A Jewish school, partially funded by the British taxpayer, has been ordered it cannot define Jews by descent, because this is “racism”. Unfortunately, Judaism does define Jews by descent. If the effect of the ruling was merely that Jewish institutions, being “racist” cannot receive government funding, this would not be too bad, but unfortunately, Britain prohibits “racist” association generally, so the ruling logically prohibits Jewish association generally, thus the practice of Judaism generally.
“The requirement that if a pupil is to qualify for admission his mother must be Jewish, whether by descent or conversion, is a test of ethnicity which contravenes the Race Relations Act,… [Whether the reasons were] benign or malignant, theological or supremacist makes it no less and no more unlawful.”
Judaism is not going to be suppressed tomorrow, the government will not immediately proceed with all the logical implications of the ruling, but this is the beginning of a long slow end. When England went Protestant, it allowed Jews in. As it goes Muslim, it is going to send them out.
The Guardian is lecturing Britain’s chief Rabbi on what the Jewish religion should be. It is a reasonable enough lecture if given by one private citizen to another, and I am sure that lots of Jews have said the same thing, but a very menacing lecture when backed by court and state. And if Jews comply with this perfectly reasonable lecture, chances are that next year something else, not quite so reasonable, will be found that is wrong with Jews.
Shmuley Boteach very passionately argues that the court, and the guardian, is full of $#!%, similarly Spengler, and Secular Right but whether or not they are full of $#!% they are full of menace.
Muqata suggests it is time for all Jews to get out of Britain. Not yet it is not, but that is the way the wind is blowing.
i wrote the secular right post, and i agree with the ruling. fwiw.
Your being an “atheist Muslim” makes your opinion less than relevant, razib.
In Razib’s post, he correctly pointed out that the court’s decision was theocratic – telling Jews what their religion should be. Naively, I supposed that he regarded theocracy as bad.