Like Reform Judaism, the Conservative movement developed in Europe and the United States in the 19th century, as Jews reacted to the changes brought about by the Enlightenment and Jewish emancipation, a confluence of events that lead to Haskalah, or the Jewish Enlightenment.

In 2000, the NJPS showed that only 33 percent of synagogue-affiliated American Jews belonged to a Conservative synagogue.

Many Conservative Jews reject the traditional Jewish idea that God literally dictated the words of the Torah to Moses at Mount Sinai in a verbal revelation, but they hold the traditional Jewish belief that God inspired the later prophets to write the rest of the Tanakh.

Many Conservative Jews believe that Moses was inspired by God in the same manner as the later prophets.

Conservative Jews who reject the concept of verbal revelation believe that God revealed his will to Moses and other prophets in a non-verbal form — that is, God's revelation did not include the particular words of the divine texts.

Conservative Jews believe that movements to its left, such as Reform and Reconstructionist Judaism, have erred by rejecting the traditional authority of Jewish law and tradition.

The Conservative movement is committed to Jewish pluralism and respects the religious practices of Reform and Reconstructionist Jews.

For instance, if two men and a woman were to eat a meal together, a Conservative Jew would believe that the presence of three adult Jews would obligate the group to say a communal form of the Grace After Meals, while an Orthodox Jew would believe that, lacking three adult Jewish males, the group would not be able to do such.

Conservative Rabbis are not allowed to perform intermarriages ( marriages between Jews and non-Jews ).

Orthodox Jewish leaders vary considerably in their dealings with the Conservative movement and with individual Conservative Jews.

Some Modern Orthodox leaders cooperate and work with the Conservative movement, while haredi (" Ultra-Orthodox ") Jews often eschew formal contact with Conservative Judaism, or at least its rabbinate.

From the Orthodox perspective, Conservative Jews are considered just as Jewish as Orthodox Jews, but they are viewed as misguided, consistent violators of halakha.

* Jews in the Center: Conservative Synagogues and Their Members.

* Conservative Jews in Israel: Official Masorti Movement website

The three largest Jewish denominations — Orthodox Judaism, Conservative Judaism and Reform Judaism — maintain the belief that the Jews have been chosen by God for a purpose.

" On August 13, 2002 American Catholic bishops issued a joint statement with leaders of Reform and Conservative Judaism, called " Reflections on Covenant and Mission ", which affirmed that Christians should not target Jews for conversion.

While Conservative Jews have varied views regarding the origin of the Torah and its authority today, and believe it can be continuously reinterpreted.

In nearly all Orthodox and a few Conservative circles, only male Jews are counted toward a minyan ; most Conservative Jews and members of other Jewish denominations count female Jews as well.

Conservative interpretations hold that Daniel predicted the empires of Babylonia and Persia to be succeeded by the Greeks under Alexander the Great.

He was also the first person to hold the office of Deputy Prime Minister, under Winston Churchill in the wartime coalition government, before leading the Labour Party to a landslide election victory over Churchill's Conservative Party in 1945.

Thus, Conservative Judaism rejects patrilineal descent and would hold that a child of a non-Jewish mother who was raised as a Reform or Reconstructionist Jew is not legally Jewish and would have to undergo conversion to become a Jew.

In Conservative Judaism, the Rabbinical Assembly's Committee on Jewish Law and Standards has issued several responsa ( legal rulings ) which hold that the prohibitions against weddings in this timeframe are deeply held traditions, but should not be construed as binding law.

However, some individuals within the punk subculture hold right-wing views ( such as those associated with the Conservative Punk website ), neo-Nazi views ( Nazi punk ), or are apolitical ( e. g. horror punk ).

The Wyre Forest District Council is currently run by a Conservative Party group, who hold 23 of the council's 42 seats.

Orthodox and Conservative Jews hold that the prophecy of Moses is held to be true ; he is held to be the chief of all prophets, even of those who came before and after him.

For much of the movement's history, Conservative Judaism deliberately avoided publishing systematic explications of theology and belief ; this was a conscious attempt to hold together a wide coalition.

The current prime minister, Stephen Harper and his Conservative Party of Canada, stated before taking office that he would hold a free vote on the issue, but declared the issue closed after a vote in the Canadian House of Commons in 2006.

In light of the gathering of Jews of all ethnic groups back in the land of Israel, Masorti Jews, the Conservative movement in Israel, hold that all Jews living in Israel may safely abandon the minhag of refraining from kitniyot.

Since 7 May 2010 Labour hold 44 seats, the Liberal Democrats 15 and the Conservative Party 4 seats.

