You can claim to be jewish or catholic if you want to. But if the authoritive orginisations, which everyone claiming that identity approves of their legitimacy, says you are not it, then you are not part of "their community".
The pope and vatican is the authority of what is and is not catholic, there is some jewish group that does the same and israel as a state follows their guidelines.
It would be kind of like claiming to be a communist while all the other communists say you are not a communist. You can do it, its just retarded.
Answer
Cameron Gray
Thomas Mitchell
How can you have the monopoly of an identity? It's not a property.
Sorry for deleted post, I though first you were saying the opposite about Vatican.
So if a sexual/gender idpol organization says for example you can't be straight, you won't be straight then?
Dominic Ross
Also, what's the legitimacy of those authorities anyway?
Chase Kelly
If 99% of the jews say that you are not jewish, do you think you are part of the larger "jewish" community? Are you really a jew if everybody agrees you are not? Definitions are not made by individuals.
Are you really that autistic? Can you really not follow my argument?
Jacob Taylor
Israel is not 99% of the jew, they are 45% of the jews actually, not even an absolute majority.
You are saying there are legitimate because they are the authorities, I'm asking why makes their supposed authority legitimate?
Camden Mitchell
Does not matter. The vast majority of jews approve of the theological authority of the jewish institutes based in israel. Israel itself just follows those institutes.
Their legitimacy derives from the majority of the members they claim to represent approving of them.
Think of it like this:
Seems pretty simple to me.
The catholic church is the head of catholicism. You claim claim to be a catholic and oppose the pope, but then are you really a catholic? Can you really be a jew if most jewish people (and remember, jews outside of israel also agree with that rule) say you are not a jew?
Ethnic jews define being an ethnic jew as being the child of a jewish mother. Therefore, if your mom is not ethnically jewish, you are not jewish. Jewishness for jews is not just a religion, it is an ethnicity.
Charles Flores
He's not?
Anthony Price
But how do all these people would know what you think or do?
Nathan Ross
Eh, what?
Camden Ortiz
The jews to say that you're not jewish should know you, what stop people to lie to them? If I say my mom is jewish even if it's not true, if the jews believe me will I be a jew then?