From: Bill Spight (bspight@pacbell.net)
Date: Thu 07 Nov 2002 - 15:23:47 GMT
Dear Wade,
> The whole concept that 'jewish' is a racial description has always
> mystified me. 'Xian' or 'hindu' or 'muslim' or 'buddhist' are not racial
> descriptions.
Actually, 'hindu' is at least as ethnic as 'jew'. A believer in Hinduism
without the hindu pedigree is a vedantist. The hindus are very clear
about that distinction.
By contrast with Judaism and Hinduism, Christianity, Islam, and Buddhism
seek converts. That has made them multicultural to a degree that Judaism
and Hinduism are not. Because of the diaspora, there is more cultural
variation in Judaism than in Hinduism.
At one time, Western scientists made much of heritable human differences
in appearance, identifying various races, such as Nordic, Mediterranean,
etc. These days, to speak of a Jewish race or Aryan race (for hindus) is
racist. At the same time, the self definitions of Hindus and Jews are
largely biological, which is not the case for christians, muslims, and
buddhists.
Ciao,
Bill
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