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Discrimination
Forms Institutional Reverse Structural Statistical Systemic Taste-based
Attributes Age Caste Class Disability Economic Genetic Hair texture Height Language Dialect Looks Mental disorder Nationality or citizenship Race / Ethnicity Reverse Skin color Scientific racism Rank Sex Reverse Sexual orientation Species Size Viewpoint
Social Arophobia Anti-albinism Acephobia Adultism Anti-altruistic Anti-autism Anti-homelessness Anti-drug addicts Anti-intellectualism Anti-intersex Anti-left handedness Anti-Masonry Aporophobia Audism Biphobia Fear of children Clannism Elitism Ephebiphobia Health mental in poverty Fatphobia Gayphobia Gerontophobia Heterosexism HIV/AIDS stigma Hypergamy Homophobia In-group Leprosy stigma Lesbophobia Against men Misandry Misogyny Misogynoir Nepotism Outgroup Perpetual foreigner Pregnancy Sectarianism Supremacism Aryanism Black Hutu Chauvinism Han Female Human Nordicism Male Ultranationalism White Transphobia Non-binary Transmisogyny Trans men Vegaphobia Xenophobia
Religious Persecution of non-believers Atheism Blasphemy law Religious censorship In Islam Apostasy Religious police Jizya Religious persecution In China Exclusivism Baháʼí Faith Buddhism Christianity Persecution Catholicism Eastern Orthodoxy Coptic Christianity Jehovah's Witnesses LDS or Mormon Protestantism Tewahedo Orthodoxy post–Cold War era Falun Gong Hinduism Persecution Untouchability Islam Persecution Ahmadiyya Shi'ism Sufism Sunnism minority Muslim Judaism Persecution Neopaganism Rastafari Serers Sikhism Yazidism Zoroastrianism
Race or ethnicity Afghan Pashtun Hazara African Fulani Igbo Serers Albanian Arab Armenian Asian France South Africa United States Assyrian Australian Austrian Azerbaijani Black people African Americans China South Africa Bengali Catalan Chechen Chinese Han people Colombian Croat Dutch English Estonian Filipino French Finnish Georgian German Greek Haitian Hazara Hungarian Indian Indonesian Indigenous people Australia Canada United States Iranian Irish Italian Japanese Jewish Eliminationist New Religious Anti-Yiddish Zionist Korean Kurdish Lithuanian Malay Māori Mexican Middle Eastern Mongolian Montenegrin Nigerian Pakistani Palestinians Pashtun Polish Portuguese Quebec Romani Romanian Russian Scottish Serb Slavic Somali Spanish Taiwanese Tatar Thai Tibetan Turkish Ukrainian Uyghur Venezuelan Vietnamese Welsh White people
Manifestations Algorithmic bias Anti-LGBTQ rhetoric SPLC-designated list of anti-LGBTQ hate groups Blood libel Bullying Cancel culture Capital punishment for homosexuality Carnism Cognitive Compulsory sterilization Corrective rape Counter-jihad Cultural genocide Defamation Democide Dog whistle Domicide Economic Education Academic In curricula Sexism Eliminationism Eliminationist antisemitism Employment Enemy of the people Environmental racism Ethnic cleansing Ethnic conflict Ethnic hatred Ethnic joke Ethnocide Excellence Gender-based dress codes Cosmetics policy High heel policy Forced conversion Freak show Funding Gay bashing Gendercide Transgender genocide Genital modification and mutilation Circumcision Female genital mutilation Intersex medical interventions Genocide examples Glass ceiling Hate crime Disability hate crime Violence against LGBTQ people Violence against transgender people Hate group Hate speech Institutional Abuse Discrimination Racism Homeless dumping Housing Hypergamy Age disparity Indian rolling International