Back المسيحية في إسرائيل Arabic المسيحيه فى اسرائيل ARZ Хрысьціянства ў Ізраілі BE-X-OLD Christen im Heiligen Land German Cristianismo en Israel Spanish Kristinusko Israelissa Finnish Chrétiens de Terre sainte French נוצרים בישראל HE Kekristenan di Israel ID Cristianesimo in Israele Italian
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| Total population | |
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| ~185,000 (1.9% of the Israeli population) (2022 estimate) | |
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 Israel | |
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| Arabic, English, Hebrew, Modern Aramaic |
Christianity (Hebrew: נצרות, romanized: Natsrút; Arabic: المسيحية, romanized: al-Masīḥiyya; Imperial Aramaic: ܢܘܨܪܝܐ ܕܐܪܥܐ ܕܝܣܪܐܝܠ) is the third largest religion in Israel, after Judaism and Islam. At the end of 2022, Christians made up 1.9% of the Israeli population, numbering approximately 185,000. 75.8% of the Christians in Israel are Palestinian Christians. Christians make up 6.9% of the Arab-Israeli population.[1]
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Ten Christian churches are formally recognized under Israel's confessional system, for the self-regulation and state recognition of status issues, such as marriage and divorce: the Armenian Apostolic Church, the Armenian Catholic Church, the Chaldean Catholic Church, the Episcopal Church in Jerusalem and the Middle East, the Greek Orthodox Church, the Latin Catholic Church, the Melkite Greek Catholic Church, the Syriac Catholic Church, the Syriac Maronite Church, and the Syriac Orthodox Church.[2] However, the practice of religion is free, with no restrictions on the practice of other denominations. Approximately 300 Christians have converted from Islam according to one 2014 estimate, and most of them are part of the Catholic Church.[3] About 20,000 Israelis practice Messianic Judaism, usually considered a syncretist form of Christianity.[4][5]
Arab Christians are mostly adherents of the Melkite Greek Catholic Church (60% of Arab Christians in Israel).[6] Some 40% of all Israeli Christians are affiliated with the Melkite Greek Church, and some 30% with the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Jerusalem.[6] Smaller numbers are split between the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem, with 13% of Christians, as well as an unknown number of Russian Orthodox Christians, about 13,000 Maronites and other Syriac Christians, 3,000 to 5,000 adherents of Armenian churches, a community of around 1,000 Coptic Christians, and small branches of Protestants. The number of Christians in Israel is higher than in the Occupied Palestinian territories.
Israeli Christians are historically bound with neighbouring Lebanese, Syrian, and Palestinian Christians. The cities and communities where most Christians in Israel reside are Haifa, Nazareth, Shefa-Amr, Jish, Mi'ilya, Fassuta and Kafr Yasif.[7] The Christian communities in Israel run numerous schools, colleges, hospitals, clinics, orphanages, homes for the elderly, dormitories, family and youth centers, hotels, and guesthouses.[8] The Christian community in Israel is the one of the few growing Christian populations in the Middle East.[9][10] Israeli Arab Christians generally have higher educational achievements and enjoy higher incomes.[8][11][12][13]
- ^ "Christmas 2022 - Christians in Israel". www.cbs.gov.il. 21 December 2022. Archived from the original on 28 December 2022. Retrieved 2022-12-29.
- ^ "Israel 2022 International Religious Freedom Report" (PDF). US Department of State. 2022. page 6. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2023-10-10. Retrieved 2023-10-10.
- ^ Miller, Duane Alexander (April 2014). "FREEDOM OF RELIGION IN ISRAEL-PALESTINE: MAY MUSLIMS BECOME CHRISTIANS, AND DO CHRISTIANS HAVE THE FREEDOM TO WELCOME SUCH CONVERTS?". St Francis Magazine. 10 (1): 17–24.
- ^ Ariel, Yaakov S. (2013). "The Evangelical Messianic Faith and the Jews". An Unusual Relationship: Evangelical Christians and Jews. New York: NYU Press. pp. 35–57. doi:10.18574/nyu/9780814770689.003.0002. ISBN 9780814770689.
- ^ Ben Barka, Mokhtar (December 2012). "The New Christian Right's relations with Israel and with the American Jews: the mid-1970s onward". E-Rea. 10 (1). Aix-en-Provence and Marseille: Centre pour l'Édition Électronique Ouverte on behalf of Aix-Marseille University. doi:10.4000/erea.2753. ISSN 1638-1718. S2CID 191364375.
The Jews have cause to worry because Evangelicals are active on both fronts, promoting support for the State of Israel, and evangelizing the Jews at the same time. While the Israeli government eagerly accepts public support of Evangelicals and courts the leaders of the New Christian Right, many Jews bitterly condemn Christian proselytism and try their best to restrict the activities of missionaries in Israel. "Jews for Jesus" and other Christian Jewish groups in Israel have become especially effective in evangelizing, often with the support of foreign Evangelicals. It is not surprising that Jewish leaders, both in the United States and Israel, react strongly to "Jews for Jesus" and the whole "Messianic Jewish" movement, whose concern is to promote awareness among the Jews as to God's real plans for humanity and the need to accept Jesus as a Savior. In this respect, Gershom Gorenberg lamented the fact that "people who see Israel through the lens of Endtimes prophecy are questionable allies, whose support should be elicited only in the last resort. In the long run, their apocalyptic agenda has no room for Israel as a normal country."
- ^ a b "The Christian communities in Israel". Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs. 1 May 2014. Archived from the original on 17 October 2015. Retrieved 3 December 2014.
- ^ "The Christian communities in Israel". mfa.gov.il. Archived from the original on 17 October 2015.
- ^ a b McGahern, Una (2011). Palestinian Christians in Israel: State Attitudes Towards Non-Muslims in a Jewish State. London, New York City: Routledge. p. 51. ISBN 9780415605717.
- ^ Cite error: The named reference
:0was invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ Cite error: The named reference
:1was invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ Stier, Haya; Khattab, Nabil; Miaari, Sami (15 August 2023). Socioeconomic Inequality in Israel: A Theoretical and Empirical Analysis. USA: Palgrave Macmillan. p. 88. ISBN 9781503636132.
Christians have, on average, higher educational achievements, marry at an older age, have fewer children, and enjoy larger income... Druze and Muslims share many cultural patterns, and they have a similar socioeconomic standing, but while Druze males have to serve in the military, Muslim men (as well as Christian) do not.
- ^ Al-Haj, Majid (2024). Education Among Indigenous Palestinians in Israel: Inequality, Cultural Hegemony, and Social Change. State University of New York Press. p. 92. ISBN 9781438498560.
- ^ Cite error: The named reference
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