The following issue brief is meant to address discrimination that minority religions deal with in the United States. This includes inhibiting their rights to practice, their rights to build places of worship, and be accepted amongst the community of all religious organizations

Garza, America R.

Smith, Raymond Arthur

English

Columbia University Academic Commons

America	  Garza	  Professor	  Smith	  REAP	  21	  April	  2015	  The	  Discrimination	  of	  Religious	  Minorities	  in	  the	  United	  States	  Key	  Words:	  -­‐ Minority	  Religions	  -­‐ Discrimination	  -­‐ Religious	  Liberty	  -­‐ 1st	  Amendment	  -­‐ Religious	  Pluralism	  	  Description:	  	  	   The	  following	  issue	  brief	  is	  meant	  to	  address	  discrimination	  that	  minority	  religions	  deal	  with	  in	  the	  United	  States.	  This	  includes	  inhibiting	  their	  rights	  to	  practice,	  their	  rights	  to	  build	  places	  of	  worship,	  and	  be	  accepted	  amongst	  the	  community	  of	  all	  religious	  organizations.	  	  	  Key	  Points:	  -­‐ Religious	  discrimination	  is	  defined	  as	  disrespecting	  a	  person	  and	  inflicting	  some	  kind	  of	  ill	  treatment	  based	  on	  their	  religious	  beliefs.	  -­‐ Although	  discrimination	  against	  religion	  is	  unconstitutional,	  it	  is	  still	  practiced	  in	  the	  United	  States	  at	  different	  levels	  of	  severity	  today.	  	  	  -­‐ There	  is	  no	  direct	  correlation	  between	  just	  minority	  religions	  and	  specific	  treatment	  of	  discrimination;	  in	  essence	  all	  religions	  have	  experienced	  religious	  discrimination	  in	  the	  United	  States.	  -­‐ Most	  recently	  there	  has	  been	  a	  global	  trend	  of	  racial	  discrimination,	  however	  the	  increases	  in	  such	  acts	  are	  not	  appearing	  within	  the	  United	  States	  quite	  as	  strongly	  as	  in	  foreign	  countries.	  Countries	  where	  individual	  rights	  of	  practicing	  religion	  are	  more	  blatantly	  ignored	  and	  discriminated.	  	  	  	  	  	  	  	  	  	  	  	  	  	  	  	  	  	  	  	  2-­‐4	  Images:	  	  	  http://www.pewforum.org/2015/02/26/situation-­‐as-­‐of-­‐2013/	  	  	  http://religions.pewforum.org/reports#	  	  	  	  	  	  http://www.eeoc.gov/eeoc/statistics/enforcement/religion.cfm	  	  	  http://www.pewforum.org/2015/02/26/situation-­‐as-­‐of-­‐2013/	  	  	  	  Brief:	  	  	  	   Religious	  discrimination	  is	  illegal	  in	  the	  constitution,	  as	  stated	  under	  the	  1st	  amendment,	  which	  grants	  the	  freedom	  to	  practice	  any	  religion	  he/she	  wishes.	  Nevertheless,	  discrimination	  still	  occurs.	  Today,	  there	  has	  been	  an	  increasing	  trend	  in	  global	  discrimination	  against	  religion,	  however	  sites	  like	  the	  US	  State	  Department	  and	  the	  US	  Equal	  Employment	  Opportunity	  Commission	  have	  claimed	  that	  the	  United	  States	  has	  not	  partaken	  in	  such	  trends.	  	  	   The	  United	  States	  is	  unique	  in	  that	  it	  serves	  as	  a	  home	  for	  over	  350,000	  congregations	  of	  religious	  practice.	  As	  a	  result,	  the	  acceptance	  and	  freedom	  to	  practice	  is	  expected	  to	  be	  more	  welcoming.	  Nevertheless,	  it	  cannot	  be	  said	  that	  our	  country	  does	  not	  struggle	  with	  religious	  discrimination	  either.	  According	  to	  the	  U.S.	  Equal	  Employment	  Opportunity	  Commission	  (EEOC),	  we	  still	  find	  discrimination	  of	  religion	  through	  harassment	  claims,	  employment	  processes,	  work	  situations,	  public	  accommodations,	  and	  more.	  In	  another	  study	  as	  part	  of	  the	  EEOC,	  there	  has	  been	  recorded	  data	  claiming	  that	  since	  2008,	  claims	  made	  about	  religious	  discrimination	  under	  title	  VII	  have	  increased	  in	  small	  amounts	  (almost	  a	  hundred	  a	  year).	  	  	   