Relationship Between Judaism And Christianity

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The relationship between Judaism and Christianity is unique because Jews and Christians are having mutual affinity which is not seen in other religions. The roots of Christianity in Israel can be traced back to the days of Jesus of Nazareth, who spent his whole life in what is now known as Israel. The historical baggage of conflicts like destruction of Jewish temple by the Romans, perception of killing Jesus by Jews or the persecution of Jews in Europe strained relationships between Jews and Christians.
Paradoxically, though Christianity originated in Palestine/Israel, out of the three Abrahamic religions, followers of Christianity are the smallest. Despite, the rise of Islam in 7th century AD, Christians lived side by side with Muslims in much of West Asia and North Africa. The Christian communities can be found in Lebanon, Egypt, Iraq, Turkey, Iran and other Arab countries. The indigenous Christian communities are predominantly Arabic-speaking except the Armenians. The Church of the Annunciation (Nazareth), the Church of the Nativity (Bethlehem), and the Church of the Holy Sepulcher (Jerusalem) are three of Christianity 's most holy sites which attract thousands of pilgrims from around the world. …show more content…

These non- Jewish citizens of Israel are collectively known as Arabs. They are primarily Arabic-speaking groups but each of them carries distinct characteristics. While considering minorities, Muslims Arab, Christians Arab, Bedouins Arabs, Druzes and Circassians are living in Israel. Till December 2013, the Christian population of Israel numbers about 161,000 i.e. about 2% of Israel’s total population. The majority comprises of around 80 percent Christian Arab Israelis, whereas approximately twenty percent of Israel 's Christian citizens are new immigrants amongst whom, most of them migrated to Israel from the former Soviet Union in the 1990’s under the umbrella of “Law of Return”. Christian Arabs feel that their identity is under threat because they are not only a part of an Arab minority in a Jewish state but also as Christians, they form another minority within a predominant Muslim minority. In addition to this, presence of different denominations and their internal conflict plays an important role in determining numbers of Christian Arabs in

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