Religious Discrimination

Religious discrimination is treating a person unequally due to their faith. Religious discrimination is a form of religious persecution, and exists in various levels. Religious discrimination can exist either legally, or institutionally, such as when employment or housing is denied on the basis of one's religion.

In the United States, while the First Amendment secures freedom of religion, religious discrimination often falls under the jurisdiction of the Fourteenth Amendment, which guarantees civil rights to all citizens. In other nations, forms of religious discrimination are often written into law. In Greece, for example, only the Greek Orthodox Church is afforded privileged status, with the Muslim minority claiming that there is official, legal discrimination against them.

Many in the United States today are arguing that there is growing form of acceptable religious discrimination against Christianity. Anti-Christian sentiment has been charged in cases where individuals have been denied employment because of their conservative Christian beliefs.

Perhaps the most well known historical case of religious discrimination is Anti-Semitism, prejudice towards Jews. The Holocaust during World War II was an extreme, persecution of people solely because of their faith. It was preceded by years of increasing legal religious discrimination in Nazi Germany, which slowly eroded the right of Jews in that country.