In	  reality,	  the	  religious	  denominations	  in	  the	  United	  States	  are	  all	  minority	  at	  times,	  depending	  on	  where	  they	  live	  within	  the	  country.	  Aside	  from	  the	  more	  well	  known	  religious	  organizations,	  like	  Catholics,	  Christians,	  Jews,	  and	  Protestants,	  there	  are	  so	  many	  more	  that	  can	  qualify	  as	  minorities:	  Pagans,	  Baptists,	  Amish,	  Atheists,	  Buddhists,	  Muslims,	  Jehovah’s	  Witness,	  Krishnas,	  Mormons,	  Scientologists,	  and	  more.	  Even	  with	  a	  simple	  search	  of	  “religious	  discrimination”	  online,	  there	  are	  pages	  and	  pages	  of	  various	  cases	  of	  religious	  discrimination	  happening	  from	  the	  suburbs	  of	  South	  Carolina	  to	  the	  urban	  cities	  of	  New	  York	  and	  Chicago.	  	  	   One	  of	  the	  most	  recent	  cases	  of	  minority	  discrimination	  is	  the	  protest	  against	  the	  building	  of	  a	  Muslim	  Mosque	  two	  blocks	  away	  from	  ground	  zero	  in	  New	  York	  City.	  When	  this	  issue	  erupted,	  it	  became	  clear	  that	  discrimination	  towards	  Muslim	  was	  an	  apparent	  strong	  sentiment	  still	  alive	  even	  9	  years	  after	  the	  attacks	  of	  9/11.	  The	  event	  in	  2010	  revealed	  the	  sentiment	  that	  many	  New	  Yorkers	  still	  had	  against	  the	  Muslim	  religion,	  as	  if	  though	  the	  religion	  itself	  was	  involved	  with	  the	  9/11	  attacks.	  The	  hopes	  for	  setting	  up	  a	  mosque	  in	  the	  area	  was	  presented	  by	  the	  Cordoba	  House	  Project,	  which	  was	  created	  through	  collaboration	  between	  the	  American	  Society	  for	  Muslim	  Advancement	  and	  the	  Cordoba	  Initiative.	  When	  New	  Yorker	  got	  word	  of	  the	  project,	  protests	  and	  disappointment	  ensued,	  as	  people	  found	  it	  insensitive	  to	  have	  a	  Muslim	  mosque	  so	  close	  to	  the	  site	  of	  Ground	  Zero.	  	  	  	   	  o http://www.cnn.com/2010/US/05/07/new.york.ground.zero.mosque/	  	  	  Works	  Cited	  and	  references:	  -­‐ Sewell,	  Elizabeth	  A.	  "Religious	  Liberty	  and	  Religious	  Minorities	  in	  the	  United	  States."	  Oxford	  Handbooks	  Online.	  2011-­‐01-­‐02.	  Oxford	  University	  Press.	  Web.	  -­‐ "International	  Religious	  Freedom	  Report	  for	  2013."	  U.S.	  Department	  of	  State.	  U.S.	  Department	  of	  State,	  n.d.	  Web.	  03	  Mar.	  2015.	  Web.	  	  -­‐ "Using	  Religion	  to	  Discriminate."	  American	  Civil	  Liberties	  Union.	  ACLU,	  n.d.	  Web.	  -­‐ "Summary	  of	  Key	  Findings."	  Statistics	  on	  Religion	  in	  America	  Report.	  Pew	  Forum,	  n.d.	  Web.	  	  -­‐ "Religious	  Discrimination."	  Religious	  Discrimination.	  US	  Equal	  Employment	  Opportunity	  Commissions,	  n.d.	  Web.	  	  	  Relevant	  Websites:	  -­‐ US	  Department	  of	  State:	  o http://www.state.gov/j/drl/rls/irf/religiousfreedom/index.htm#wrapper	  -­‐ PEW	  Research	  	  o http://religions.pewforum.org/reports#	  -­‐ Religious	  Discrimination	  articles	  from	  the	  Huffington	  Post	  o http://www.huffingtonpost.com/news/religious-­‐discrimination/	  -­‐ Specific	  religious	  discrimination	  o http://www.jpost.com/LifeStyle/Religious-­‐minorities-­‐in-­‐American-­‐South-­‐experience-­‐discrimination-­‐except-­‐for-­‐Jews-­‐360010	  o http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/11/25/workplace-­‐religious-­‐discrimination_n_1112313.html	  -­‐ Muslim	  Discrimination	  	  o http://www.voxeu.org/article/labour-­‐market-­‐difficulties-­‐muslim-­‐minority	  -­‐ American	  Civil	  Liberties	  Union	  o https://www.aclu.org/using-­‐religion-­‐discriminate	  -­‐ US	  Equal	  Opportunity:	  o http://www.eeoc.gov/laws/types/religion.cfm	  o http://www.eeoc.gov/eeoc/statistics/enforcement/religion.cfm	  -­‐ 	   	  	  

The Discrimination of Religious Minorities in the United States

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The Discrimination of Religious Minorities in the United States

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