alexist

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/education/7275475.stm

So, Jews don't have the right to decide who's Jewish? I recognise that these cases pose problems (the Lightman one is a nightmare--she had an Orthodox conversion in Israel but then married a kohen [who can't marry a convert], and the United Synagogue ruled her conversion was invalid. Since she's still married to him, it's not like they can ask her to do a 2nd conversion, even though she's observant. There's a good case to be made that they should change their minds on this one.)

The fact is that as inconvenient as it may be, the only people who can decide who belongs to a group are the members of that group. JFS is an Orthodox school and so the Orthodox rules apply.

Moreover, what they're asking is ludicrous, since last fall the schools adjudicator struck down rules that gave a preference to children of Jewish fathers over children of 2 non-Jews, saying that was racial bias. The rules about being born of a Jewish mother were ruled as being religious in nature and were upheld. They're asking for that decision to be flipped.

What's next--saying the Catholic Church gets to decide who goes to C of E schools?

ETA: Also, notice the supporters--the British Humanist Association. They could care less about internal Jewish politics--this is a way of cracking open the faith schools issue. (In the UK, faith schools receive state funding but in most cases decide their own admissions and can give priority to members of the faith.) As a wider issue, I can sympathise with wanting to abolish faith schools (and making state schools secular)--that's my American background talking. But let's be clear about it. They're in it for their own agenda.