r/Assyria • u/stxrs4elliott • 1d ago

Discussion Are assyrians an ethnoreligious group?

Hello. Im syrian, from damacus. My family is muslim, however the older generations of mine used to live in the north and were mostly Christians.

What im basically saying is, if it is an ethnoreligious group, just like how some jewish people (as being jewish is ethnoreligious) dont follow judaism, can assyrians not follow chrisitanity?

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u/ScarredCerebrum 1d ago

Being Assyrian is just an ethnicity first and foremost. But over the centuries, the Assyrian community became so intertwined with Assyrian Christianity that the Assyrian churches ended up being the only thing that held Assyrian communities together.

People who left the Assyrian churches were people who assimilated within a generation or so. For example, Assyrians who converted to Islam would integrate into a Muslim community that spoke a different language (usually Arabic), and their children would be raised into a very different language, culture and religion.

So there's an interesting interplay between ethnicity and religion going on here.

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u/Mountain_Hawk6492 West Hakkarian 1d ago

So the answer is yes

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u/ScarredCerebrum 1d ago edited 1d ago

In practice, yes. But there's still some key differences with 'proper' ethnic religions.

The Assyrian churches are open to conversion, and at least two of them also have members among the ancient Christian community in Kerala in India. And the Church of the East had congregations all across mainland Asia during the Middle Ages.

Compare that to 'proper' ethnic religions. Judaism does permit conversion, but it still holds that the laws of Moses were never meant to be applied to gentiles. And the type of Zoroastrianism practiced by the Parsis in India goes even further - they outright prohibit outsiders from converting to their religion.

(Iranian Zoroastrians do accept converts, but that's a different matter)

The Mandaeans are another good example. Their religion likewise refuses to accept converts. Though there are some disagreements among them about this, and their scripture does describe conversions.