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> The religion does not allow for conversion to the faith. If a Mandaean man or woman marries someone who is not part of the religion, the couple’s children are
by jonathanyc 8y ago
> The religion does not allow for conversion to the faith. If a Mandaean man or woman marries someone who is not part of the religion, the couple’s children are not considered to be Mandaeans.
That’s interesting. Seems like the religion is “doomed” to forever remain that of a small and shrinking minority.
- Smushman 8y agoI guess they think they have this covered: "Mandaeans believe in marriage and procreation" But this article speaks precisely to your statment: http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2008-11-16/news/0811160073_1_sect-iraqi-kurdistan-sunni-nor-shiite http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2008-11-16/news/081116007...
- jessriedel 8y agoThat's obviously not inevitable, seeing as that the population of Mandaeans grew and existed for more than a millennium. It just sets a constraint between fertility and the rate of outside marriage.
- drb91 8y agoThis is also true of some ultra orthodox sects of judaism that are thriving.
- verbify 8y agoCan you name the sect? I was raised as an Ultra-Orthodox Jew and this is not normative.
- imbokodo 8y agoThe Syrian Jews in Brooklyn, New York are near-impossible to convert into. I don't see it as inconceivable some other sect banned it altogether.
- verbify 8y agoThey do marry other Jews or descendants of converts from other courts, they just don't marry converts or convert using their own courts. Therefore they are not a real endogamous population. Also, the edict is only since 1937, they were accepting converts earlier than that. So fundamentally they aren't a success story - they haven't been doing this very long.
- imbokodo 8y ago> They do marry other Jews Other Jews can marry in, but even this is limited. The majority of self-identifying Jews in the US would not have the qualifications to marry in. Any how, they are an insular community.