Transcript Document

Religion and Belief, Discrimination and Equality:
A Decade of Change?
Towards a More Equitable Religion and Belief
Landscape
at the
European Network on Religion and Belief London Seminar
Senate House, University of London
Wednesday 16th October 2013
Professor Paul Weller
© Not for direct quotation or reproduction without permission of the presenter
Multi-Disciplinary Project Team
 Professor Paul Weller (Religious Studies, University of Derby –
review of evidence base and project leadership)
 Dr. Kingsley Purdam (Social Science, University of Manchester –
lead on the survey)
 Dr. Nazila Ghanea (Human Rights Law, University of Oxford –
lead on the legal aspects)
 Dr. Sariya Cheruvallil-Contractor (Sociology of Religion,
University of Derby – lead on the project fieldwork)
 Lisa Taylor-Clarke (Project Studentship, University of Derby)
 Lesley Sawley (Project Administrator, University of Derby)
The Project’s Three Years/Phases
Running Throughout:
-
survey of legal cases over past decade
survey of all other evidence over past decade
doctoral research on “Religious Freedom and Sexual Orientation:
Compatibility, Contestation and Convergence. The Case of ChurchRelated Adoption Agencies
Year 1:
Questionnaire Survey (postal and on-line)
of religious organizations
including still extant previous survey respondents
sample frame composed of various religions
sample frame of local, regional & national levels
The Project’s Three Years/Phases
Year 2:
Fieldwork and Focus Groups in 5 Locations
-
Blackburn, Cardiff, Leicester, Newham as before
plus Norwich (new location)
interviews with religious individuals and groups
interviews in public/private/voluntary sectors
focus groups (new) with the “non-religious”
conducted by project post-doctoral researcher
“anthropological” style
The Project’s Three Years/Phases
Year 3:
“Knowledge Exchange” and Dissemination
-
-
summary report for all participants
briefing report for opinion-formers/policy makers
5 “knowledge exchange” workshops
public, private, community & voluntary,
religious groups, legal practitioners
annotated bibliography on project themes
drafting of book (contract with Bloomsbury)
Religious Discrimination in England and Wales
Research Project (1999-2001)
1. To assess the evidence of religious discrimination in England
and Wales, both actual and perceived
2. To describe the patterns shown by this evidence, including:
• its overall scale
• the main victims
• the main perpetrators
• the main ways in which the discrimination manifests
3. To indicate the extent to which religious discrimination overlaps
with racial discrimination.
4. To identify the broad range of policy options available for
dealing with religious discrimination.
New Research Questions:
Comparative Outcomes with 1999-2001
In the light of religious, social and legal developments
since 1999-2001, the new project will also ask:
How far might patterns in the reported experience of unfair
treatment on the basis of religion in terms of
-
type of unfair treatment
frequency and seriousness
groups primarily affected
sectors of social life
have changed since the 1999-2001 project?
New Research Questions:
The Impact of Contextual Changes
What are the implications of the above for theory, policy and
practice relating to issues of discrimination/equality measures
concerned with religion and belief, especially bearing in mind the:
 impact of 7/7 bombings and “preventing extremism” measures
 public policy focus on “Britishness” and “social cohesion”
 impact of legal developments relating to religion
 impact of “belief” within law and policy on “religion and belief”
 relationship with other equalities strands within an equality and
human rights approach to policy/practice
New research questions:
key legal questions
 Some of the key legal questions include:
- to what extent might the narrowness of religious exemptions in
discrimination law contributed to any reported experience of
unfair treatment towards the religious groups and their practices?
- to what extent might the breadth of these exemptions contributed
to any reported experience of unfair treatment on the grounds of
gender or sexuality within religious communities?
- how much awareness is there of the relevant legislation for
protection against religious discrimination?
- how much use has been made of these measures?