inequality Kill Haole Day Lavender scare LGBTQ+ grooming conspiracy theory Linguicide Lynching Media Minority stress Moral exclusion Mortgage Murder music Native American mascots Braves Blackhawks Chiefs Occupational Apartheid Inequality Injustice Segregation Opposition to immigration Paper genocide Persecution Pogrom Political Political repression Ideological repression Purge Racialization Religious persecution Religious terrorism Religious violence Religious war Scapegoating Selective enforcement Selective prosecution Sentencing disparity Sexual harassment Sex-selective abortion Slut-shaming Structural abuse Structural discrimination Structural evil Structural inequality Structural violence Suicide Untermensch Trans bashing Victimisation Violence against women White flight White genocide conspiracy theory Wife selling Witch hunt
Policies Algorithmic wage discrimination Age of candidacy Apartheid in South Africa in Israel Blood purity Blood quantum Breadwinner model Conscription and sexism Disabilities Catholic Jewish Disparate impact Fagging Gender pay gap Gender roles Protecting Women's Private Spaces Act Gerontocracy Gerrymandering Ghetto benches Internment Jewish quota Opposition to LGBTQ rights MSM blood donation restrictions No kid zone Numerus clausus (as religious or racial quota) One-drop rule Racial quota Racial steering Redlining Same-sex marriage (laws and issues prohibiting) Segregation age racial Jim Crow laws Nuremberg Laws Segregation academy religious sexual in Islam Social exclusion Sodomy law State atheism State religion Ugly law Voter suppression White Australia policy
Countermeasures Affirmative action Anti-discrimination law Anti-racism Audit study Autism rights movement Blind audition Constitutional colorblindness Cross-sex friendship Cultural assimilation Cultural pluralism Diversity, equity, and inclusion Diversity training Empowerment Fat acceptance movement Feminism Fighting Discrimination Golden Rule Hate speech laws by country Human rights Intersex human rights Korenizatsiia LGBTQ rights Music in the movement against apartheid Nonviolence Racial integration Reappropriation Rock Against Sexism Self-determination Social integration Toleration Transgender rights movement Universal suffrage Women's rights
Related topics Allophilia Alterity Amatonormativity Bias Cisnormativity Civil liberties Criminalization of homosexuality Dehumanization Diseases of despair Diversity Multiculturalism Neurodiversity Ethnic penalty Figleaf Gender-blind Heteronormativity Historical eugenics Internalized oppression Intersectionality Mad pride Masculism Medical model of disability autism Oikophobia Oppression Police brutality Respect Polyculturalism Power distance Prejudice Prisoner abuse Racial bias in criminal news in the United States Racism by country Racial color blindness Religious intolerance Second-generation gender bias Snobbery Social equity Social exclusion Social identity threat Social model of disability Social privilege Christian male white Social stigma Speciesism Stereotype threat The talk
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Religious discrimination is treating a person or group differently because of the particular religion they align with or were born into. This includes instances when adherents of different religions,denominations ornon-religions are treated unequally due to their particular beliefs, either by thelaw or in institutional settings, such as employment or housing.

