On 3/27/2010 12:23 PM, Omelet wrote:
> In >,
> > wrote:
>
>>> I disagree with this somewhat. While Muslim is a religion only, not an
>>> ethnicity, Jewish most certainly is:
>>>
>>> <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jews>
>>>
>>> I guess you could switch the term to "Hebrew".
>>
>> And I disagree with you somewhat<eg>
>>
>> To quote your source: "Converts to Judaism, whose status as Jews within
>> the Jewish ethnos is equal to those born into it, have been absorbed
>> into the Jewish people throughout the millennia."
>>
>> So... if I decided to convert to Judaism tomorrow, for example, how
>> would that change my *biological* race, may I humbly ask?
>> --
>> Cheers
>> Chatty Cathy
>
> It's just that, Historically, Jews and Hebrews seem to be synonymous. :-)
> I guess that no longer applies in modern times...

You might better be able to explain it Om if you mention that the Middle
Eastern people, before the Diaspora, were mostly all Semitic, the same
folks for Jews, Christians, and Muslims. Nowadays there are people of
each religion from all over the world. There are Ethiopian Jews, Chinese
Jews, and there are Caucasian Muslims from the former USSR as well as
Chinese, African, and other races that are Muslim. Even the oriental
religions have converts from other races than the pure Asiatic strain.