Question
Why doesn’t the father determine the religion of the son?
Answer
The Talmudic and Biblical sources for matrilineal descent is:
Mishnah (Kiddushin 3:12), which says that the child of a gentile woman is like her. This is derived from the passage in Deut. 7:3-4: “Do not intermarry with [him], do not give your daughter to his son or take his daughter for your son, for he will turn your son from Me”