Again, the area was strongly represented as a Conservative hold from 2000-2012 with the conservative candidate Richard Barnes winning the 2000, 2004 and 2008 elections by quite a large margin.

Like many of the Coalition leaders he did not hold office in the Conservative governments of 1922 – 4, although as an elder statesman he was consulted by the King in the choice of Baldwin as Bonar Law's successor as Conservative leader in May 1923.

Her husband stood as Labour candidate in the safe Conservative seat of Tiverton in 1959, and came close to winning Plymouth Sutton in 1964, losing by just 410 votes ( David Owen would later hold for several years for Labour ).

Whilst studying at Trinity Hall, Cambridge, he was Chairman of the Cambridge University Conservative Association in Michaelmas 1960, in which term he entertained both the Prime Minister Harold Macmillan and Home Secretary ( and de facto Deputy Prime Minister, although he did not hold the title until 1962 ) Rab Butler.

His refusal to get drawn in may have actually strengthened his hold over Conservative MPs, many of whom were similarly uninterested in social reform.

Law eventually accepted the post of Colonial Secretary, an unimportant post in wartime ; Asquith had made it clear that he would not allow a Conservative minister to head the Exchequer, and that with Kitchener ( whom he considered a Conservative ) in the War Office, he would not allow another Conservative to hold a similarly important position.

After the General Election in 1886 Hartington declined to become Prime Minister, preferring instead to hold the balance of power in the House of Commons and give support from the back benches to the second Conservative government of Lord Salisbury.

As of 2011 all nine of Hoddesdon's councillors are members of the Conservative Party, who hold a large majority on the council.

Conservative Baptists is a name used to describe members of the Conservative Baptist Association of America ( an association formed in 1947 at Atlantic City, New Jersey ), used loosely as the larger " Conservative Baptist Movement ", or used as a description of Baptists that hold a " conservative " viewpoint of theology in contrast to " liberals ".

While there are a wide variety of Conservative views, a common belief is that Halakha is, and has always been, an evolving process subject to interpretation by rabbis in every time period.

William Stephen Ian Whitelaw, 1st Viscount Whitelaw, KT, CH, MC, PC, DL ( 28 June 1918 – 1 July 1999 ), often known as Willie Whitelaw, was a British Conservative Party politician who served in a wide number of Cabinet positions, most notably as Home Secretary and Deputy Prime Minister.

The Conservative Prime Ministers Neville Chamberlain and Stanley Baldwin pursued an interventionist style of conservatism which won them democratic support because of its wide electoral appeal.

* 20th and 21st century rabbis in Conservative Judaism have also produced legal responsa on a wide range of topics.

However, Labour lost the 1987 general election by a wide margin, although it did manage to cut the Conservative majority significantly.

The university now sponsors a wide range of student organizations, including BSU, the DePaul Conservative Alliance, DePaul Irish Society, the DePaul Alliance for Latino Empowerment, United Muslims Moving Ahead, Hillel, the Asian Cultural Exchange, the Hellenic-American Student Association and the Activist Student Union.

As Secretary of the Monday Club Northern Ireland Policy Committee, he backed calls from Ulster Unionist MPs for Mrs Thatcher to implement her 1979 Conservative General Manifesto commitment to " establish one or more elected regional councils in Northern Ireland with a wide range of powers over local services " in place of the 1982-86 Northern Ireland Assembly, and opposed the Anglo-Irish Agreement, which earned him the admiration and support of the then Ulster Unionist Party Leader Jim ( now Lord ) Molyneaux and the then Ulster Unionist Chief Whip and MP for East Londonderry, Willie Ross.

The Conservatives, as a UK wide party, fielded candidates in Scotland until the creation of a separate Unionist Party, which merged into the UK-wide Conservative Party in 1965.

This was an urban myth first propagated by the former Conservative Party chairman, Brian Mawhinney in 1995, and the Hopscotch Asian Women's Centre offered " support services for Asian women and their families on a wide range of issues including domestic violence, benefits, housing, education, immigration and health matters provided advocacy and support to people with learning disabilities.

Anthony Beaumont-Dark, a Conservative MP said, " This must be the worst miscarriage of justice of all time " and, like many others, demanded a full, independent and wide ranging inquiry into the conviction.

He was defeated by Progressive Conservative Walter Dinsdale by a wide margin finishing second in the two candidate race.

His period in office was marked by many arguments with a wide variety of people, mainly within the Jewish community ; the Dictionary of National Biography describes him as a " combative Conservative ".