Ethnoreligious

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The term ethnoreligious (or ethno-religious) refers to an ethnic group of people whose members are also unified by a common religious background. Ethnoreligious communities define their ethnic identity neither exclusively by ancestral heritage nor simply by religious affiliation, but often through a combination of both (a long shared history; a cultural tradition of its own; either a common geographical origin, or descent from a small number of common ancestors; a common language, not necessarily peculiar to the group; a common literature peculiar to the group; a common religion different from that of neighbouring groups; being a minority or being an oppressed or a dominant group within a larger community).

In an ethnoreligious group, particular emphasis is placed upon religious endogamy, and the concurrent discouragement of interfaith marriages or intercourse, as a means of preserving the stability and historical longevity of the community and culture. This adherence to religious endogamy can also, in some instances, be tied to ethnic nationalism if the ethnoreligious group possesses a historical base in a specific region.

Contents 1 Legal Definition 2 Legally Defined Ethnoreligious groups 2.1 Jews 2.2 Sikhs 3 Non-Legally Defined Ethno-religious Groups 4 References 5 See also 6 External links

[edit] Legal Definition

In the United Kingdom the landmark legal case Mandla (Sewa Singh) and another v Dowell Lee and others (1983) 2 AC 548, placed a legal definition on ethnoreligious group.

In this case an ethnoreligious group was defined as:

1. a long shared history, of which the group is conscious as distinguishing it from other groups, and the memory of which it keeps alive;
2. a cultural tradition of its own, including family and social customs and manners, often but not necessarily associated with religious observance. In addition to those two essential characteristics the following characteristics are, in my opinion, relevant:
3. either a common geographical origin, or descent from a small number of common ancestors;
4. a common language, not necessarily peculiar to the group;
5. a common literature peculiar to the group;
6. a common religion different from that of neighbouring groups or from the general community surrounding it;
7. being a minority or being an oppressed or adominant group within a larger community, for example a conquered people (say, theinhabitants of England shortly after the Norman conquest) and their conquerors might bothbe ethnic groups

The significance of this case was that groups like Sikhs and Jews could be protected under the Race Relations Act 1976.

[edit] Legally Defined Ethnoreligious groups

[edit] Jews

The Jews in the United Kingdom are a legally^[1] defined^[2] ethnoreligious community. Ascertaining and defining membership in the Jewish people (the question of "who is a Jew") involves both a traditional religious component and an ethnic one.

[edit] Sikhs

Alongside Jews, Sikhs ^[3][4] were legally defined as an ethnoreligious group, in the landmark "Mandla Case"^[5].

[edit] Non-Legally Defined Ethno-religious Groups

Other ethnoreligious communities which combine ethnic identity with religious belonging include

• Amish
• Alawites
• Assyrians
• Bosniaks (Islam)
• Chaldean Christians
• Copts
• Croats
• East Indians and various other groups in the Indian union.
• Goan Catholics
• Mandaeans
• Mangalorean Catholics of Karnataka
• Malaysian Malay
• Maronites
• Mennonite
• Parsis
• Samaritans
• Serbs (Orthodox Christianity)
• Syrian Malabar Nasranis
• Yazidi (more often considered a religious minority within the religiously-diverse Kurdish ethnicity)
• Moro people

[edit] References

[edit] See also

• Assimilation
• Folk religion
• Religious segregation
• Shinto

[edit] External links

• Migration and the Ethnoreligious Hate Crime in Russia: Risk Profiles 2000-2010
• Ethnoreligious Conflict in the 20th Century: A General Theory