Christianity in Modern Israel

Christians in the Holy Land are a tiny minority of the population, though extremely heterogeneous in both denominational adherence and nationality. Roman Catholics are in the minority among Christians, the majority being Orthodox, but the Israeli perception of Christians tends to be that they belong to the Catholic Church. In the last ten years there has been an influx of Russian immigrants (now totalling in the region of one million, 17 per cent of the population, with little difficulty in assimilating to Israeli society) and of Ethiopians. Some immigrants profess to be Jewish only for the purpose of obtaining immediate Israeli citizenship. This paper addresses particularly the current social, cultural, political and theological status of these immigrants, as well as giving an overall account of the political, social and cultural environment and the gradually changing Israeli attitudes toward Christians and Christianity. Here also is a glimpse of the prevailing and gradually changing Christian attitudes toward Jews and Judaism.