Religious discrimination or bias^[1] is related toreligious persecution, the most extreme forms of which would include instances in which people have been executed for beliefs that have been perceived to beheretical. Laws that only carry light punishments are described asmild forms of religious persecution orreligious discrimination. In recent years, terms such asreligism^[2][3] andreligionism have also been used, but "religious discrimination" remains the more widely used term.^[4]

Even in societies wherefreedom of religion is a constitutional right, adherents ofminority religions sometimes voice their concerns about religious discrimination against them. Insofar as legal policies are concerned, cases that are perceived to be cases of religious discrimination might be the result of interference in the religious sphere by otherspheres of the public that are regulated by law.

Jews faced religious discrimination in theRoman Empire. The low point was the expulsion of Jews fromJerusalem and subsequent paganization of the city during the reign of EmperorHadrian (117–138 AD), which led to theJewish diaspora.^[5]

Persecution of Christians in the Roman Empire was widespread.Christianity threatened the polytheistic order of theRoman Empire because of the importance ofevangelism in Christianity. Under theNeronian persecution, Rome began to discriminate against monotheists who refused to worship the Roman gods.Nero blamed Christians for theGreat Fire of Rome (64 AD).^[6] During theDecian persecution,Valerianic persecution, andDiocletianic Persecution, Christians were slaughtered by being thrown to wild beasts, churches were destroyed, priests were imprisoned, and scriptures were confiscated.^[7][6]

Religious discrimination against Christians ended with theEdict of Milan (313 AD), and theEdict of Thessalonica (380 AD) made Christianity the official religion of the empire.^[8] By the 5th century Christianity became the dominant religion in Europe and took a reversed role, discriminating againstpagans,heretics, andJews.^[9]

In theMiddle Ages,antisemitism in Europe was widespread. Christians falsely accused Jews ofJewish deicide,blood libel, andwell poisoning, and subjected them to expulsions, forced conversions, and mandatory sermons. In thePapal States, Jews were required to live in poor segregated neighbourhoods called ghettos.^[10] Historians note that religious discrimination against Jews tended to increase during negative economic and climatic shocks in Europe, such as when they were scapegoated for causing theBlack Death.^[11]

During theIslamic Golden Age, many Jewish, Christian, Zoroastrian, and Pagan lands came underMuslim rule. AsPeople of the Book, Jews, Christians, andMandaeans living under Muslim rule becamedhimmis with social status inferior to that of Muslims. AlthoughSharia law granted dhimmis freedom of religion, they were subjected to religious discrimination as second-class citizens and had to pay ajizya tax. They could not proselytize Muslims, marry Muslims (in the case of dhimmi men), build or repairchurches andsynagogues without permission, perform loud religious rituals such as the ringing of church bells, carry weapons, or ride horses and camels.^[12][13][14] These discriminatory laws forced many Christians into poverty and slavery.^[15]

During theFirst Crusade (1096), Christian knights recaptured theHoly Land from Muslim rule, massacring most of the Muslims and Jews in Jerusalem. This led to the creation of Catholic-ruledCrusader states, most notably theKingdom of Jerusalem. In these kingdoms Jews, Muslims, andOrthodox Christians had no rights, being considered property of the crusader lords.^[16][17]

Inearly modern Europe, there was a religious conflict between Catholics and Protestants taking place in many countries. Inearly modern Britain, theAct of Uniformity 1548 compelled theChurch of England to use only theBook of Common Prayer for its liturgy. There were several other Acts of Uniformity as the conflict continued well into the 19th century.^[18] WhenCatholicism became the sole compulsory religion inearly modern France during the reign ofLouis XIV, theHuguenots had to leave the country en masse.^[18]

TheAct for the Settlement of Ireland 1652 barred Catholics from most public offices and confiscated large amounts of their land, much of which wasgiven to Protestant settlers.^[19]

During the decline of the Ottoman Empire in the late modern period, particularly ever since theGreat Turkish War (1683), discrimination against religious minorities worsened. The destruction of churches and the expulsion of local Christian communities became commonplace.^[20] Tolerance policies were abandoned in Ottoman Albania, in favor ofreducing the size of Albania's Catholic population through Islamization.^[21]

Antisemitism in the Russian Empire was widespread, as Imperial Russia contained the world's largest Jewish population at the time. Jews were subject to discriminatory laws such as theMay Laws (1882), which restricted them from certain locations, jobs, transactions, schools, and political positions.^[22] They were also targeted in frequent anti-Jewish riots, calledpogroms.

Religious discrimination in Pakistan is a serious issue. Several incidents of discrimination have been recorded with some finding support by the state itself. In a case of constitutionally sanctioned religious discrimination, non-Muslims inPakistan cannot becomeprime minister orpresident, even if they are Pakistani citizens.^[23][24][25] Pakistan'sBlasphemy Law, according to critics, "is overwhelmingly being used to persecute religious minorities and settle personal vendettas".^[26] Ahmadiyya Muslims have been subject to significant persecution and are sometimes declared 'non-Muslims'.^[27]

