Discrimination in
religion is a violation of equality. It is an act of rejecting an individual of
a right by reason of a certain trait compared to another individual who is in
the same situation.
Everyday as we face do our daily routines we see or hear about this type of discrimination. Using a business environment as my prime example; you as an employer refusing to
hire an individual mainly because of their religion without any evidence that
this individual’s religion could affect the success of the business.
Religion in our society today...
Religious Discrimination can happen anywhere, and people who discriminate can come from many different backgrounds and cultures. Sometimes people do not realise that by their words or actions they are discriminating. A lot of religious discrimination happens simply because another person’s way of life or traditions is not properly understood.
Religious discrimination can be present in school or a college. It is
against the law to discriminate because of belief or religion and when
it decides on who should be accepted as a pupil or student. This law applies to
both government and independent schools. Once you have been accepted as a pupil or student at the school or college,
it's against the law for them to discriminate against you because of your
religion or belief. Just as you can't refuse to let someone be a prefect,
give them detention or extra homework just because of their religion or belief.
The way in which people are affected by this discrimination...
Religious discrimination has been the cause of most of wars. Just
to be Jewish caused the death of millions of people in the Second World War.
Nobody likes to be different and it’s even more difficult when others do not
accept differences. Homosexuals are one example of the effect of intolerance.
Gay or lesbians were treated as sick people, a psychological disease. They were
not accepted in schools and public spaces. Society made a big
progress about homosexuality, in some countries it is already permitted married
between people of the same gender and have had a positive effect in this
society.
With increasing
frequency, we are seeing individuals and institutions claiming a right to
discriminate by refusing to provide services to women– based on religious
objections. The discrimination takes many ways; business owners refusing to provide
insurance coverage for contraception for their employees, graduate students training to be
social workers and refusing to counsel gay people, bridal salons, photo studios, and
reception halls closing their doors to same-sex couples planning their
weddings, just to name a few. While the situations
may differ, one thing remains the same; religion is being used as an excuse to
discriminate against and harm others.
What is possibly being done to solve the problem?
We can all help stop religious discrimination from happening today. Here
are some examples: We can firstly make
sure that we don’t have negative attitudes, don’t stereotype and that we treat
everyone with mutual respect. We can
speak out against people who are bullies and show support to people who are
victims of religious discrimination. We
can all try to learn about different cultures and religions. Rules about school
uniform must not discriminate against you because of your religion. For
example, if you're a young Sikh man, you must be allowed to wear a turban at
school as this is part of your faith. However, this doesn't
mean that a school has to allow all items of religious dress. Schools can have
a uniform policy which prevents pupils wearing certain things. They might, for
example, do this for health and safety reasons.
A way in which I can solve this social injustice...
As
a Christian I believe that all people have human rights because they are
created by God in His image and loved by God as individuals. One way to solve this problem is to think of the other
individuals of other religions as what we would think of the people of our own religion
therefore that will help solve the discrimination situation.
Another
way of solving this problem in a work environment if you’re not being treated
fairly or bullied because of your religion is to firstly tell the person to
stop and if they don’t make any changes there you could secondly tell the
manager or someone else higher up in the organisation and if nothing is
resolved then thirdly, you can talk to your personnel department or trade
union.
Should
any of the above not work, I think one may wish to raise a grievance and think
about making a claim to an employment tribunal.
Individual
Christians should make sure they do not threaten the human rights of others. Local
churches should make sure that they work for human rights, for example by having
equality; taking responsibility for each other; not allowing discrimination;
defending the poor and the weak; working hard so that all people can live free
as God intended them to be. If local churches can do this, it should help lead
to global change.
Christian and Jew: Discrimination in Religion representation...
Christians have a positive attitude towards discrimination because Christianity
teaches us that everyone is equal in the eyes of God. This then gives no reason
for anyone to treat another person differently. The Christian teaching is more
on loving one another and this was even said by Jesus, “I give you a new
commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you then your joy will
be complete.” – John 13:34
I believe that the
Jews; the Jew authorities and all who followed them which led to the death of
Christ are to be blamed for what happened to Christ. But I also believe that
what happened back then, during His passion should not be blamed on the Jews of
today. We should remember that He is a forgiving Father and that today, we are
all the same under His eyes. By remembering that and treating the Jews as how
we would treat one another as Christians, will avoid discrimination and
violence.
Discrimination in
religion has presented itself through Christianity by love and through Jew
History by forgiveness and peace today.
Further on discrimination in religion
I believe that faith
schools should not choose to give priority to pupils who share their own faith
over other pupils.
Discrimination in
religion is a common issue in today’s society. One would simply create their
own opinion about you just by telling them what your religion is. I feel strongly about this because of the fact that although one can be confident
and proud of what they believe in but having someone think less of you because
of your religion can kill your self-esteem because you will have this fear or
doubt about your religion. Soon that individual will be asking themselves if
‘maybe if I was in that religion’ or ‘maybe if I believe in this I will be more
publicly accepted’. I find that a critical problem because it is firstly not
right to treat an individual differently based on what they believe in. Your
relationship with that individual should be purely based on what joined you two
do together e.g. if you’re colleagues you must not let religion come in place
of working towards the common goal of doing the task together. Both colleagues need
to keep professional in order to finish whatever is asked of them.
