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Podcast
PETER JONES [Newcastle]: Discrimination, Exemption, and Non-Religious Belief
20 April 12
Duration: 10.28, access the full text at the bottom of this page.
Peter Jones elaborated on some aspects of points emerging from Russell Sandberg’s contribution. Were religious and philosophical beliefs equivalent? There was no reason to question that religious and non-religious convictions of “thought” and “conscience” should be afforded equal protection.
However, for what he described as “innocent” reasons, it was provision for religious belief which had “worn the trousers” as legislation had been drawn up. Although the word “similar” had been dropped from legislation, a requirement that a belief deserving of protection or exemption should be analogous to a religious belief was still required. Why so?
Why is a belief that ‘public service broadcasting has the higher purpose of promoting cultural interchange and social cohesion’ afforded protection, when membership of a political party is not? The reasoning was hard to fathom, even though the pragmatic distinguishing was understandable.
He did not question that the law should provide protection against direct discrimination on the grounds of belief, but did question providing protection from indirect discrimination, because it could result in someone else having to pick up the bill for what you believe.
Analysing the problems further, Peter Jones considered the question of exemption. When can someone justifiably be granted exemption from observing a law, for instance as do turban-wearing Sikhs with regard to crash helmets? Can non-religious beliefs enjoy the same privilege? It might be argued that non-religious beliefs are already taken into account in policy debates in a way religious beliefs are not, so do not require such protection or exemption. In any case, there is a risk of arbitrariness in deciding which non-religious beliefs are and which are not protected.
Click here to read more about and access other podcasts from the event.
Watch and listen to Peter Jones contributing to the Westminster Faith Debate on religious freedom a few days beforehand here, and read about his Religion and Society-funded research network on religion, discrimination and accommodation here.
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