Editing Christianity and Judaism (section)

===Proselytizing===
{{See also|Antisemitism in Christianity#Conversion of Jews}}
Judaism is not a [[proselytizing]] religion. Orthodox Judaism deliberately makes it very difficult to [[Conversion to Judaism|convert]] and become a Jew, and requires a significant and full-time effort in living, study, righteousness, and conduct over several years. The final decision is by no means a foregone conclusion. A person cannot become Jewish by marrying a Jew, or by joining a synagogue, nor by any degree of involvement in the community or religion, but only by explicitly undertaking intense, formal, and supervised work over years aimed towards that goal. Some{{which|date= November 2018}} less strict versions of Judaism have made this process somewhat easier but it is still far from common.

In the past, scholars understood Judaism to have an evangelistic drive,<ref>H.H. Ben-Sasson's ''A History of the Jewish People'', Harvard University Press, 1976, {{ISBN|0-674-39731-2}}, p. 288: "Explicit evidence of a systematic attempt to propagate the Jewish faith in the city of Rome is found as early as 139 BCE. With the increase of the Jewish population of Rome, the Jews intensified their efforts to make converts among the Romans. Although the activity of Jewish missionaries in Roman society caused Tiberius to expel them from that city in 1 9 CE, they soon returned, and Jewish religious propaganda was resumed and maintained even after the destruction of the Temple. Tacitus mentions it regretfully (''Histories'' 5.5), and Juvenal, in his Fourteenth Satire (11. 96ff.), describes how Roman families 'degenerated' into Judaism: the fathers permitted themselves to adopt some of its customs and the sons became Jews in every respect. ... the Bible provided the apostles of Judaism with a literature unparalleled in any other religion."</ref> but today's scholars are inclined to the view that it was often more akin just to "greater openness to converts" rather than active soliciting of conversions. Since Jews believe that one need not be a Jew to approach God, there is no religious pressure to convert non-Jews to their faith. Indeed, Scholars have revisited the traditional claims about Jewish proselytizing and have brought forward a variety of new insights. McKnight and Goodman have argued persuasively that a distinction ought to be made between the passive reception of converts or interested Pagans, and an active desire or intent to convert the non-Jewish world to Judaism.<ref>Martin Goodman (The Jews among Pagans and Christians: In the Roman Empire, 1992, 53, 55, 70–71), McKnight, Scot (A Light Among the Gentiles: Jewish Missionary Activity in the Second Temple Period 1991).
</ref>

The [[Chabad-Lubavitch]] branch of [[Hasidic Judaism]] has been an exception to this non-proselytizing standard, since in recent decades it has been actively promoting Noahide Laws for gentiles as an alternative to Christianity.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.noahide.org/article.asp?Level=493&Parent=88|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071128101917/http://noahide.org/article.asp?Level=493&Parent=88|url-status=dead|title=''The Seven Laws of Noah and the Non-Jews who Follow Them ''|archive-date=28 November 2007}}</ref><ref>[http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/z?c102:H.J.RES.104.ENR:] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160131231008/http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/z?c102:h.j.res.104.enr:|date=31 January 2016}}, 102nd Congress of the United States of America, 5 March 1991.</ref>

By contrast, Christianity is an explicitly [[evangelism|evangelistic]] religion. Christians are commanded by Jesus to "[[Great Commission|Therefore, go and make disciples of all nations]]". Historically, evangelism has on rare occasions led to [[forced conversion]] under threat of death or mass expulsion.