[A.J.Armitage]

But many people seem to assume that Jews are a race or a nationality and not simply a religious group bound by a common faith.

Which wouldn't have anything to do with the "if your mother is Jewish..." rule, would it?

[A.J.Armitage]

And that whole thing about common decent from Abraham is also irrelivant, right?

[Nachum]

Which wouldn't have anything to do with the "if your mother is Jewish..." rule, would it?

The matrilinial descent rule for Judaism is as much nationalistic as religious. This, however, is not the source of the race business. Judaism and race is more of a form of epithet. It was/is used as a way to discriminate, ghetto-ize, and attack.