AsP, I wouldn't say that Israel was founded for religious reasons. I believe that Theodore Herzl, the founder of modern Zionism, wasn't religious. He didn't even insist on having Eretz Israel for the Jews' nation; he would have been just as glad to take Madagascar (as was, I beleive at one time proposed) for the Jewish territory. The main thing was that there should be a sovereign territory for Jews to occupy as an independent nation. Further, I don't believe any of the "founding fathers" of modern Israel, like Ben Gurion, Meir, etc. were religious.