Our changing world has the need for religion in the workforce on the rise. Over the past several years’ factors such as terrorist attacks, a shaky economy, increased demand for longer working hours, a reduction in employee retirement benefits and immigration are thought to have contributed to this rise. (Moore, 2010) Along with the increased demand for religion in the workplace comes religious diversity.
Immigration is one cause for creating religious diversity within the workplace. “Over the past 20 years, the United States has granted permanent residency status to an average of about 1 million immigrants each year.” (unknown, 2013) Although many of the immigrants entering into the US are currently Christians other religions are slowly increasing in popularity. “Currently there are approximately 1,500 primary religions in the United States” (Borstorff, 2011). Christian, Hindu, Muslim and Buddhist denominations are among the more popular. The increase in religious diversity is causing a need for employers to accommodate employee’s religious demands.
The EEOC states that unless it would create a hardship to the operations of the business an employer must reasonably accommodate religious beliefs or practices. Reasonable accommodations are any changes made to the normal work environment to allow an employee to practice religion. Some of these accommodations include flexible scheduling, shift changes, dress code modifications or any other changes to the workplace policies.
Since there may be several demands for religious accommodation, the employer should offer alternatives that cause the least disadvantages to the employee. Employees and managers should should work together to find the best accommodation to fit the ne...
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...s in the workplace. Journal of Applied Management and Entrepreneurship, 15(2), 43-63. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/497134732?accountid=12085
unknown. (2013, May 17). Pew Research. Retrieved from The Religious Affiliation of U.S. Immigrants: Majority Christian, Rising Share of Other Faiths: http://www.pewforum.org/2013/05/17/the-religious-affiliation-of-us-immigrants/
Citation:
Kelly, E.P., (2008) Accommodating religious expression in the workplace. Employee Responsibilities and Rights Journal. 30(1), 45-56. Retrieved from http://link.springer.com.ezproxy.liberty.edu:2048/article/10.1007%2Fs10672-007-9059-6/fulltext.html
Brown, S. P. (2007). Leaving the spiritual sphere: Religious expression in the public workplace. Journal of Church and State, 49(4), 665-682. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com.ezproxy.liberty.edu:2048/docview/230034477
Just as there is a variety of identities involving race, gender, and class, so too are there a range of religious identities. Byzantine Catholics, Hindus, born-again Evangelicals, atheists, agnostics, and Buddhists are only a few religious identities I have encountered in America. This environment, at best, allows religious variety to be understood and embraced—and at worst, divides us. In Acts of Faith, author Eboo Patel discusses his belief that the “faith line” will define conflict and concord in the 21st century.
“About 270,000 religious congregations in the US have combined annual revenue of $80 billion. Slightly more than 50 percent of Americans belong to a religious congregation. In terms of membership, the largest faiths in the US are Catholic (about 25 percent of the population); Baptist (16 percent); Methodist (7 percent); Lutheran (5 percent); Presbyterian (3 percent); Pentecostal (2 percent); and Episcopalian (2 percent). Church membership statistics are notoriously unreliable.”(Hoover’s 2008)
Butler, J., Balmer, R., & Wacker, G. (2008). Religion in American Life : A Short History. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
In Matters of Faith: Make a Good Faith Effort to Accommodate, Patricia Digh writes, “Religion is often an important aspect of a person’s identity” (shrm.org). She continues, “Religious devotion and diversity are on the rise in the United States, and the combination of these trends is creating new challenges and new demands for employers. As a result, handling employees’ future requests for religious accommodation may require Human Resource (HR) professionals to demonstrate greater sensitivity, tolerance and understanding of various religious beliefs”
Eck, Diana L. A New Religious America: How a "Christian Country" Has Now Become the World's Most Religiously Diverse Nation. San Francisco: HarperSanFrancisco, 2001. Print
This week's assignment has taught me a lot about religious oppression and how it's affecting our world today. One thing that I really found interesting is religious diversity in schools in America. While reading section 58 in our textbook, I grasped more information about the different ways religion has an effect on the lives of students on a school campus. While discussing religion in a school setting; I believe that it is important to remember that a
The sociology of religion is the study of the beliefs, practices and organizational forms of religion using the tools and methods of the discipline of sociology. Thus, the purpose of this comprehensive exam is to give me an opportunity to demonstrate mastery over relevant theories, methods, and empirical findings in major subfields of the sociology of religion. This reading list also provides a strong foundation in the central theoretical perspectives, main classic and current debates, and prominent published empirical studies in the field. Hence, this reading list includes a core set of readings to which we most often refer in our studies and enables comprehensive analyses about the
In this article, the woman in question is Carole Smith, a security worker at a major airport who identifies as a Wiccan witch. She has had numerous incidents of workplace complaints from those she works with and she herself has filed complaints against her coworkers unrelated to her religion. However, all of these serious complains came in after her report of religious discrimination. These c...
Thomas, Oliver "Buzz". "How To Keep The 'United' In United States: Coping With Religious Diversity In The World's First 'New' Nation." Church & State Feb. 2007: 19+. Academic Search Premier. EBSCO. Web. 1 Mar. 2013.
Eileen P. Kelly was a tenured professor in Ithaca College’s School of Business and specialized in management, business ethics, and employment law. She was noted for her scholarly work and publications concerning business ethics, employment rights, religion and employee workplace rights, privacy rights, labor and management history. In this article, Kelly (2008) discusses the degree of religious diversity in the United States, the factors influencing religious expression in the workplace, the most common types of religious expression in the workplace and the extent of the legal obligations an employer has to accommodate them. “Clearly, religion and spirituality are key concerns of the American population. It should come as no surprise therefore that Americans would bring those beliefs into the workplace” (Kelly, 2008, p. 46).
Jenson, Robert. “Religious Traditions Can Play a Healthy Role in Politics.” Politics and Religion 2013: n. pag. Opposing Viewpoints in Context. Web. 30 Mar. 2014.
Throughout its history, the United States has characteristically remained a country of two things: a country of immigrants, and a country of unmatched religious diversity. And yet when compared with the rest of the world – where these two very factors alone have so often engendered horrible religious wars and decades of enduring conflict – the history of religious conflict in the United States seems almost nonexistent.
Schumaker, John F. “Can Religion Make You Happy?” Free Inquiry Summer 1998: 28+. Student Resources in Context. Web. 19 June 2015.
Initially, I will give a brief definition of “religious belief” and “religious discrimination” and write afterwards about prohibitions regarding religious discrimination, reasonably accommodation of religious beliefs and practices, undue hardship, and about the question “Who is subject to the provisions under Title VII?”.
Eck, Diana (2002). A New Religious America : the World's Most Religiously Diverse Nation. HarperOne.