page_title: Religion in Israel
section_title: Christianity
hierarchical_section_title: Religion in Israel / Religious groups / Christianity
caption_attribution_description: Jerusalem Čeština: IX. zastavení na Via Dolorosa v Jeruzalémě Deutsch: Jerusalem, Via Dolorosa, Station IX. English: 9th Station, Jesus falls for the third time, Via Dolorosa, Jerusalem. Français&#160;: Neuvième station de la Via dolorosa à Jerusalem.
context_page_description: Religion in Israel is a central feature of the country and plays a major role in shaping Israeli culture and lifestyle.
  The majority of Israeli citizens are Jews, but not all are religious. Many Israeli Jews are secular or atheistic. Some are hostile to all forms of religious beliefs and practices. One measure of Jewish religious observance in Israel is the proportion of Jewish Israelis that vote for religious parties to represent them in the Knesset. Roughly one third of Jewish Israelis vote for religious parties such as the Religious Zionists and the Haredi.
  Religion has played a central role in Israel's history. Israel is also the only country in the world where the majority of citizens is Jewish. According to the Israel Central Bureau of Statistics, the population in 2011 was 75.4% Jewish, 20.6% Arab, and 4.1% minority groups. The religious affiliation of the Israeli population as of 2019 was 74.2% Jewish, 17.8% Muslim, 2.0% Christian, and 1.6% Druze, with the remaining 4.4% including faiths such as Samaritanism and Baha'iism, and irreligious people with no faith.
context_section_description: Most Christians living permanently in Israel are Arabs, or have come from other countries to live and work mainly in churches or monasteries, which have long and enduring histories in the land. Ten churches are officially recognized under Israel's confessional system, which provides for the self-regulation of status issues, such as marriage and divorce. These are the Roman (Latin rite), Armenian, Syriac, Chaldean, Melkite (Greek Catholic) and Maronite Catholic churches, Eastern Orthodox Greek Orthodox Church, and Syriac Orthodox churches, as well as Anglicanism.
  Christian Arabs are one of the most educated groups in Israel. Maariv has described the Christian-Arab sector as "the most successful in the education system", since Christian Arabs fared the best in terms of education in comparison to any other group receiving an education in Israel. Arab Christians were also the vanguard in terms of eligibility for higher education, and they have attained bachelor's and academic degrees at higher rates than Jews, Druze or Muslims in Israel.
  According to historical and traditional sources, Jesus lived in the Land of Israel, and died and was buried on the site of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem, making the land a Holy Land for Christianity. However, few Christians now live in the area, compared to Muslims and Jews. This is because Islam displaced Christianity in almost all of the Middle East, and the rise of modern Zionism and the establishment of the State of Israel has seen millions of Jews migrate to Israel. Recently, the Christian population in Israel has increased with the immigration of foreign workers from a number of countries, and the immigration of accompanying non-Jewish spouses in mixed marriages. Numerous churches have opened in Tel Aviv.
caption: 9th Station of the Cross on the Via Dolorosa street in Jerusalem. The Church of the Holy Sepulchre in the background is venerated by Christians as the site of the Burial and Resurrection of Jesus.[48]
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