Does the finish line look any different if you get there first?? As long as you don't wander off during the race and cross the finish line you are a winner, compared to all the losers who weren't even in the race.
Shouldn't children born to men and women who are Jewish be considered to be Jewish? Only the children of the mother gets that status and even then there are limits to what that covers.
I had a friends who were raised Jewish but then adopted the Baha'i Faith. He still considered himself Hebrew, but not Jewish.