I do wonder what planet Trevor Phillips is living on (‘Equality tsar calls for end to religious vetting’, Personnel Today, 17 October).
If religion or belief can be objectively demonstrated to be a “genuine occupational requirement”, then how does that conflict with being “judged on your suitability for that job”?
When will people like Phillips realise that we do not all come out of a machine, but are all different (the very founding principle of diversity), and that equality for some is not achieved by denying the rights of others?
Perhaps he would have the chief executive of a faith-based charity or a minister of religion appointed without reference to their actual beliefs in respect of that faith or religion. If so, then I sincerely trust that any member of the BNP applying for a senior post within the new Commission for Equality and Human Rights will not be denied a post on the grounds of “other elements of their life”, such as their privately held views on nationality.
Phil Wainwright,
Director of human resources, Pilgrim Homes, Caring for Elderly Christians
