What religions were founded in Israel?

Answer 1

Since no timeframe was given to this question, it is difficult to give a definitive answer, but the trends in religion are clear. If we restrict Israel to the 1949 borders that it retained after the Arab-Israeli War of 1948-9, the following becomes apparent.

During the Biblical Age, Ancient Israel and Modern Israel did not territorially overlap save for the areas around Jerusalem and North Israel. The Tel Aviv area (where over 1/3 of Israelis now live) was under Canaanite control. The Negev area (roughly 45% of modern Israel) was also outside of Israelite control. The Canaanite tribes were heavily influenced (religiously) by the nearby, powerful Empires of ancient Egypt and the Mesopotamian Civilizations. They had polytheistic blends with some Egyptian gods, many more Mesopotamian gods, and a few gods of their own.

After Cyrus the Great of Persia conquered Babylon (which by this point had conquered all of Modern Day Israel), the official state religion changed to Zoroastrianism (a Persian religion). However, there was no major drive to convert people to Zoroastrianism, so populations on the ground retained their beliefs. In addition, Cyrus allowed the Jewish communities which had been deported in Babylon rebuild the Great Temple, solidifying a Jewish presence in the land.

During the late Greek and Roman periods of occupation, Judaism was the primary religion and its competition with Hellenistic culture prompted the rise of extremist orders. After defeating an order of Jewish zealots, the Romans spread the Jewish people across the Roman Empire to stop similar movements from gaining traction. This meant that the Jewish population of the territory decreased substantially and left room for polythiestic Romans, Zoroastrian Persians, and many Mesopotamians and Egyptians to enter the land. (Considering the ethnic makeup of that territory - there was no substantial, noticeable migration from any of these places.)

When Rome became a Christian Empire, there was some conversion to Christianity in the territory of Modern Day Israel, but Israel never became a strongly Christian center like Tunisia or Italy. The next major change in religion came during the conquest of the territory by the Caliph Umar who brought a large influx of Arabs into the territory. Most non-Jews and non-Christians converted to Islam rather quickly, while the other monothiestic communities converted more slowly. Although this pattern was interrupted by the establishment of the Christian Crusader States in the early 1000s, Islam typically increased traction over this timeframe.

The major shift towards Judaism reasserting itself as the dominant religion came during the period of the British Mandate when great numbers of Jews in a concerted effort began to buy and settle the land occupied overwhelmingly by Arab who are retroactively considered Palestinians. By the end of World War II, when the future of the British Mandate of Palestine was to be put to a UN vote, Jews had risen from less than 5% of the territory's occupants to nearly 40%. As a result, a Jewish state in the territory was a viable option. During the Arab-Israeli War of 1948-9, many Palestinians were displaced because of Jewish raids on Arab villages, the fear that additional villages would be raided, and the Arab propaganda machine which encouraged people to leave and wait for Israel to be destroyed and then to come back. David Ben-Gurion declared, after the war had ended in Israel's favor, that these former inhabitants could not return to Israel. Thus, the percentage of Jews in those borders rose more. Currently Jews make up 80% of Israel's citizenry and the number has remained more or less in that position for Israel's history since 1948.

However, many people still count the Palestinian refugees who wish to live in the territory of Israel, but cannot due to Ben-Gurion's policy of non-admittance, in which case, the percentage of Jews can drop anywhere from 60% to as low as 30% depending on which groups are considered to be refugees.

Answer 2

Jewish and Christianity