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Unlock This CourseIn The Multi-Faith Society and Interfaith Relationships you learned what a multi-faith society is and met four attitudes: proselytisation, exclusivism, inclusivism and pluralism. Now we see how Judaism answers. Jews are a small minority in Britain, so living alongside people of other faiths and none is an everyday matter for them.
Many Jews hold two ideas together. The covenant (the agreement between the Almighty and the Jewish people) gives Jews their own duties, the mitzvot (commandments). But the Almighty also cares about all people, and has a way for non-Jews to live righteously too.
Key terms:
After the flood, the Almighty made a covenant with Noah and every living creature (Genesis 9). The rabbis (Jewish teachers) of the Talmud taught that this covenant included seven laws for all humanity. They are named after Noah because everyone is descended from him.
1. Do not worship idols (idolatry).
2. Do not speak against the Almighty (blasphemy).
3. Do not murder.
4. Do not commit sexual immorality.
5. Do not steal.
6. Do not be cruel to animals (the rabbis' example is eating a limb torn from a living animal).
7. Set up courts of justice, so that society is fair and law-abiding.
These are basic moral rules which most religious and non-religious people can agree with.
This is the key point for a multi-faith society. A non-Jew does not have to keep the 613 mitzvot, keep Shabbat or eat kosher food. If a non-Jew keeps the Noachide laws, Jewish tradition calls them righteous and says they have a share in the world to come (Olam Ha-Ba), as you saw in Resurrection and the World to Come in Judaism.
So the Noachide laws give Jews a shared moral ground with everyone else. Many Jews use them to promote a multi-faith society: they say people of different faiths can work together for justice, honesty and respect for life and animals, without anyone giving up their own religion.
Judaism is not a missionary religion. Jews do not go door to door or try to persuade others to become Jewish. There are three main reasons.
Judaism does accept converts. Ruth, who was born in Moab, is remembered as a woman who chose to join the Jewish people. But traditionally a rabbi tests whether a person is sincere, and may discourage them at first. Someone accepted as a convert is treated as fully Jewish.
Jews do not practise proselytisation (trying to convert others). Very few Jews hold exclusivism, the view that only Jews can be saved. This is not the mainstream Jewish position, because of the Noachide laws.
Many Orthodox Jews are inclusivist: the Torah is the Jewish path, and righteous non-Jews are also saved. Many Progressive (Reform and Liberal) Jews are pluralist: different faiths are different responses to the same God.
The reasons differ. Orthodox Jews tend to believe the Torah was given by the Almighty at Sinai, so they see Judaism as the Almighty's gift to the Jews, while respecting good people of other faiths. Progressive Jews tend to believe human beings had a part in writing and understanding the Torah, so they find it easier to say that other faiths are also genuine paths. These are broad trends: individual Jews hold a range of views.
There are other reasons for caution. Over the centuries Jews were often pressed to convert or were persecuted (see Evil, Suffering and the Jewish Community). Some Jews also worry about assimilation (losing Jewish identity), which you met in Marriage in Judaism: A Mitzvah and a Covenant, so they take care about close mixing. Others see interfaith friendship as a strength.
The Council of Christians and Jews (CCJ) was founded in 1942, during the Second World War, by Archbishop William Temple and Chief Rabbi Joseph Hertz. It brings Christians and Jews together to build understanding and challenge prejudice, and it still works in Britain today.
Mitzvah Day began in Britain in 2005 as a day of Jewish social action, founded by Laura Marks. Jews give time to help others, for example by clearing green spaces or visiting older people. People of other faiths and of none now volunteer alongside them. A mitzvah is a good deed, so the day turns Jewish teaching into shared action.
Both examples show how Jews promote a multi-faith society: by talking, understanding and working side by side, without trying to convert anyone.
Paper 1, (a), 3 marks, AO1. Identify three of the Noachide laws. [3 marks]
Paper 1, (b), 4 marks, AO1. Choose one religion. Outline two reasons why this religion does not seek converts. [4 marks]
Paper 1, (d), 12 marks, AO1 and AO2. "All religions should work together." Evaluate this statement, showing you have considered different points of view. In your answer you should refer to at least one religion. [12 marks]
(a) 1. Do not murder (1). 2. Do not steal (1). 3. Set up courts of justice (1).
(b) Judaism teaches that righteous non-Jews have a share in the world to come (1), so nobody needs to convert to be saved (1). Jews believe their role is to keep the covenant and set an example by living by the Torah (1), rather than persuading others to join them (1).
(d) Plan:
For "Choose one religion" questions, name Judaism and use its own terms, such as the Noachide laws or the world to come, to earn the development marks.