by papereyes »
23 May 2007 16:49
I don't know much more than that, but Sikhism was the first and then Judaism. With Sikhism, the courts ruled that it wasn't an ethnic grouping and that was overturned.
I think with those two religions, as opposed to the other major ones, the ethnicity and the religion are very strongly interrelated. certainly for Judaism, one cannot simply convert. Orthodox Jews even frown on conversion. So, you're Jewish if you are born to a Jewish mother.
You can also be a Jew, even if you do not adhere to Judaism. (and at this point it just gets confusing!)
I'm not at all sure why Sikhnism gets its 'special' status, but can certainly see why Judaism is seen as a race while Christianity and Islam certainly cannot be.
That said, this is all from the 1976 race relations act, so it may have been updated. Certainly there are now some laws protecting people from religious discrimination now.