Religion and Ethnicity What is the difference?

Ethnic Group A group of people who share cultural ideas and beliefs that have been part of their community for generations. The characteristics they may have in common include a language, a religion, a shared history, types of food, and a set of traditional stories, beliefs, or celebrations.

Religious Group Shares a belief system in a god or gods, with a specific set of rituals and literature. People from different ethnic groups may share the same religion, though they may be from very different cultures.

Southwest Asia/Middle East Home to many ethnic groups who share similar religions: Arabs Persian Kurds Jews

Arabs Believe they are descendants of Abraham in the Bible, through his son Ishmael Majority of the people who live in SW Asia/Middle East Speak Arabic as their first language Most practice the religion of Islam and call themselves Muslims Also millions who are Christian or Jewish Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Oman, Palestine, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Syria, UAE, and Yemen - all considered Arab countries

Persians Live in the modern country of Iran (called Persia before WWI) Descended from a different ethnic group than Arabs and Jews Ancestors were Indo-Europeans from Central Europe and Southern Russia Speak Farsi, language that uses Arabic alphabet, but is a different language than Arabic Practice Islam, most are Shia

Kurds Live in the mountain region that spans Iran, Iraq, Syria, and Turkey Speak a language called Kurdish Do not have their own homeland or government A minority group ruled by the countries where they live Hope to have a homeland of their own someday

Jews The Jews are a unique ethnic group. A person is considered Jewish ethnically if their mother was a Jew. Judaism is also a religion. A person can either be born Jewish or a person can become Jewish by converting to Judaism through a formal process. Judaism is more like a nationality than like other religions, and being Jewish is like a citizenship. The original name for the people we now call Jews was Hebrews. The word "Hebrew" was first used in the Torah to describe Abraham. Another name used for the people is Children of Israel or Israelites, which refers to the fact that the people are descendants of Jacob, who was also called Israel. Jews are mostly concentrated in Israel and speak the language of Hebrew. Not all Jewish people practice the religion of Judaism, but once a person has converted to Judaism, he is not referred to by any special term; he is as much a Jew as anyone born Jewish.