Religion in Israel is manifested primarily in Judaism, the ethnic religion of the Jewish people. The State of Israel declares itself as a "Jewish and democratic state" and is the only country with a Jewish-majority population (see Jewish state). Other faiths in the country include Islam (predominantly Sunni), Christianity (mostly Melkite and Orthodox) and the religion of the Druze people. Religion plays a central role in national and civil life, and almost all Israeli citizens are automatically registered as members of the state's 14 official religious communities, which exercise control over several matters of personal status, especially marriage. These recognized communities are Orthodox Judaism (administered by the Chief Rabbinate), Islam (administered by the Supreme Muslim Council), the Druze faith (local Druze are led by spiritual leaders from the Tarif family), the Catholic Church (including the Latin Church, Armenian Catholic Church, Antiochene Syriac Maronite Church, Melkite Greek Catholic Church, Syriac Catholic Church, and Chaldean Catholic Church), Greek Orthodox Church of Jerusalem, Syriac Orthodox Church, Armenian Apostolic Church, Episcopal Church in Jerusalem and the Middle East, and the Baháʼí Faith (administered by the Universal House of Justice)..

The religious affiliation of the Israeli population as of 2022 was 73.6% Jewish, 18.1% Muslim, 1.9% Christian, and 1.6% Druze. The remaining 4.8% included faiths such as Samaritanism and Baháʼí, as well as "religiously unclassified".

While Israeli Jews are all technically under the jurisdiction of the state Orthodox rabbinate, personal attitudes vary immensely, from extreme Orthodoxy to irreligion and atheism. Jews in Israel mainly classify themselves along a fourfold axis, from least to most observant, hiloni (); masorti (); dati ( or 'orthodox', including religious zionist); and haredi ( or 'ultra-orthodox').

Israeli law guarantees considerable privileges and freedom to practice for the recognized communities, but, in tandem, does not necessarily do so for other faiths. The Pew Research Center has identified Israel as one of the countries that place "high restrictions" on the free exercise of religion and there have been limits placed on non-Orthodox Jewish religious movements, which are unrecognized. Pew ranked Israel as fifth globally in terms of "inter-religious tension and violence"."Israel Has Almost as Many Religious Restrictions as Iran, Pew Report Finds". Haaretz, JTA and Ben Sales. July 17, 2019

Religious self-definition

A Gallup survey in 2015 determined that 65% of Israelis say they are either "not religious" or "convinced atheists", while 30% say they are "religious". Israel is in the middle of the international religiosity scale, between Thailand, the world's most religious country, and China, the least religious.Who are the most religious people in the world? Haaretz, 14 April 2015

, 65% of Israeli Jews believed in God, and 85% participated in a Passover seder.Ib. p.11 A survey conducted in 2009 showed that 80% of Israeli Jews believed in God, with 46% of them self-reporting as secular. Israelis' majority (2/3) tend not to align themselves with Jewish religious movements (such as Reform Judaism or Conservative Judaism), but instead tend to define their religious affiliation by degree of their religious practice.

, 42% of Israeli Jews defined themselves as "secular"; on the other opposite, 8% defined themselves as haredi (ultra-orthodox); an additional 12% as "religious"; 13% as "traditional (religious)"; and 25% as "traditional (non-religious)".

In 2022, 45% of Israel Jews self-identified as "secular"; 10% as haredi (ultra-orthodox); 33% as masorti (); and 12% as dati ( or 'orthodox', including religious zionist).

Of the Arab Israelis, as of 2008, 82.7% were Muslims, 8.4% were Druze, and 8.3% were Christians. Just over 80% of Christians are Arabs, and the majority of the remaining are immigrants from the former Soviet Union who immigrated with a Jewish relative. About 81% of Christian births are to Arab women.

Among the Arab population, a 2010 research showed that 8% defined themselves as very religious, 47% as religious, 27% as not very religious, and 18% as not religious.

Judaism

Most citizens in the State of Israel are Jewish. As of 2022, Jews made up 73.6% percent of the population.

Secular-traditional spectrum

In 2007, a poll by the Israeli Democracy Institute found that 27% of Israeli Jews say that they keep the Sabbath, while 53% said they do not keep it at all. The poll also found that 50% of the respondents would give up shopping on the Sabbath as long as public transportation were kept running and leisure activities continued to be permitted; however, only 38% believed that such a compromise would reduce the tensions between the secular and religious communities."Sabbath Poll", Dateline World Jewry, World Jewish Congress, September 2007

Because the terms "secular" (hiloni) and "traditional" (masorti) are not strictly defined, published estimates of the percentage of Israeli Jews who are considered "traditional" range from 32% to 55%. A Gallup survey in 2015 determined that 65% of Israelis say they are either "not religious" or "convinced atheists", while 30% say they are "religious". Israel is in the middle of the international religiosity scale, between Thailand, the world's most religious country, and China, the least religious. The Israeli Democracy Index commissioned in 2013 by the Israel Democracy Institute regarding religious affiliation with religious movements of Israeli Jews found that 3.9 percent of respondents felt attached to Reform (Progressive) Judaism, 3.2 percent to Conservative Judaism, and 26.5 percent to Orthodox Judaism. The other two thirds of respondents said they felt no connection to any denomination, or declined to respond. However, it does not mean, that the secular/hiloni Israelis are without other forms of spirituality.Ferziger, Adam S. (March 2008). "Religion for the Secular: The New Israeli Rabbinate," Journal of Modern Jewish Studies 7, 1: 67-90.

