Statistical Verification for the number of Jews who have converted to or affiliated with Christianity (or other religions) in recent years.
Some Jews still ask me "Are missionaries really having any success converting us?" And it makes me wonder, "Just how bad does it have to get before our Jewish community wakes up?" – Rabbi Michael Skobac Director of Education Jews for Judaism Canada
Our recent tweet “500,000+ Jews have recently converted to Christianity” was challenged. The following statistics have been posted in response:
To Whom It May Concern,
Occasionally, JEWS FOR JUDAISM receives challenges to our claim that, worldwide, it is estimated that more than 500,000 Jews have converted to Christianity in recent years.
To support our estimate, below are summaries of some critical statistics on Jews converting to Christianity and other religions.
These statistics ONLY represent Jews in the U.S.A. with one exception in Canada.
These statistics do not take into account the many, many thousands of Jews who have converted to Christianity in the Former Soviet Union and other major Jewish communities in Europe, South America, Australia, South Africa and Israel etc.
Please note that some of these frightening statistics are over twenty years old and it is not unreasonable to assume the problem is far more severe today, in 2013.
– Julius Ciss, Executive Director, Jews for Judaism (Canada)
Statistics On Jews Who Have Converted To, Or Affiliated With, Christianity And Other Religions
1989 – North American Renewal Service Committee, David Barret
Some 350,000 Jews already believe in Jesus as their savior, and the number may swell to half a million by the year 2000.
1990 – National Jewish Population Study
At least 12% of ‘ethnic Jews’ (estimated 720,000) are now outright Christians. Fully 6% of those who say their ethnic origin is Jewish say they are now Protestant. Another 5% call themselves Catholic, and 1% identify themselves as Christian without specifying a denomination.
http://www.jewishdatabank.org/NJPS1990.asp
2000 – National Jewish Population Survey 2000
Among adults of Jewish parentage and/or upbringing, nearly 1.4 million Jews say they are members of a non-Jewish religion or profess a different religion [Mostly Protestant Christianity]. That number has more than doubled since 1990, a change researchers attribute to the “coming of age of the children of intermarried families and the unfolding religious decisions of interfaith couples.”
http://www.jewishfederations.org/page.aspx?id=33650
2001 – Census Analysis Series – The Jewish Community of Toronto
Part 6, Issues of Jewish Identity by Charles Shahar & Tina Rosenbaum, Page 10,
Table 1, Religious & Ethnicity Affiliations, Toronto Jewish Population
http://www.feduja.org/jewishtoronto/census/2001_Census_Jewish_Identity.pdf
Of those 190,050 individuals in Toronto who identify ethnically as Jews, 5.8% or 10,955practice a religion other than Judaism [Based on this study, which is in one of the most “Jewish” cities in Canada, it is estimated that across Canada, of the remaining 50% of Canadian Jewry, an additional 10,000 – 20,000 Jews may also be practising a religion other than Judaism, most probably Christianity.]
2008 – American Religious Identification Survey (ARIS)
Principal Investigators: Barry A. Kosmin and Ariela Keysar
About 500,000 adults who have a Jewish mother follow another religion, overwhelmingly some form of Christianity.
http://livinginliminality.files.wordpress.com/2009/03/aris_report_2008.pdf