Review of a decade’s research evidence
Continuity in substantial reporting of unfair treatment
on the basis of religion or belief
 across key areas of people’s lives
 though often more occasional than frequent and generally more in
attitudes than policies or practices
 introduction of law has not been a panacea
 the issue of the relation of reporting/perceived and legally decided
discrimination remains
 the relationship between religion/belief and ethnicity in unfair
treatment remains complex
Within continuity
evidence of similar patterns to 2001 (1)
The groups most subject to unfair treatment in terms of both frequency
and seriousness continue to be:
Muslims
many people of other religions reporting unfair treatment for
being (wrongly) identified as Muslims
Pagans/members of New Religious Movements
although evidence suggests Pagans are “coming out” more
than in 2001, encouraged by human rights law
Among other groups, as in the 2001 research results, for example:
Jews continue to face
significant security concerns due confusion of Israel and Jews
but also older anti-semitic stereotypes/desecration/violence
Within continuity
evidence of similar patterns to 2001 (2)
The sectors for most reported unfair treatment continue as:
education
survey shows some reduction overall
fieldwork suggests improvement in general school environment
and content of education
employment
though evidence from field research suggests effects of law on
public sector policy and practice
the media
small reduction but generally continues with little unchanged
Within continuity indications of some reduction in
reported unfair treatment in some areas (1)
employment
reductions in reported unfair treatment in survey
but more reported still in private than public sector from
attitudes of managers/colleagues than policies
especially criminal justice
shows largest reporting reductions in survey (31% to 23%)
field research indicates better consultation
but field research still highlights immigration issues
Within continuity indications of some reduction in
reported unfair treatment in some areas (2)
inter-religious and religious-secular relations
 Fieldwork participants report an improvement in inter-religious
relations over the past decade.
 Survey responses show a reduction in unfair treatment from other
religious groups too (23% reporting in 2011 compared with 29% in
2001)
 However, in the survey religious organisations were more likely to
identify other religious groups (23%) as an (albeit declining) source of
unfair treatment as to identify specifically “non-religious” groups (21%)
 “Muslims don’t like Sikhs, Sikhs don’t like Muslims, and within the
Muslims, some don’t like Bengalis”
Change: new reported forms of unfair treatment
Particularly by Christians
especially in relation to working on Sundays
increase in sense of marginalisation
tendency to compare with perceived better treatment of minorities
But “non-religious” people feel
Christianity is privileged in structurally embedded ways
creates unfair treatment especially in education and governance
Some indications around Sikhs
especially in survey and fieldwork re wearing of 5Ks
but caution re low survey numbers
Sikh survey write-ins:
Law and criminal justice and employment
 Asked to remove turban in full public view/refusal of court entry due
to kirpan.
 It's that lad with the turban - just pick him up
 Sikhs have v distinct look; they often (because of beard & turban)
become target
 Issues related to turbans/beard in some types of employment
 Sikhs wearing kirpan, turban, kara are discriminated from certain
jobs. We have many examples such as prison officers.
 Sikhs with turban and beard find it harder to get a job
Sikhs and survey write-ins: education
 Education 5 Ks, particularly ceremonial sword & turban
 Dress code/ when challenged on specific in house practices
 Ignorance of importance of Sikh religious symbols
 Initiated Sikh should have 5 'K' at all times. Sometimes Education
Authority does not allow Sikh children to ? 5 'K'
 Lack of accommodation for Sikh articles of faith
 Primary school teacher not knowing what Sikh head covering was on
boy pupil, embarrassed boy in front of school friends
 Sikh men/woman working in school kitchen. Individuals been asked to
remove articles of faith, eg kara.
Sikhs and survey write-ins: education
 Sikh school children are stopped from wearing kirpan or kara in
school. Sikh adults are stopped at public places such as courts and
airports for wearing kirpan, kara, turban, etc.
 Some people do not understand turban, keeping small kirpan is a
must for Sikhs
 Students with turban not treated same
 There have been cases around the country, where Sikh students
have not been able to wear, the Kara, (steel Bangle) Kirpan (Small
Ceremonial Dagger)
 Wearing of the mandatory SKS?
 Wearing the 5 articles of faith
Emergent Christian concerns and comparisons
“The are differences in approach, for instance the wearing of the
cross at work and so on and arguments over whether it’s because
it’s a religious symbol or whether it’s because we shouldn’t be
wearing jewellery in this particular job because of health and safety
hazards or whatever. The contrast sometimes between the
approach when perhaps it’s been a hijab or niqab question versus
the question of the cross and some people have said, “oh! we bend
over backwards to accommodate the dress standards for Islam and
Sikhs and so on but we make the Christians … we don’t give
allowances for them the way we do [ for others]” and the whole
argument there can get quite heated at times which is a shame
because it should be a level playing field for all.”
[Middle Aged woman, Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints]
Of persecution, discrimination or
loss of privilege?
“It’s almost like losing the empire all over again, it’s just that it’s
the empire of your own country”
[a Christian in Norwich, on unfair treatment in the media]
Invisibility and the “non-religious”
“……there is a lot of invisible discrimination going on….It’s very easy
to say well that’s religious discrimination you know because the codes,
practices, there are different things which people do which are easily
recognised. Whereas it’s much more difficult for people to see
discrimination against non-religious people. I don’t think it’s nearly as
bad but that doesn’t mean that it doesn’t happen in kind of subtle
ways.”
