Great Britain's Court of Appeals have found an uncomfortable but accurate truth: Orthodox Judaism acts like a tribe rather than a religion, and in a legal sense, that means they racially discriminate.

The "Who is a Jew" question is a weighty one for students of history, Jewish law, and sociology. My few attempts to write about it lead me to believe that it's best left to chapter-length, heavily footnoted formats, i.e. Not Here. Suffice it to say that it is and always has been a political decision, even in its original context of the Law of the Bible-era Hebrews. And consequently, the authority to make this ruling is a coveted role of political power.

The real problem, of course, is that the British government are funding religious-run schools, and compounding the error by allowing those schools to discriminate now-and-again on the basis of religion. It's pretty ridiculous that a tribal religion (Judaism) is unlawfully prejudiced, while a mystery religion (like Christianity) is lawfully biased because one depends on genetics and the other on personal creed.

All they really have to do is take away the policy that allows for any public school to discriminate against anyone. Then whatever cadre of old men can call a person Jew or Gentile as much as they please, with no ill effect. A religion-run public school isn't my cup of tea, but open admissions mean that all the people who do want in get a fair shake. Of course, it'd be better for the UK to exorcise their theocratic ghosts once and for all, but I'm not holding my breath on that one.