Religious Discrimination
Author: New York Employment Discrimination Attorney Alena Shautsova
Employment Discrimination
2021/12/07
Religious discrimination has become common in the current world; the United States has emerged boldly and established federal laws that prevent religious discrimination cases. This contributed to the formation of the federal statute that prohibits religion-based discrimination. The statute laws are applied in the employment sector, education, public facilities, housing, and different forms of public accommodation.
Besides, federal laws are prohibiting against the vandalism of the places of worship bias crimes on other people due to their faith. Also, some laws prohibit public members against religious land use and institutionalizing the persons act. The civil rights sector of the United States is working towards protecting the rights of all public members.
Everybody in the United States and the world, in general, has the right to practice their faiths freely without any form of discrimination. At the beginning of the year, the Civil Rights Division of the United States filed a friend-of-the-court brief in the Court of Appeal. Note that the eleventh circuit is to be filed supporting the Muslim inmate's request for religious accommodation. See Smith v. Dozier, Nos. 19-13520, 19-13521 (11th Cir.).
According to the United States’ brief in the case, it supports the decision made by the federal district law pertaining to the use of religious land and institutionalization of the persons act within the religious sector. Remember that this law protects religious liberty in a couple of ways. This includes the rights of the religious-related communities to use the land for religious purposes like setting up places of worship.
The second part is the right of the religious people confined within the institution; this includes prisoners practicing their religion consistently despite the unique circumstance of confinement. The law allows prisoners to practice their religious rights without any form of discrimination despite their circumstances.
The discrimination of the prisoners' religious rights raised eyebrows back in 2015 when the United States Supreme Court held that the Arkansas prisons violated their rights. This mostly affected the Muslim inmates who had grown a half-inch beards due to their religious reasons.
However, the court also emphasized that all courts should respect the expertise and daily duties of the prison officials. Besides, the courts' officials were given further instructions on the religious policy that governs prisoners, especially Muslim inmates. It was revealed that the prison’s interest is compelling and cannot be interfered with within a less restrictive manner.
Note that prisons have rules that do not allow the Muslim inmates to have long beards due to concerns on matters regarding contrabands, hygiene, safety, and security matters. The federal court accepted the prison laws following the heavyweight reality they incorporated. The prison officials said they could not allow the prisoners to grow beards to 3-inches.
Generally, the Supreme Court gave out the final words regarding the case. Even though the prison officials presented their side of the story, the court questioned why the same rules are not applied across the region and the entire United States. Finally, the court emphasized the need for prisons to respect the religious rights of all prisoners across the prisons in the country.
The other case was filed at the federal law courts involving a photographer forced to photograph same-sex weddings, which she says is a violation of her religious beliefs. This is also considered a violation of the United States constitution. The law enthusiasts across the country say the photographer is likely to succeed in the case due to her religious principles.
The United States law is clear on prohibiting businesses from discriminating depending on various cases, especially on the sexual orientation part. The alleged is said to have been surrounded by law officials who wanted to prove themselves right against the rule of law. The law refers to photography as an expressive form of art.
On the flip side, wedding photography refers to celebrating the union of couples in a better manner. The attorney general said that the law prohibits the act of forcing someone to speak in a manner that is likely to violet their conscience. He also added that the laws of the United States focus on protecting the rights of speech and expression across the country.
By the end of the year 2018, the United States’ department of justice announced the formation of the Religious Liberty Task Force. This department is explicitly meant to coordinate the operations across the religious sector. The department is also in charge of implementing the Religious Liberty Guidance developed in 2017 by the attorney general in charge.
Following the number of religious cases filed across the United States, the respective authority has developed laws prohibiting the public members from religious discrimination.
Conclusion
All public members must comprehend their religious rights and understand how to fight for them. This will greatly help clear religious discrimination acts across all the streets in the United States and the world in general.