Uyghurs or Uighurs are anethnic and religiousminority group inChina.^[28] Their identity is based on theIslamic religion and has roots in the formerEast Turkistan culture.^[29][30] They reside inXinjiang, an autonomous region situated in the west of the country.^{[29][31][28][30]} This group is persecuted by the Chinese government due to its perceived threat to the nation's security and identity. The Chinese government believes that the Uyghurs haveseparatist,extremist, andterrorist thoughts.^[29][28] It has detained around one million Uyghurs incamps.^[29][31][28] According to the Chinese government, these camps are created to re-educate the minorityMuslims by learning about the negative consequences of extremism.^[29][31][32] Detainees are punished in these camps.^{[29][31][32][28]} The treatment of the Uyghurs violates theirhuman rights because they are forcibly sent to the camps for an indefinite period of time.^[31][28] The discrimination against the Uyghurs comes in many forms. Some apparent restrictions include banning religious veils or robes in public.^[29][28] The training camps serve to inculcate beliefs that are congruent with the beliefs of theChinese Communist Party.^[31][28] Subjected to abuse and suppression in China, some Uyghurs who were seeking refuge resettled in different parts of the world. In June 2021, it was reported that the Uyghurs were being detained even outside China. Following the diplomatic relations of China with the UAE, Uyghurs living in Dubai were subjected to arrest, prolonged detention and deportation to China. China allegedly requested for the deportation of Uyghurs from three Arab countries, including the UAE. The global influence of Beijing has even resulted in the expansion of religious discrimination against the Uyghur Muslims who are residing abroad.^[33]

Although theConstitution of India prohibits discrimination based on religion^[34][35] discrimination andreligious violence in India are frequent, sometimes even involving the function of government.^[36] For exampledalit people who are notHindu,Sikh, orBuddhist are not covered by theScheduled Castes laws and hencedalit Christians and Muslims do not receive theaffirmative action political representation and educational placement, welfare benefits, andhate crimes protections accorded to their fellows.^[35] Dalits worshipping the same gods as Hindus were previously considered to be of a different religion and in the early twentieth century the question "Is he a Hindu or Pariah?" had currency.^[35][37]

Apostasy andproselytization is punishable by Algerian law.^[38] Prison sentences for those that practice Christianity do occur.^[39]

Apostasy and proselytization^[40]

Violence against the Christian minority is common.^[41][42]

Coptic Christians face many barriers to building and renovating Coptic churches.^[43]

ChristianAssyrians in Iraq have suffered from discrimination sinceSaddam Hussein'sArabization policies in the 1980s.^{[citation needed]}

Apostasy and proselytization is punishable by Moroccan law.^[44] Prison sentences for those that leave Islam do occur.^[45]

Throughout the contemporary history of Iran, ethnic and religious minorities have experienced religious discrimination. Since most of the people of Iran follow theShia religion, most of the official and unofficial laws of this country are influenced by the Shia religion.

Before the1979 revolution, there were laws in Iran that allowed religious minorities to participate in elections, have representatives in the parliament, and even reach the highest government positions. After the revolution of 1979, the laws regarding religious minorities were changed. In the current constitution of Iran, only followers ofChristianity,Judaism,Zoroastrianism and Sunnis are allowed to perform their religious ceremonies in private and they do not have the right to propagate and spread their religion in public places (proselytize).

Also, Iran's constitution does not recognize other religious minorities such asBaha'is,Buddhists,Hindus, andAtheists.^{[46][47][48][49]} Adherents of these belief systems are not allowed to express their beliefs, but they are deprived of their various rights, including working in government and non-government jobs, etc.^{[50][51][52][53][54][55]}

According to the current apostasy laws of Iran, no Muslim has the right to change his (or her) religion, and if he changes his religion, they can be punished byprison and execution. After the Islamic Revolution in 1979 until 2023, all important political and security posts and positions in the country have been assigned to the followers of the Shia religion.^[54][56]

Javid Rahman, the UN rapporteur on Iran affairs, criticized the violation ofhuman rights in Iran at the77th session of the UN General Assembly. He accused the Iranian government of always ignoring the rights of ethnic and religious minorities in the country and involving them in various judicial cases. In this report, he demanded the release of dissident prisoners and the recognition of the rights of religious and political minorities in Iran.^[54][57]

