80% of Jewish Israelis Believe in God (and Other Amazing Stats from Newly-Released Survey)

80% of Jewish Israelis Believe in God (and Other Amazing Stats from Newly-Released Survey)

YNet just published some truly surprising and encouraging results to a survey on religion conducted by the Avi Chai Foundation on 2803 Jewish Israeli respondents .

First of all, here’s how Israelis define themselves religiously (in comparison with the previous survey conducted in 1999)

3% “Anti-Religious Secular” (down from 6%)
43% Secular (down from 46%)
32% Traditional
15% Religious (up from 11%)
7% Charedi (up from 5%)

But the most wonderful part of this survey is that it forces us to realize that many of these Israelis calling themselves “secular” are, in fact, anything but…

80% of Jewish Israelis believe that God exists
80% believe that there is a reward for good deeds
77% believe that there is a higher power running the world
72% believe that prayer can help a person get out of a difficult situation
67% believe that the Jews are the Chosen People
65% believe that the Torah and the Mitzvot are Divine commands.
56% believe in the World to Come and life after death.
51% believe in the coming of Moshiach
63% don’t eat meat and milk together
70% eat kosher outside of the home
76% eat kosher at home
72% would never eat pork

And what about Jewish life rituals? How many Jewish Israelis think that these traditional ceremonies are important?

80% of Jewish Israelis think it’s important to have a rabbi conduct a wedding ceremony
80% think that a bat mitzvah celebration is important
86% think Jewish burial is important
90% think saying Kaddish for parents is important
91% think having a bar mitzvah ceremony is important
92% think it’s important to sit shiva
94% think it’s important to perform a bris

Isn’t that something? I hope Hashem is getting some major nachas from us Jews right now…
Image courtesy of Flickr.com user James Emery

One comment

  1. I put it to you that 100% of that 80% were indoctrinated with god in their formative years. If they had been taught science from 2-18 and been offered god as a solution for human existence as an adult they would have laughed and rejected it. So its nothing to do with god its about what stories you teach children.

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