Have you ever wondered about the 20th century and how much has changed since then? I mean it was only twelve years ago but many things have changed in those years. Along with the many other things, religion was one of them. The many aspects of religion have changed within the workplace, home, and even politics. These days it has becomes a constant discussion when it comes to the workplace and more specific, hiring.
According to the Institutional Religious Freedom Alliance, faith-based organizations can use religious bias within their hiring standards. This is a huge controversy among many states because people shouldn't be biased against in any situation for any circumstance. This is one question that Sarah Posner brought to President Obama's attention according to Religion Dispatches. He has failed to answer or make any action on this. I think it is wrong to hire or not hire someone based anything about them but their qualifications.
Many institutions and businesses are allowed to hire/not hire people based on their religious preference. Maybe it's just because I am research hate crimes, but I believe that any discrimination at all (religion or not) promotes hate. I don't believe institutions should hold the right to discriminate against future hires based on something that isn't even that influential in our society today. However, the faith-based organizations actually have a validated reason on religion preference. I understand with that criteria since they will be working at an organization/institution that promotes religion; they should at least share the views that they are sharing/promoting.
With all of this considered, I believe that it is wrong to discriminate against anyone for any reason. No institution should have the right to hire their employees based on their religious views. If we were going to do that, we might as well go back to the 1800s with the racial bias back then. However, since religious views are the main criteria for a faith-based institution, I think that it is the one and only exception to this. No other reason would be validated. Next time you wonder about all of the many things that have changed, wonder to yourself, why indeed that they have been changed.
I agree than people should not just be hired because of their religion, but this issue becomes when the religion could interfere with their work. The main issue would be if the person’s religion had them wear certain things for their religion, like a Jewish person wearing a kippa. By law the company cannot force the employee to remove the religious attire even if it is against their dress code. Even though the company does not necessarily have Jewish views the employee is promoting that and this could drive customers away. I know it’s bad to say that it could drive away business, but the employer is all about profit and if they feel like the person could hurt their profit because of their religion it should be within their right not to hire them. There was an episode of ‘What Would You Do?’ on ABC that touched on this topic of workers wearing clothing that showed their religious affiliation and the reviews were mixed on whether or not the customers were offended by this showing. People should be hired on their qualifications only, but their religious views should not interfere with their work and the companies own view points.
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