Dis-Religion

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.

All in all... I believe we cannot in truthfulness call upon that God who is the Father of all if we refuse to act in a brotherly way toward certain men, created though they are to God's image. A man's relationship with God the Father and his relationship with his brother men are so linked together that Scripture says: 'He who does not love does not know God. The ground is therefore removed from every theory or practice which leads to a distinction between men or peoples in the matter of human dignity and the rights which flow from it.