Kameel Ahmady, ananthropologist and developer of the bookFrom Border to Border (a book about the situation of ethnic and religious minorities in Iran) and his colleagues believes that the legal discriminations in the country's laws regarding ethnic and religious minorities must be removed.^[58][59][60]

In economic terms, Sunni rural areas lack important infrastructure. It is believed that themajority of the country’s facilities are concentrated in the central provinces. In terms of culture, some ethnic and religious minorities believe that they face restrictions on holding regional festivals and conferences. The national and local media do not cover and represent the cultures and traditions of these regions as the people believe they deserve, and do not provide media services related to the local and regional cultures of Different religions groups.^[59] MostBaluchis, as well as someKurds, have different religious orientations than the state’s official religion. These groups feel that the religious beliefs of government officials lead to the political, cultural, social and economic oppression of indigenous peoples.^{[61][58][62][63][64][65][66]}

Religious discrimination in thehistory of the United States dates back to the firstProtestant ChristianEuropean settlers, composed mostly ofEnglishPuritans, during theBritish colonization of North America (16th century),^[67][68] directed both towardsNative Americans and non-ProtestantRoman Catholic European settlers.^[67][68] (See alsoColonial history of the United States).

In a 1979 consultation on the issue, theUnited States Commission on Civil Rights defined religious discrimination in relation to thecivil rights guaranteed by theFourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution. Whereas religious civil liberties, such as the right to hold or not to hold a religious belief, are essential forFreedom of Religion (in the United States secured by theFirst Amendment), religious discrimination occurs when someone is denied "the equal protection of the laws, equality of status under the law, equal treatment in the administration of justice, and equality of opportunity and access to employment, education, housing, public services and facilities, and public accommodation because they exercise their right to religious freedom".^[69]

InCanada, during 1995-1998,Newfoundland had only Christian schools (four of them, Pentecostal, Roman Catholic, Seventh-day Adventist, and inter-denominational (Anglican, Salvation Army and United Church)). The right to organize publicly supported religious schools was only given to certain Christian denominations, thus tax money was used to support a selected group of Christian denominations. The denominational schools could also refuse the admission of a student or the hiring of a qualified teacher on purely religious grounds.Quebec has used two school systems, one Protestant and the other Roman Catholic, but it seems this system will be replaced with two secular school systems: one French and the other English.^[70]

Ontario had two school systems going back before Confederation. The British North America Act (1867) gave the Provinces jurisdiction over education. Section 93 of the BNA Act offered constitutional protection for denominational schools as they existed in law at the time of Confederation. Like "Public schools", Catholic schools are fully funded from kindergarten to grade 12. However, profound demographic changes of the past few decades have made the province of Ontario a multicultural, multi-racial, and multi-religious society. The thought that one religious group is privileged to have schools funded from the public purse is often considered unacceptable in a pluralistic, multicultural, secular society. Although it's also true that the people who send their children to those schools have a form that directs their tax dollars to that school system.^[71]

Canadian faith-based universityTrinity Western University (TWU) is currently facing a challenge from members of the legal andLGBT community to its freedom to educate students in a private university context while holding certain "religious values", such as the freedom to discriminate against other people, including requiring students to sign a chastity oath, and denying LGBT students the same rights as straight students.^[72][73] TWU faced a similar battle in 2001 (Trinity Western University v. British Columbia College of Teachers) where the Supreme Court of Canada ruled that TWU was capable to teach professional disciplines.^[74]

On 16 June 2019, Quebec banned public servants in positions of authority from wearing visible religious symbols. The legislation was erected with the goal of promoting neutrality. Prime Minister Trudeau argues that the ban goes against the fundamental rights of the Canadian people.^[75]

TheCourt of Justice of the European Union applies aspects offormal equality andsubstantive equality when evaluating religious discrimination.^[76]

