabaptists
Other classical examples for ethnoreligious groups are traditional Anabaptist groups like the Old Order Amish, the Hutterites, the Old Order Mennonites and traditional groups of Plautdietsch-speaking Russian Mennonites, like the Old Colony Mennonites. All these groups have a shared cultural background, a shared dialect as their everyday language (Pennsylvania German, Hutterisch, Plautdietsch), a shared version of their Anabaptist faith, a shared history of several hundred years and they have accepted very few outsiders into their communities in the last 250 years. They may also share common foods, dress, and other customs. Modern proselytizing Mennonite groups, such as the Evangelical Mennonite Conference whose members have lost their shared ancestry, their common ethnic language Plautdietsch, their traditional dress, and other typical ethnic traditions, are no longer seen as an ethnoreligious group, although members within these groups may still identify with the term Mennonite as an ethnic identifier.John H. Redekop: A People Apart: Ethnicity and the Mennonite Brethren, 1987.Royden Loewen: The Poetics of Peoplehood: Ethnicity and Religion among Canada's Mennonites in Paul Bramadat, David Seljak: Christianity and Ethnicity in Canada, 2008.
Examples The concepts of ethnoreligious fusion and ethnic religion have been applied by reliable sources to the following groups: Ethnoreligious fusion Ethnic religion AlawitesThomas 2006 Amish Cossacks Doukhobors Druze Hutterites Jews Kalash Mandaeans Maronites Mennonites Molokans Mormons Parsis Saint Thomas Christians SamaritansIreton 2003 SerersVillalón, Leonardo A., Islamic Society and State Power in Senegal: Disciples and Citizens in Fatick, p. 62, Cambridge University Press (2006), Sikhs Yazidis Armenian Apostolic Church Assyrian Church of the East Balinese Hinduism Chaldean Catholic Church Church of Cyprus Church of Greece Coptic Catholic Church Coptic Orthodox Church Coptic Evangelical Church Druzism Dutch Reformed Church Eritrean Orthodox Tewahedo Church Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church Judaism Kalash religion Mandaeism Maronite Church Russian Orthodox Church Samaritanism Serer religion () Sikhism Shintoism Tengriism Tibetan Buddhism Tigrayan Orthodox Tewahedo Church Ukrainian Orthodox Church – Kyiv Patriarchate Ukrainian Orthodox Church (Moscow Patriarchate)