How does one legally change their religious status??

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I was born into a jewish family but haven't really considered myself jewish since i was like 12. Just not the belief system for me. Really I believe in a more pantheistic pagan type of way. How can I officially change my religious affiliation to "pantheistic pagan"??

Easy. Find a representative of the pantheistic pagans and ask to be involved in the initiation rites.

I just found a website about pantheistic paganism and wrote a letter to the site owner asking about that info. Thanks a lot!

Your status is whatever you claim it to be.

The only time it is really an issue is when you pursue some matter and someone wants to test your "sincerity" to your professed beliefs (like a person claiming someone offended his devout Muslim beliefs, but he can't show anything in his life evidencing that he lives the faith he professes to follow).

I know that. But the problem is that many people like to still consider me jewish which is very unfair since i don't believe in judaism and since it's a label that's been forcefully given to me since before I was born. I know it doesn't matter what people think but I still want to make it official, ya know?

Once a Jew, always a Jew. In fact, I once contemplated trying to be initiated into Judaism because it wasn't a title that anyone could ever remove from me. I figured that this might take too much time, and involve avoiding tasty foods like ham way too much for me to ever attempt, and well.... lying about my religion for way too long and too thoroughly to be worthwhile.

There's no official registrar of what religion people are - not like births, deaths and marriages etc. As the above posters have said - you are what you say you are. So you are the one that makes it 'official' by telling people. You may want to make sure you inform your close relatives and explain whether you do or don't want a Jewish funeral service should you die.

If people that don't know you assume your are Jewish because of your name and that really annoys you then you could go to the extreme of changing it. Make it something like Mr. Pagan and I'm sure you'll be right

In most cases you change your religious status simply by no longer following a particular religion, quitting any religious organization you were involved with, etc. It's a bit harder if you're a Jew because there are plenty of secular or even atheist Jews who are still considered to be Jews.

Please correct me if I'm wrong, but I was under the impression that the word "Jew" implied not only a religious belief system but a race and culture too? There is the thing about the "Jewish nose" or is that just a racial stereotype?

The word "Christian" doesn't seem to have the racial associations that the word "Jew" does.

Technically a Jew is someone descended from the ancient Israelite tribe of Judah, but people use the term to describe religious affiliation as well as ethnicity.

I think we would quite a few less Jews by that definition... or quite a few more depending on how you see it.

Not quite true. A catholic is counted regardless of current practices. The catholic church uses its lists of baptismal names to conflate its world numbers.

If you wish to remove yourself, there is a process called a Declaration of Defection and a form that you can fill out.

Interested parties can check this site. Though it is Irish, the exclusion system is world wide.

http://www.countmeout.ie/

It depends upon ho is considering the status. Nazis probably killed lots of non-religious Jews and Israel accepts as Jewish anyone of Jewish matriarchal descent.

Are you kidding? You need to do nothing. "I used to prefer Coke but now I like Pepsi" So what?

Your problem is different. If you were born Jewish then all your friends and family are Jewish.

If you take up another belief then you risk being rejected by all your family and friends.

You must be strong enough to make new friends to fill the gap left by the old friends who will reject you.

All my grandparents were orthodox Jews and all my relatives were Jews but my parents were atheists as am I and I have friends from all cultures and all faiths and it's never been a problem. Nobody rejected me.

A Jewsih friend of mine on anthoer forum told me "jewish is a race, religion and a lifestyle". having one, two or all three of those can make you jewish. in his opinion.