7

Generalisation of : Why does Judaism.StackExchange have nearly triple as many questions as Islam.StackExchange?


What's up with how Judaism Stackexchange has 42,367 questions while Christianity SE has only 17,356 questions & Islam SE has only 15,577 questions and similar for Hinduism & Buddhism? I mean, what, many gentile Christians trying to convert you or Muslims or liberals who hate Israel? Lol.

Case 1. Based on Nobel prizes %age population %age assuming 8 billion people

+ A B C D E F G
1 Religion Population % population Questions % questions Ratio (%Q/%P) Pop/Ques
2
3 Christianity 2,496,000,000 31.20% 17,356 16.83% 54% 143,811.94
4 Judaism 16,000,000 0.20% 42,367 41.08% 20540% 377.65
5 Atheism 1,280,000,000 16.00%
6 Hinduism 1,208,000,000 15.10% 19,165 18.58% 123% 63,031.57
7 Buddhism 552,000,000 6.90% 8,670 8.41% 122% 63,667.82
8 Other 520,000,000 6.50%
9 Islam 1,928,000,000 24.10% 15,577 15.10% 63% 123,772.23
10
11 Total 8,000,000,000 100.00% 103,135 100.00% 100% 77,568.24

So 41% of questions from the 5 major religions are for Jews who make up only 0.2% of the population. That's a ratio of 20,540%. That's double the Nobel prize ratio 21.10% Nobels divided by 0.2% Jews = 10,550%. Or Population/Question ratio is 377.65, like 1 question for every 400 Jews.

Case 2. From Wikipedia page on Muslim population assuming everyone adheres the majority religion of the country and assuming 3x Jews in Israel based on the estimated Jews in the US eligible for Israeli citizenship under law of return and assuming you're Buddhist if you're not in a majority Christian, Jewish, Hindu or Muslim country.

+ A B C D E F G
1 Religion Population % population Questions % questions Ratio (%Q/%P) Pop/Ques
2
3 Christianity 2,541,280,296 33.49% 17,356 16.83% 50% 146,420.85
4 Judaism 25,274,712 0.33% 42,367 41.08% 12335% 596.57
5
6 Hinduism 1,400,583,150 18.46% 19,165 18.58% 101% 73,080.26
7 Buddhism/misc 1,869,250,943 24.63% 8,670 8.41% 34% 215,599.88
8
9 Islam 1,752,707,977 23.10% 15,577 15.10% 65% 112,518.97
10
11 Total 7,589,097,078 100.00% 103,135 100.00% 100% 73,584.11

So 41% of questions from the 5 major religions are for Jews who make up only 0.3% of the population. That's a ratio of 20,540%. That's now about the Nobel prize ratio 21.10% Nobels divided by 0.2% Jews = 10,550%. The Population/Question ratio is 596.57, like 1 question for every 600 Jews.

6
  • 3
    No idea, but no doubt in my mind it's in big part because of Talmud - our culture is Q&A.
    – Rabbi Kaii
    Commented Nov 2 at 21:52
  • 2
    One factor that should be accounted for is percentage of people from each religion in Anglo countries, which is where I think most SE members come from. In numbers Jews are still a minority, but it may change the percentages. As to why - this is merely based on things I've heard from people who have decided to explore Judaism - but I gather that in Christianity and Islam questions are often discouraged, which is not usually the case in Judaism.
    – Harel13
    Commented Nov 8 at 9:02
  • 1
    Our entire history, our culture, our continuity as a people, is based on asking and answering questions. It’s in our DNA. Any Jew who didn’t ask questions ended up not knowing what to teach their children; and if their children didn’t ask questions either, they didn’t learn enough to continue practicing Judaism. The only Jews left are the ones who ask questions persistently, until they get a well-sourced and personally satisfactory answer. You can’t be a Jew and not ask questions.
    – Qwertrl
    Commented Nov 11 at 16:36
  • I think it's mad that there are 377.65 - 596.57 Jews on earth, per question vs. 63,031.57 - 215,599.88 for all others!
    – Rabbi Kaii
    Commented Nov 12 at 18:55
  • What's the Meta policy on comparative religion meta?
    – shmosel
    Commented Nov 12 at 22:48
  • I'm not sure that this question can be answered.
    – rosends
    Commented Nov 13 at 12:20

1 Answer 1

4

I don't know much about Christianity or Islam, so I'm not claiming any particular degree to which any of the following is unique to Judaism, but Judaism includes the following features that motivate people to share lots of questions and answers about it:

  • A vast, rich literature, developed over the course of millennia, with more being added every day.

  • The literature includes modes such as lore, law, poetry, ethics, and mysticism.

  • Large amounts of the literature are considered to be Divine in origin - either written by God, written by prophets in contact with God, or originated as an oral tradition by God.

  • Communities of adherents who pattern much to all of their lives on the laws and ethical teachings found in the tradition and literature. (And therefore comprise a complex living embodiment of the tradition.)

  • A core mandate for all members of the community to spend time learning and becoming expert in the literature, throughout all stages of life.

  • A tradition of weekly public reading of sections of the core text (five books of Moses), completing the text over the course of the year, driving communities and individuals to study and discuss the weekly section and commentaries and related texts.

  • A great deal of the legal literature consists of questions and answers. The Talmud is full of accounts of rabbis posing questions to each other to request information or rulings or to challenge each others' positions. Much of the development of legal concepts through the centuries came through precedents set in rabbinic respsonsa, in which formal questions posed to a rabbi and the responding rulings are published together.

  • One key annual ceremony - one of the most popular across the Jewish world - is conducted by families joining together at home, and features, in various ways, participants posing questions to each other. (This Stack Exchange community is named after a song containing one set of such questions.)

You must log in to answer this question.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .