Religion And Its Protection Against Discrimination

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Miles
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Religion And Its Protection Against Discrimination

Post #1

Post by Miles »

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"Our nation’s civil rights laws protect people on the basis of race, color, national origin, religion, and disability in public accommodations—meaning public spaces and commercial services that are available to the general public, such as restaurants, theaters, and hotels. However, no federal law prohibits discrimination in public places and services on the basis of sex, gender identity, or sexual orientation. Consequently, people can be denied access to these public places and services based on who they are or whom they love, with little recourse.
source

However, there are employment laws against discrimination based of sexual orientation, and age.
source

So in main,* we have laws that prohibit discrimination based on:

age
Race
Color
National Origin
Disability
Sexual Orientation
Religion

Now, what do almost all have in common? Aside from religion, they are all based on characteristics over which we have no control. Either we are born with them or, like disabilities, they developed unbidden.

You cannot help

Your age
Your Race,
Your color
your National origin
Your disability
Your sexual orientation

But! you can help what religion, if any, you belong to. Just like it's your choice as what type of political system you champion, or the kind of clothes you choose to wear, both of which are not protected by anti-discrimination laws. Likewise, the religion you belong to is something you choose, which brings up the question as to why it deserves a form of protection that nothing else in life one chooses to do does?

Why does one's choice of religion get such preferential treatment? If I bake cakes only for Catholics why can't I refuse to bake cakes for Muslims? If I'm a Baptist who loans money for a living, why do I have to loan money to otherwise qualified Scientologists?

I can discriminate against people because of their

Choice of pornography
Bad breath
Choice of Political party
Inability to carry a tune
Choice of hair style or lack thereof
Food likes and dislikes
Choice of friends
Job

But not their Religion. ........WHY?..............Why is religion treated like such a snow flake?




* Some lists include additional types of discrimination such as "Relationship to someone who may be discriminated against" and "Reprisal / Retaliation."



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Last edited by Miles on Sat Feb 27, 2021 7:08 pm, edited 2 times in total.

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Purple Knight
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Re: Religion And Its Protection Against Discrimination

Post #11

Post by Purple Knight »

bjs1 wrote: Sat Mar 06, 2021 7:44 pmActually, this article shows that there must a specific work related reason why being short would disqualify someone from a job.
Here's what it says:
Michigan prohibits discrimination based on weight and height. Michigan is the only state that includes height and weight as protected classes. Some cities or municipalities have laws that prohibit discrimination based on weight and height, including San Francisco, California; Urbana, Illinois; Washington, D.C.; and Madison, Wisconsin. However, these laws only apply to the particular municipalities and not to the state.

Therefore, to sue for illegal discrimination based on height or weight, you would need to fall under the jurisdiction of a law that prohibited that specific discrimination. Fired in Texas for being too short? That’s legal. Fired in Illinois based on your weight? That’s only illegal in Urbana.
Emphasis added. This is pretty airtight.
Purple Knight wrote: Thu Mar 04, 2021 4:42 pmThis is simply false. Madison may be the only place that names atheism as a protected class, but the protection exists everywhere in the US. Naming atheism specifically is like protecting religious freedom and specifically protecting Buddhism.
Unfortunately the reality is that it's necessary to name it. Without being a protected class you are not going to be successful at suing for discrimination. I have never read such a case.

https://www.fisherphillips.com/media/pu ... rticle.pdf
As Rhode recognizes, discrimination based on attractiveness is not currently illegal in most instances.
There might be a vague protection against being fired for something not related to the job, but it's got to be overridden by an employer's right to fire except in the case that the person being fired is a protected class. Most of us know how this works because we've all witnessed people being fired for being ugly, redheaded, fat, or some other miscellaneous quality an employer has every legal right to fire for.

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Re: Religion And Its Protection Against Discrimination

Post #12

Post by Purple Knight »

More evidence:

https://lawofwork.ca/can-an-employer-di ... -uwhengly/
When I teach employment discrimination law, my undergrads are often surprised to learn about all of the grounds on which an employer is permitted to discriminate in hiring or in other conditions of employment. It is only the designated grounds in human rights legislation (or analogous grounds read into the statute by tribunals or courts) that are protected. So we spend a lot of time in class discussing scenarios.
Can an employer refuse to hire me because I dye my hair purple, or because it doesn’t like how I dress?
Can an employer give a promotion only to employees who are Toronto Maple Leaf fans, or who happen to wear blue on the day the promotions are decided?
One student this term asked whether an employer can choose women employees on the basis of ‘cup’ size?
The answer is ‘yes’ to all of these questions, unless the employee can somehow fit themselves into a designated ground in human rights legislation (or unless the employment contract prevents the employer from doing these things, which would be rare in a non-union workplace). From an HR perspective, these may be stupid ways to make decisions, but they do not amount to a violation of human rights laws. Some of the employees in the scenarios above may be able to fit themselves into a designated ground: dress might be related to religion; hair color might be determined by race (although I cant think of race that has a high degree of purple hair, etc.)
Bolded relevant bits.

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historia
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Re: Religion And Its Protection Against Discrimination

Post #13

Post by historia »

Miles wrote: Sat Feb 27, 2021 6:12 pm
So in main,* we have laws that prohibit discrimination based on:
age
Race
Color
National Origin
Disability
Sexual Orientation
Religion

Now, what do almost all have in common? Aside from religion, they are all based on characteristics over which we have no control. Either we are born with them or, like disabilities, they developed unbidden.
That may be true, but it seems to me the more relevant thing all these characteristics (including religion) have in common is that, historically, these have often been used as the basis for discrimination.

Laws are usually written in response to real-world problems. And so, if there was a sudden rise in discrimination against people based on, say, their political affiliation, then that would be explicitly enumerated in the law as well.

Religion is also often, in practice, closely tied to ethnicity and personal identity, and so has that in common with several of the other items on the list.

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