The word Jew at least makes some sense: it’s commonly understood to refer to the Jewish religion or people.
Semite however makes little sense as it doesn’t really mean Jewish people.
It’s a backward, antiquated, imprecise holdover from 18th century historians (who coined racial terms from the bible).
Would be nice to have two agreed upon, separate ways of referring to the ethnicity and the religion. I’d hate if my ethnicity was tied to a religion personally, like I was obliged to practice a faith because of my ancient ancestors or something. Having only terms that refer to both at once makes it too easy to say criticism of Judaic theology is tantamount to racism.
Would you consider yourself anti-antisemite?
The word Jew at least makes some sense: it’s commonly understood to refer to the Jewish religion or people. Semite however makes little sense as it doesn’t really mean Jewish people. It’s a backward, antiquated, imprecise holdover from 18th century historians (who coined racial terms from the bible).
Would be nice to have two agreed upon, separate ways of referring to the ethnicity and the religion. I’d hate if my ethnicity was tied to a religion personally, like I was obliged to practice a faith because of my ancient ancestors or something. Having only terms that refer to both at once makes it too easy to say criticism of Judaic theology is tantamount to racism.