Francois, in that other topic, you totally missed the point.  i just needed clarification.  full disclosure.

  One's identity DOES make a difference to one's perspective, both from within and from without.  Josh not being Jewish puts his comments in a different light.  There are certain things he CAN say as an outsider that jews can neither see nor say; there are things he cannot say or experience because he's not jewish. For example he hasn't and can't experience that moment of deep fear that the whole world can and has turned against you and is coming to kill you, just because you're allegedly jewish, as many jews who study the holocaust or encounter modern anti-semitism experience.  Either way i welcome him to any discussion about judaism (and i hope he welcomes me)

even according to my [orthodox] rabbi, there IS a range of Jewish identity that is NOT covered by halacha.  For one thing, halacha only became as solidified (ossified?) as it has in the wake of the Roman destruction, and even more so in the middle ages, and even more so after the haskala.  Before, it (and jewish/hebrew identity) were far more fluid... the bible speaks of much intermarriage (and far worse) without any real mention of conversion.  There is even specific mention of many people 'judaizing', implying joining the clal without fully converting... kind of like 'americanizing!'