Personnel Today
  • Home
    • All PT content
    • Advertise
  • Email sign-up
  • Topics
    • HR Practice
    • Employee relations
    • Equality, diversity and inclusion
    • Learning & training
    • Pay & benefits
    • Wellbeing
    • Recruitment & retention
    • HR strategy
    • HR Tech
    • The HR profession
    • Global
    • All HR topics
  • Legal
    • Case law
    • Commentary
    • Flexible working
    • Legal timetable
    • Maternity & paternity
    • Shared parental leave
    • Redundancy
    • TUPE
    • Disciplinary and grievances
    • Employer’s guides
  • AWARDS
    • Personnel Today Awards
    • The RAD Awards
  • Jobs
    • Find a job
    • Jobs by email
    • Careers advice
    • Post a job
  • XpertHR
    • Learn more
    • Products
    • Pricing
    • Free trial
    • Subscribe
    • XpertHR USA
  • Webinars
  • OHW+

Personnel Today

Register
Log in
Personnel Today
  • Home
    • All PT content
    • Advertise
  • Email sign-up
  • Topics
    • HR Practice
    • Employee relations
    • Equality, diversity and inclusion
    • Learning & training
    • Pay & benefits
    • Wellbeing
    • Recruitment & retention
    • HR strategy
    • HR Tech
    • The HR profession
    • Global
    • All HR topics
  • Legal
    • Case law
    • Commentary
    • Flexible working
    • Legal timetable
    • Maternity & paternity
    • Shared parental leave
    • Redundancy
    • TUPE
    • Disciplinary and grievances
    • Employer’s guides
  • AWARDS
    • Personnel Today Awards
    • The RAD Awards
  • Jobs
    • Find a job
    • Jobs by email
    • Careers advice
    • Post a job
  • XpertHR
    • Learn more
    • Products
    • Pricing
    • Free trial
    • Subscribe
    • XpertHR USA
  • Webinars
  • OHW+

Equality, diversity and inclusionLettersReligion

Apocalyptic vision is only partially correct

by Personnel Today 3 Jul 2007
by Personnel Today 3 Jul 2007

Tony Pettengell may be right to worry about some of the things he mentions in his ‘Apocalypse now…’ article (Personnel Today, 5 June), but the amendment to the Employment Equality (Religion or Belief) Regulations to include ‘any philosophical belief’ isn’t one of the them.

This amendment to the Equality Regulations in the Equality Act 2006 (which removed the word ‘similar’ from the phrase ‘any similar philosophical belief’ and specifically mentions protection for the absence of religion or the absence of belief) was simply designed to clarify that the non-religious, including humanists, have the same protection against discrimination on grounds of their non-religious beliefs as the religious have on grounds of their beliefs.

That was always the government’s intention anyway, and it’s also what is required by the EU directive on which the UK employment regulations are based, and indeed by the Human Rights Act, which also outlaws discrimination on the grounds of ‘religion or belief’. And there is plenty of human rights case law to confirm that ‘belief’ includes non-religious beliefs such as humanism.

If the various ‘cults’ (his word, not mine) mentioned are protected under the regulations, it would be as ‘religions’, rather than as ‘beliefs’. There is, as far as I know, no case law on any of the ‘religions’ cited, so it remains to be seen whether any of them would be accepted as a religion in the context of these regulations. But the amendment to the regulations won’t alter that decision either way.

Hanne Stinson, chief executive, British Humanist Association

Personnel Today
Personnel Today

Personnel Today articles are written by an expert team of award-winning journalists who have been covering HR and L&D for many years. Some of our content is attributed to "Personnel Today" for a number of reasons, including: when numerous authors are associated with writing or editing a piece; or when the author is unknown (particularly for older articles).

previous post
Moneysupermarket.com £1bn flotation on London Stock Exchange set to boost recruitment and retention
next post
Legal opinion: Single Equality Act retains inequalities

You may also like

Transport sector recruitment ‘should be overhauled to improve...

12 Aug 2022

Train conductor unfairly dismissed after ‘black privilege’ comment

10 Aug 2022

How to create an inclusive workplace for religion

29 Jul 2022

‘I’m not an activist: I just want fairer...

25 Jul 2022

Why employers should collect workforce disability data

25 Jul 2022

More than a third of retailers have all-white...

21 Jul 2022

FTSE 100 firms outpace US and Canadian businesses...

19 Jul 2022

Feeling safe at work: Sandi Wassmer talks to...

18 Jul 2022

Next prime minister ‘must introduce ethnicity pay gap...

14 Jul 2022

One in nine UK workers is in insecure...

12 Jul 2022
  • 6 reasons why work-based learning is better than traditional training PROMOTED | A recent Fortune/Deloitte survey found that 71% of CEOs are anticipating that this year’s biggest business disrupter...Read more
  • Strengthening Scotland’s public services through virtual recruiting PROMOTED | This website is Scotland's go-to place for job seekers looking to apply for roles in public services...Read more
  • What’s next for L&D? Enter Alchemist… PROMOTED | It’s time to turn off the tedious and get ready for interactive and immersive learning experiences...Read more
  • Simple mistakes are blighting the onboarding experience PROMOTED | The onboarding of new hires is a company’s best chance...Read more
  • Preventing Burnout: How can HR help key workers get the right help? PROMOTED | Workplace wellbeing may seem a distant memory...Read more

Personnel Today Jobs
 

Search Jobs

PERSONNEL TODAY

About us
Contact us
Browse all HR topics
Email newsletters
Content feeds
Cookies policy
Privacy policy
Terms and conditions

JOBS

Personnel Today Jobs
Post a job
Why advertise with us?

EVENTS & PRODUCTS

The Personnel Today Awards
The RAD Awards
Employee Benefits
Forum for Expatriate Management
OHW+
Whatmedia

ADVERTISING & PR

Advertising opportunities
Features list 2022

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Instagram
  • Linkedin


© 2011 - 2022 DVV Media International Ltd

Personnel Today
  • Home
    • All PT content
    • Advertise
  • Email sign-up
  • Topics
    • HR Practice
    • Employee relations
    • Equality, diversity and inclusion
    • Learning & training
    • Pay & benefits
    • Wellbeing
    • Recruitment & retention
    • HR strategy
    • HR Tech
    • The HR profession
    • Global
    • All HR topics
  • Legal
    • Case law
    • Commentary
    • Flexible working
    • Legal timetable
    • Maternity & paternity
    • Shared parental leave
    • Redundancy
    • TUPE
    • Disciplinary and grievances
    • Employer’s guides
  • AWARDS
    • Personnel Today Awards
    • The RAD Awards
  • Jobs
    • Find a job
    • Jobs by email
    • Careers advice
    • Post a job
  • XpertHR
    • Learn more
    • Products
    • Pricing
    • Free trial
    • Subscribe
    • XpertHR USA
  • Webinars
  • OHW+