There is also a growing baal teshuva (Jewish returners) movement, involved with all Jewish denominations, of secular Israelis rejecting their previously secular lifestyles and choosing to become religiously observant, with many educational programs and yeshivas for them. An example is Aish HaTorah, which received open encouragement from some sectors within the Israeli establishment.

At the same time, there is also a significant movement in the opposite direction toward a secular lifestyle. There is some debate which trend is stronger at present. Recent polls show that ranks of secular Jewish minority in Israel continued to drop in 2009. Currently, the secular make up only 42%.

Orthodox spectrum

The spectrum covered by "Orthodox" in the diaspora exists in Israel, again with some important variations.

What would be called "Orthodox" in the diaspora includes what is commonly called dati ("religious") or Haredi ("ultra-Orthodox") in Israel. The former term includes what is called Religious Zionism or the "National Religious" community (and also Modern Orthodox in US terms), as well as what has become known over the past decade or so as Hardal (Haredi-Leumi, i. e., "ultra-Orthodox nationalist"), which combines a largely Haredi lifestyle with a nationalist (i. e., pro-Zionist) ideology.

Haredi applies to a populace that can be roughly divided into three separate groups, except mentioned Hardal, along both ethnic and ideological lines: (1) "Lithuanian/Lita'im" Haredim of Ashkenazic (i. e., "Germanic" — European) origin, predominantly, adherents of non-Hasidic traditional Orthodoxy, a.k.a. Misnagdim; (2) Hasidic Haredim of Ashkenazic (mostly of Eastern European) origin; and (3) Sephardi Haredim (including mizrahi).

Ultra-Orthodox sector is relatively young and numbered in 2020 more than 1,1 million (14 percent of total population).

Non-Orthodox denominations of Judaism

Conservative, Reform (the Israel Movement for Reform and Progressive Judaism), Reconstructionist, Humanistic Judaism (the International Institute for Secular Humanistic Judaism) and other new non-Orthodox Jewish religious movements are represented among Israeli Jews. According to The Israel Democracy Institute, as of 2013, approximately 7 percent of Israel's Jewish population "identified" with Reform and Conservative Judaism, a study by Pew Research Center showed 5% did, while a Midgam survey showed that one third "especially identified with Progressive Judaism", almost as many as those who especially identify with Orthodox Judaism. Only a few authors, like Elliot Nelson Dorff, consider the Israeli social group masortim (traditionalists) to be one and the same with the Western Conservative (masorti) movement, it produces understanding Conservative Judaism as a major denomination in Israel, associated with a large social sector.

The Chief Rabbinate strongly opposes the Reform and Conservative movements, saying they are "uprooting Judaism", that they cause assimilation and that they have “no connection” to authentic Judaism. The chief rabbinate's view does not reflect the majority viewpoint of Israeli Jews, however. A survey of Israeli Jews published in May 2016 showed that 72 percent of respondents said they disagreed with the Haredi assertions that Reform Jews are not really Jewish. The survey also showed that a third of Israeli Jews "identify" with progressive (Reform or Conservative) Judaism and almost two thirds agree that Reform Judaism should have equal rights in Israel with Orthodox Judaism.Survey: Majority of Israeli Jews support equality for Reform movement. JTA, 27 May 2016. The report was organized by the Israel Movement for Reform and Progressive Judaism ahead of its 52nd biennial conference.

Secular–religious status quo

The religious status quo, agreed to by David Ben-Gurion with the Orthodox parties at the time of Israel's formation in 1948, is an agreement on the role that Judaism would play in Israel's government and the judicial system. The agreement was based upon a letter sent by Ben-Gurion to Agudat Israel dated 19 June 1947.The Status Quo Letter (DOC ) English translation in Israel in the Middle East: Documents and Readings on Society, Politics, and Foreign Relations, Pre-1948 to the Present, editors Itamar Rabinovich and Jehuda Reinharz. Under this agreement, which still operates in most respects today: The Chief Rabbinate has authority over kashrut, Shabbat, Jewish burial and personal status issues, such as marriage, divorce, and conversions. Streets in Haredi neighborhoods are closed to traffic on the Jewish Sabbath. There is no public transport on the Jewish Sabbath, and most businesses are closed. However, there is public transport in Haifa, since Haifa had a large Arab population at the time of the British Mandate. Restaurants who wish to advertise themselves as kosher must be certified by the Chief Rabbinate. Importation of non-kosher foods is prohibited. Despite this prohibition, a few pork farms supply establishments selling white meat, due to demand therefore among specific population sectors, particularly the Russian immigrants of the 1990s. Despite the status quo, the Supreme Court ruled in 2004 that local governments are not allowed to ban the sale of pork, although this had previously been a common by-law.

Nevertheless, some breaches of the status quo have become prevalent, such as several suburban malls remaining open during the Sabbath. Though this is contrary to the law, the government largely turns a blind eye.