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MCK10 1/10/2003 10:34 AM Page 179 10 Toleration of religious discrimination in employment Stuart White Introduction: toleration and equal opportunity Two ideas feature prominently in contemporary accounts of the just society. One is the idea of toleration and the related idea of religious freedom. A second is the idea of equal opportunity and, derived from this, the idea that the state should protect its members from discrimination in relation to jobs and other important goods such as education. This chapter explores an apparent tension between these two
The idea of toleration as the appropriate response to difference has been central to liberal thought since Locke. Although the subject has been widely and variously explored, there has been reluctance to acknowledge the new meaning that current debates offer on toleration. This book starts from a clear recognition of the new terms of the debate, reflecting the capacity of seeing the other's viewpoint, and the limited extent to which toleration can be granted. Theoretical statements on toleration posit at the same time its necessity in democratic societies, and its impossibility as a coherent ideal. There are several possible objections to, and ways of developing the ideal of, reasonable tolerance as advocated by John Rawls and by some other supporters of political liberalism. The first part of the book explores some of them. In some real-life conflicts, it is unclear on whom the burden of reasonableness may fall. This part discusses the reasonableness of pluralism, and general concept and various more specific conceptions of toleration. The forces of progressive politics have been divided into two camps: redistribution and recognition. The second part of the book is an attempt to explore the internal coherence of such a transformation when applied to different contexts. It argues that openness to others in discourse, and their treatment as free and equal, is part of a kind of reflexive toleration that pertains to public communication in the deliberative context. Social ethos, religious discrimination and education are discussed in connection with tolerance.
policy orientations in education. Education policy discourses remained much narrower and limited in scope, however, and far from any systematic treatment of issues of discrimination still affecting children in Ireland at the beginning of the twenty-first century. While the new focus on gender equality was a mark of progress, the issue of religious discrimination was simply never broached in general overviews of education policy to do with social inclusion and equality up to the 2011 change of government. Teaching organisations and other educational actors on the need
Chapter 1 examines the influence and legacy of Gaelic-Catholic cultural nationalism on the Irish education system, showing that its main characteristics (Church control and denominational structures, patronage system, religious segregation, importance of religion in educational aims and contents up to the 1971 curriculum) reflect both 19th c. developments and the Irish Free State’s Catholic-cultural nationalism (post-independence education policies, 1937 Constitution, ‘fabricated cultural homogeneity’). It also shows that, contrary to popular belief, the denominational nature of the system itself and the ‘legality’ of religious discrimination within the system only date back to changes introduced in official education policy documents in the 1960s.
The election of Barack Obama was a milestone in US history with tremendous symbolic importance for the black community. But was this symbolism backed up by substance? Did ordinary black people really benefit under the first black president?
This is the question that Andra Gillespie sets out to answer in Race and the Obama Administration. Using a variety of methodological techniques—from content analysis of executive orders to comparisons of key indicators, such as homeownership and employment rates under Clinton, Bush, and Obama— the book charts the progress of black causes and provides valuable perspective on the limitations of presidential power in addressing issues of racial inequality. Gillespie uses public opinion data to investigate the purported disconnect between Obama’s performance and his consistently high ratings among black voters, asking how far the symbolic power of the first black family in the White House was able to compensate for the compromises of political office.
Scholarly but accessible, Race and the Obama Administration will be of interest to students and lecturers in US politics and race studies, as well as to general readers who want to better understand the situation of the black community in the US today and the prospects for its improvement.
In times of national security, scholars and activists who hail from the communities under suspicion attempt to draw readers and listeners to the complexity of the world we inhabit. For those who campaigned against the SUS law in the 1980s, when young Black men were being routinely stopped in the streets, the wave of counter-terrorism legislation and policy that exists today will be very familiar. Similarly, recent discussions about the impact of drill music in the culture of young Black men has drawn questions around the ways in which they should be securitised, with senior police calling for the use of terrorism legislation against them. In this environment, when those who study and have lived alongside the communities who are at the scrutiny of the state raise questions about the government, military and police policy, they are often shut down as terrorist-sympathisers, or apologists for gang culture. In such environments, there is an expectation on scholars and activists to condemn what society at large fears. This volume is about how that expectation has emerged alongside the normalisation of racism, and how these writers choose to subvert the expectations raised on them, as part of their commitment to anti-racism.
of personnel complaints has mainly involved allegations of maladministration in handling applications for posts such as shortlisting, use of references, interview procedures and management of grievance cases. The Parliamentary Ombudsman frequently reported annually that there were no complaints in which religious discrimination was alleged. Such allegations were fairly rare but in the context that religious discrimination in employment was removed from the Ombudsman’s jurisdiction. The number of complaints which are fully upheld has also been low, since 1973 around
continues, in case law, at the political level, and in the academy, about whether the objective in preventing genocide is to protect racial groups and their cognates from what Theo van Boven has described as the ‘ultimate and most evil corollary of racial and religious discrimination’.15 Before proceeding, a comment on terminology is required. Article 2 of the 1948 Genocide Convention refers to ‘national, ethnical, racial or religious’ groups. It is remarkably similar to the definition of ‘racial discrimination’ in Article 1(1) of ICERD: ‘based on race, colour, descent
Motion (EDM) appeared on the Commons Order Paper in March 1964, calling for the appointment of a Royal Commission to enquire into allegations of religious discrimination in Northern Ireland.23 Its principal signatories were Fenner Brockway, Bob Mellish, Alan Fitch and Jeremy Thorpe. It attracted over seventy signatures, mostly Labour. Lobbied by members of the Association, shadow cabinet member Patrick Gordon Walker agreed to raise the matter with his colleagues in the shadow cabinet and to seek approval for an early Commons debate on Northern Ireland. There is no
systemic racism and religious discrimination, [2] quell the increasing public climate of hate and fear, and [3] compel the Commons heritage committee to develop a government-wide approach for reducing or eliminating systemic racism and religious discrimination, including Islamophobia’ (CBC News 2017 ; Parliament of Canada 2017 ). Conservative MP David Anderson raised objections on the use of the term ‘Islamophobia’ and its lack of definition in the motion, asking for it to be removed and all religious discrimination be given