Scientologists in Germany face specific political and economic restrictions. They are barred from membership in some major political parties, and businesses and other employers use so-called "sect filters" to expose a prospective business partner's or employee's association with the organization. German federal and state interior ministers started a process aimed at banning Scientology in late 2007, but abandoned the initiative a year later, finding insufficient legal grounds. Despite this, polls suggest that most Germans favor banning Scientology altogether. TheU.S. government has repeatedly raised concerns over discriminatory practices directed at individual Scientologists.^[77][78][79]

InGreece since theindependence from theMuslim Ottomans rule in the 19th century, theGreek Orthodox Church has been given privileged status and only the Greek Orthodox church, Roman Catholic, some Protestant churches, Judaism and Islam are recognized religions. The Muslim minority alleges that Greece persistently and systematically discriminates against Muslims.^[80][81]

Recently, professor Nick Drydakis (Anglia Ruskin University) examined religious affiliation and employment bias in Athens, by implementing an experimental field study. Labor market outcomes (occupation access, entry wage, and wait time for call back) were assessed for three religious minorities (Pentecostal, evangelical, and Jehovah's Witnesses). Results indicate that religious minorities experience employment bias. Moreover, religious minorities face greater constraints on occupational access in more prestigious jobs compared to less prestigious jobs. Occupational access and entry wage bias is highest for religious minority women. In all cases, Jehovah's Witnesses face the greatest bias; female employers offered significantly lower entry wages to Jehovah's Witnesses than male employers.^[82]

According to aHuman Rights Practices report by theU.S. State department onMexico note that "some local officials infringe on religious freedom, especially in the south". There is a conflict between Catholic/Mayan syncretists and Protestant evangelicals in theChiapas region.^[83][84][85]

Within theUnited Kingdom (UK),Northern Ireland has a long history of discrimination based on the religious and political affiliations of Roman Catholics (Nationalists) and Protestants (Loyalists). Some discrimination against Catholics was based on the idea that they were disloyal to the State. In a speech on 19 March 1935,Basil Brooke (Prime Minister of Northern Ireland (1943-1963)) spoke on the issue of employment based on religion: "I recommend those people who are loyalists not employ Roman Catholics, ninety-nine percent of whom are disloyal."^[86] In November 1934 the Prime Minister of Northern IrelandJames Craig stated that his administration was a "Protestant Government for a Protestant People."^[87] Discrimination based on religion in Northern Ireland is alleged to have occurred in the areas of housing allocation, employment, voting rights, state benefits and with theGerrymandering (or discriminatoryElectoral boundary delimitation) to ensure election results.

An analysis of the 1,095 Northern Ireland government appointments in 1951 showed that Nationalists (comprising 34 percent of the population) received only 11.8 percent of positions in local government bodies: Borough, County, Urban and Rural District Councils.^[88] A system known asPlural voting provided for property owners to cast multiple votes in elections. Plural voting ended in the UK in 1948 but remained in effect in Northern Ireland until 1969.^[89] TheNorthern Ireland Civil Rights Association (NICRA) was founded in 1967. Several of the demands made by NICRA were for "One Man One Vote", the end of gerrymandering and discrimination based on religion.^[90]

• Antisemitism
• Anti-Christian sentiment
• Anti-Hindu sentiment
• List of anti-discrimination acts
• Civil and political rights
• Discrimination against atheists
• Islamophobia
• Normalization of antisemitism
• Persecution of Buddhists
• Persecution of Christians
• Persecution of Christians in the post–Cold War era
• Persecution of Jews
• Persecution of Hindus
• Persecution of Muslims
• Religious antisemitism
• Religious intolerance
• Religious persecution
• Religious segregation
• Religious violence

• Stokes, DaShanne. (In Press)Legalized Segregation and the Denial of Religious Freedom^{[dead link]}
• Stokes, DaShanne. (2001)."Sage, Sweetgrass, and the First Amendment."The Chronicle of Higher Education. 18 May 2001, sec. 2: B16.
• U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, 1979:Religious discrimination. A neglected issue. A consultation sponsored by the United States Commission on Civil Rights, Washington D.C., 9–10 April 1979

• Religious discrimination

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