Religious coercion in Israel
Religious coercion is the forced imposition of religious norms on the general public, or on parts of the general population, while violating the freedom of religion and freedom from religion of the general public or of the individual. In Israel religious coercion mainly refers to the imposition of the Orthodox Jewish norms and decrees, which usually are not broadly acceptable amongst the majority Israeli secular population group, on all or parts of general Israeli public, through legislation or other measures. After these legislations become state laws they require all or parts of the non-religious population groups in Israel to obey certain decrees of the Jewish religion. The religious population, however, argues that any legislation, draws its origins from the world view of the legislators, and that the religion by itself is not different from any other ideology.
The rejection of the religious coercion in Israel is one of the major agendas of the Israeli secular Zionist Shinui party. Additional Israeli politicians have also emphasized the need to reject religious coercion are most notably the Knesset members Shulamit Aloni and Yossi Sarid.
Separation of religion and state in Israel
The issue of separation of Religion and state in Israeli is very intricate and complex. By definition, Israel is a Jewish state - some say that this definition refers to Judaism as a religion as much as it refers to Jewish nationalism. The Law of Return, grants every Jew in the world the entitlement to immigrate to Israel, and the right to obtain citizenship on the basis of his or her Jewish origin.
There are many laws in Israel that rely on Judaism, including the system of rabbinical courts which functions under the law. All of these and more portray a country that has no separation between church and state. However, Israel has many Jewish people whom do not obey the decrees of Judaism, and there is also largely a policy of religious tolerance towards other religions. They are entitled to a vacation during their holidays, and the state does not prevent them from establishing religious public institutions such as a church and a mosque.
The issue of separation of church and state in Israel is in constant debate among Israelis: on the one hand, the secular population argues that they do not desire to practice Judaism, and it they believe that a modern democratic state should not force its citizens to observe outdated laws against their will. However, some Israelis argue that the separation of church and state would surly result in the loss of the Israel's character as a Jewish state. It should be noted too that some religious Israelis believe that there should be a separation between religion and state, and on the other hand many secular Israelis believe that there should not be a separation between religion and state.
Religious coercion and legislation
Some see part of religious legislation in Israel as religious coercion. Notable examples of this are:
- Marriage and divorce: By law, all matters of marriage and divorce in Israel are conducted, according to the couple's religion, by the religious institutions of that specific religion. As a result of this legislation, Israeli Jewish couples are imposed to being married in an Orthodox Jewish ceremony, often in contrary to their worldview and values. In addition, spouses whom are not members of the same religion can not marry in Israel. Even when both partners are Jewish, there are situations in which they may not marry in Israel, due to various religious restrictions such such as the Halakhic prohibition of marrying a Kohen. To solve these problems, through many years different religious streams have proposed to establish civil marriage in Israel, but these proposals have not gone through the legislative process yet.
- The prohibition of operating public transportation services on Sabath: According to the Israeli traffic ordinance the Minister of Transportation must honor the Jewish traditions, as much as possible, when regarding the prohibition of public transportation on the Jewish religious holidays. As a result of this provision, it was determined in section 386A that the minister of transportation should not provide a license to operate a bus on Jewish holidays, except for cases where the service serves passengers going to a hospital, to a periphery village, to a village whose residents are not Jewish or if it is essential due to public safety reasons. In general, the existing public transport services in most of the Jewish sector is mostly limited on Saturdays.
- Raising pigs prohibition act (חוק איסור גידול חזיר): This law imposes a national ban on the raising of pigs for the purpose of food consumption except for a small number of villages whom are allowed to do so by law.
- Unleavened Bread Law (חוק חג המצות): This law states that during the Passover holiday business owners are not allowed to publicly display leavened products for sale or consumption in villages/cities where the majority of the residents are Jewish. The Minister of Justice has determined in the administrative regulations that in the case of a first offense of this law the offender would get a fine of 100 NIS and that in cases of repeat offenses the offender would pay double fines. The application of the law was imposed on the local authorities, and to this day only seven of them requested that the Ministry of Interior would authorize the use of inspectors during Passover to make sure that this law is enforced. In reality it has been proven through the years that the low fine does not deter the Israeli business owners whom want to sell leavened bread during the Jewish holidays, and that even when inspectors fine the offenders, in practice the law is not fully enforced. The ministers of the interior Ophir Pines-Paz and Avraham Poraz have previously even stated that they do not intend to enforce this law. Nevertheless, through the years about eight Israeli interior ministers whom belonged to the religious Shas party have attempted to enforce this law strongly.
- Jewish Religious Services Regulations (burial companies): According to these regulations, until 1996 Jewish burials were made possible only in a Jewish cemetery and by Chevra kadisha burial companies only whom make sure that the bodies of Jews are prepared for burial according to Halacha. In 1996 the Knesset passed the Civil Right For Alternative Burials Act, which states that "Everyone has the right to be buried according to their preference in an alternative civilian cemetery if they choose to do so", although these conditions do not permit the cremation of Jewish people. In addition, it was determined that the state would establish alternative civilian cemeteries or assign areas for the purpose of alternative civilian burials in the existing cemeteries, and by doing so would provide a non-Orthodox burial for those whom desire it. Shortly thereafter the Minister of Religious Affairs ordered to build four civilian cemeteries in Israel: in Beersheba, in Jerusalem, in Haifa and in the central of Israel. The implementation of the decision took many years, and as of 2011 only three cemeteries in Israel provide alternative civilian burial: in Beersheba, in Kfar Saba and in Kiryat Tiv'on.
See also
External links