Touched with Fire: Morris B. Abram and the Battle against Racial and Religious Discrimination

This chapter deals with the first of three problems that dominate religious litigation, the teleological problem, that is, the problem the courts face of deciding what the primary human rights protections relating specifically to religion are for, what their aim or telos is. Neither with regard to the freedom of religion provisions, nor with regard to the freedom from religious discrimination provisions, is there any real consensus as to what they are aiming to achieve. Are they protecting the vulnerable? Are they to prevent civil strife? Are they another way of protecting minorities? Is there something in the nature of religion that means that these provisions are sui generis? The courts have struggled mightily with these issues, and contrasting approaches are to be found within the courts of the same jurisdictions, between the courts of different jurisdictions, and between courts and organized religions themselves.

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The Cost of Being ‘Backward’ in India: Socio-religious Discrimination in the Labour Market

Indian Journal of Human Development ◽

10.1177/09737030211029634 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 097370302110296

Author(s):

Soumyajit Chakraborty ◽

Alok K. Bohara

Keyword(s):

Labour Market ◽

Economic Cost ◽

National Sample ◽

Sample Survey ◽

Religious Discrimination ◽

Capital Endowment ◽

Scheduled Castes ◽

Sample Survey Data ◽

The Cost ◽

Human Capital Endowment

Being from backward castes, classes and Muslims in India has an economic cost associated with the nature of institutional discrimination. Using the 2011–2012 National Sample Survey data, this study identifies that caste and religion still rule the modern Indian labour market. We find that discrimination is evident in the socio-religious earnings gaps. While the parametric decompositions suggest that most of these gaps are due to differential human capital endowment, the nonparametric method almost evenly attributes inequality to discrimination and endowment. The results presented in this study suggest that discrimination against Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes, Muslims and Other Backward Classes should be included in policy designs to promote equity in the Indian labour market.

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Reconciling state promises and practices: Constitutional promises and discrimination against religious minorities

Social Compass ◽

10.1177/00377686211012350 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 003776862110123

Author(s):

Roger Finke ◽

Dane R Mataic

Keyword(s):

Religious Freedom ◽

The State ◽

Religious Discrimination ◽

Religious Minorities ◽

Minority Religions ◽

Independent Judiciary ◽

Poor Predictor

Research on religious freedom has found a vast chasm between constitutional promises and state practices, with constitutional promises being a poor predictor of the state’s support of religious freedom. This research changes the focus from religious freedom to religious equality. We propose that constitutional promises of religious equality will be associated with less discrimination against minority religions and we explore the relationships governance and the promises of religious equality hold with religious discrimination. We find that promises of religious equality are associated with less discrimination. When exploring the interactions between promises of equality and our governance measures, we find constitutional promises of religious equality largely erase the differences in religious discrimination between countries with and without free elections and an independent judiciary. Yet, the reduced discrimination against minority religions does not suggest that the state removes restrictions on minority religions, only that they are equal with other religions.

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Religious freedom and the ‘right to discriminate’ in the school admissions context: a neo-republican critique

Legal Studies ◽

10.1111/j.1748-121x.2011.00204.x ◽

2011 ◽

Vol 31 (4) ◽

pp. 615-643 ◽

Cited By ~ 4

Author(s):

Eoin Daly ◽

Tom Hickey

Keyword(s):

Public Education ◽

Religious Freedom ◽

Religious Discrimination ◽

Religious Schools ◽

The Public ◽

Definition Of ◽

The Uk ◽

The Right ◽

Republican Theory ◽

Faith Schools

In law and discourse, it has typically been assumed that the religious freedom of state-funded religious schools must trump any competing right to non-discrimination on grounds of belief. For example, the Irish Constitution has been interpreted as requiring the broad exemption of denominational schools from the statutory prohibition on religious discrimination in school admissions. This stance is mirrored in the UK Equality Act 2010. Thus, religious discrimination in the public education context has been rationalised with reference to a ‘liberty-equality dichotomy’, which prioritises the integrity of faith schools' ‘ethos’, as an imperative of religious freedom. We argue that this familiar conceptual dichotomy generates a novel set of absurdities in this peculiar context. We suggest that the construction of religious freedom and non-discrimination as separate and antagonistic values rests on a conceptually flawed definition of religious freedom itself, which overlooks the necessary dependence of religious freedom on non-discrimination. Furthermore, it overstates the necessity, to religious freedom, of religious schools' ‘right to discriminate’. We argue for an alternative ordering of the values of religious freedom and non-discrimination – which we locate within the neo-republican theory of freedom as non-domination.

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Religious Discrimination, Diaspora, and United Nations Voting on Israel

Foreign Policy Analysis ◽

10.1093/fpa/orab024 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 17 (4) ◽

Author(s):

Tatyana Haykin ◽

Jonathan Fox ◽

Nikola Mirilovic

Keyword(s):

United Nations ◽

General Assembly ◽

Religious Discrimination ◽

Religious Minorities ◽

United Nations General ◽

United Nations General Assembly ◽

Test Discrimination ◽

Muslim Minorities ◽

Diaspora Politics

Abstract This study examines whether discrimination against religious minorities and diaspora politics influences United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) voting on Israel and the Israeli–Palestinian conflict between 1990 and 2014. We test discrimination against Jews, discrimination against Muslims, and general discrimination against all religious minorities in 183 countries. Our results indicate that repressive countries vote against Israel in the UNGA partly as a diversionary tactic seeking to divert attention from their own poor behavior. This is because discriminating against both Jews and Muslims, as well as religious discrimination in general, predict anti-Israel voting. We also find that countries with larger Jewish minorities are more likely to support Israel and countries with larger Muslim minorities are less likely to support Israel, although the latter effect is more conditional and most consistently pronounced in countries where discrimination against Muslims is low. This suggests that diaspora politics and transnational religious ties influence UNGA voting on Israel.

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Influenza Mandates and Religious Accommodation: Avoiding Legal Pitfalls

The Journal of Law Medicine & Ethics ◽

10.1177/1073110518804237 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 46 (3) ◽

pp. 756-762

Author(s):

Dorit Rubinstein Reiss ◽

V.B. Dubal

Keyword(s):

Health Care ◽

Civil Rights ◽

Health Care Workers ◽

Professional Associations ◽

Legal Framework ◽

Religious Discrimination ◽

Federal Law ◽

Health Care Institutions ◽

Care Workers ◽

Religious Accommodation

Influenza mandates in health care institutions are recommended by professional associations as an effective way to prevent the contraction of influenza by patients from health care workers. Health care institutions with such mandates must operate within civil rights frameworks. A recent set of cases against health care institutions with influenza mandates reveals the liabilities posed by federal law that protects employees from religious discrimination. This article examines this legal framework and draws important lessons from this litigation for health care institutions. We argue counterintuitively that providing religious exemptions from influenza mandates may expose health care institutions to more liability than not providing a formal exemption.

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