“Well being non religious you are essentially invisible there’s no
costume, you don’t wear a cross, you walk into a shop, bar, whatever,
non-one knows your non-religious, you don’t identify yourself as that
so it actually most of the time it’s hard to discriminate against you
being non religious, you don’t go round with a sign saying nonreligious.”
[White woman, Non-religious]
The “non-religious” and broader issues
Broader/National/International Issues
 Monarchy as Religious/Head of Church/Bishops in House of Lords
 Legal frameworks that make special allowances for religious groups
 Sunday working hours
 Campaigns led by religious groups such as anti-abortion campaigns
and opposition to euthanasia
 Media portrayals – “lots of mischaracterisations, a typical one would
be that you can’t be good without religion”; “Militant atheism”
Marking public space:
for who and on what terms?
The “default” position
“…the assumption is that it will be there unless you ask to
have it removed. It should be an empty public space where
you can request a cross or you can request any other
symbolism but it should be an empty space and that happens
in the sort of quiet rooms, chapels in hospitals and all that sort
of stuff. […] if you go up to the crematorium in XXX city there
is a massive cross on the left as you’re driving in don’t matter
if you’re not a Christian or have no religion. So there’s all this
stuff, on one level it’s trivial, but you know on another level it’s
just irritating you know if you let it be.”
[Middle Aged white man, non-religious]
Inclusive rather than competitive or “empty”
symbolism in the public sphere
 “For example, I'll give you a brilliant example in Leicester, if
you just go up into town you will see Sikh symbols for the
Vaisakhi festival that is coming up later this week.. And
during Eid and Ramadan they have Islamic symbols up and
the idea of celebrating different people’s faiths, you know for
Divali, we have Divali lights in Belgrave Road which are
really famous and I think Leicester has always gone that
one step to make each community to feel welcome. […]and
it’s not a case of they’ve got their signs and we’ve got ours,
it’s a case of okay, we've celebrated ours and we’ll
celebrate yours as well because we’re all part of the same
community.”
[male Sikh, public sector employee]
What about the law?
 in the fieldwork and focus groups, even where people have a
reasonable knowledge of the legal cases concerned, they tend to
extrapolate wide conclusions from them.
 however, most cases are not dealing with broad themes, but with
a specific point of law.
 religious people generally aware of law, but often not of how to go
about specifically using it
 there is evidence in our focus groups that, although the present
legal framework is concerned with “religion or belief”, that nonreligious people tend to see this law as “not so relevant for us”
Emergent challenges for law and social policy
Balance/tension of legally “protected characteristics”
new law progress also highlighted unresolved tensions
key cases at ECtHR and subsequent EHRC guidance
fieldwork participants often cited high profile cases as indicative of
trends, though usually narrowly decided
“Exemptions” for religious organisations
survey of evidence confirms strongly divided religious
organisation opinions on marriage/civil partnership, sexual
orientation and religion or belief exemptions
but also potential fluidity (17-23% ‘don’t know’) of views
Measures for tackling unfair treatment
on the basis of religion or belief
From the survey
-
as in 2001, little support for no new action needed
-
now also little support for further laws
(though survey and fieldwork evidence suggest religion/belief
group awareness of legal possibilities is patchy)
-
most support still, as in 2001, for educational initiatives in
schools, public education and media
Evidence-Based Signposts in Policy, Law and Practice
“Three Dimensional” Policy-Making Context
“For policy to be effective, it needs to be grounded in the experiences and
worldview of those most likely to be affected”
(P. Weller, A. Feldman and K. Purdam, et al., (2001), Religious Discrimination in England and Wales.
London: Home Office, p. 159)
“Three Dimensional” Context
“The contemporary religious landscape of the UK should be seen as
exhibiting contours that are ‘Christian, secular and religiously plural’.”
(P. Weller (2005), Time for a Change: Reconfiguring Religion, State and Society, London: T & T Clark, p. 73)
“Three Dimensional” Policy-Making
“…approach to policy, law and practice that is able to facilitate the kind of
development that can mediate between factors of continuity and change”
(P. Weller, K. Purdam, N. Ghanea, and S. Cheruvallil-Contractor (2013, forthcoming), Religion or Belief,
Discrimination and Equality: Britain in Global Contexts. London, New Delhi, New York, Sydney, Bloomsbury,
p. 227)
Thank You for Listening!
Press Release/Policy Brief
out on Wednesday at:
http://www.derby.ac.uk/religionand-society
Book out start November and
pre-publication offer today!