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To Equality and Beyond: Religious Discrimination and the Equality Act 2006
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 31 July 2008
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Recent years have witnessed a piecemeal development of discrimination law that affects religious organisations: the collection includes statutes such as the Sex Discrimination Act 1975 and the Race Relations Act 1976, statutory instruments such as the Employment Equality Regulations 2003 and 2005, and international human rights instruments such as Article 14 of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR). The newest addition to the collection is the Equality Act 2006 (c 3), which received Royal Assent on 16 February 2006.
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References
2 These often include sections that apply specifically to religious organisations: see eg the Sex Discrimination Act 1975, s 19.Google Scholar
3 Employment Equality (Religion or Belief) Regulations 2003, SI 2003/1660; Employment Equality (Sexual Orientation) Regulations 2003, SI 2003/1661; Employment Equality (Sex Discrimination) Regulations 2005, SI 2005/2467.Google Scholar
4 However, this only extends to ‘the rights and freedoms set forth in [the] Convention’. Protocol 12, Art 1 includes a freestanding discrimination provision but this has not been ratified by the United Kingdom: see Ahdar, R and Leigh, I, Religious Freedom in the Liberal State (Oxford University Press, 2005) p 109.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
5 Seide v Gillette Industries Ltd [1980] IRLR 427, EAT;Google ScholarMandla v Dowell Lee [1983] 2 AC 548, [1983] 1 All ER 1062, HL.Google ScholarCf Dawkins v Department of the Environment [1993] IRLR 284, CA (Rastafarians excluded from the Race Relations Act 1976).Google Scholar
6 See the Equality Act 2006: Explanatory Notes, available from http:///www.opsi.gov.uk/acts/expa2006.htmGoogle Scholar
7 The Equality Act 2006, s 57, provides a rare statutory definition, restricting an ‘organisation relating to religion or belief’ to organisations whose purpose is ‘(a) to practice [sic] a religion or belief, (b) to advance a religion or belief, (c) to teach the practice or principles of a religion or belief, (d) to enable persons of a religion or belief to receive any benefit, or to engage in any activity, within the framework of that religion or belief, or (e) to improve relations, or maintain good relations, between persons of different religions or beliefs’.
8 Ibid, s 57.
9 Ibid, s 58.
10 Equality Act 2006: Explanatory Notes, p 19.Google Scholar
11 See, eg, McFeeley v United Kingdom (1980) 3 EHRR 16, E Com HR;Google ScholarCampbell and Cosans v United Kingdom (1982) 4 EHRR 293, E Ct HR;Google Scholar and R (Williamson) v Secretary of State for Education and Employment [2005] UKHL 15, [2005] 2 AC 246, [2005] 2 All ER 1, HL.Google Scholar
12 British Humanist Association Briefing 2005/7b, available from: http://www.humanism.org.uk.Google Scholar
13 Equality Act 2006, s 77.Google Scholar
14 The following is adapted from Equality Act 2006: Explanatory Notes, p 20.Google Scholar
15 Equality Act 2006: Explanatory Notes, p 20.Google Scholar
16 Equality Act 2006, s 46(3)(b).Google Scholar
17 Ie as defined by ibid, s 48(2).
18 In England and Wales: schools maintained by the local education authority, independent schools and special schools; in Scotland, public schools, grant-aided schools and independent schools: ibid, s 49(3).
19 Ibid, s 49(1)(a)–(b).
20 Ibid, s 49(1)(c)(i)–(ii).
21 Ibid, s 50(1), outlines the schools that are exempt from these provisions.
22 Ibid, s 49(1)(c)(iii)–(iv).
23 Ie in relation to any detriment save exclusion from the establishment.Google Scholar
24 Including the National Curriculum and other elements required by legislation such as religious education. This preserves the existing legislative framework, including, for example, laws governing how parents can withdraw their children from sex education and religious education: Equality Act 2006; Explanatory Notes, p 23.Google Scholar
25 The Secretary of State has the power inter alia to amend or repeal these exceptions: ibid, s 64.
26 For Scotland, read ‘education authority’.Google Scholar
27 Ie under the Education Act 1996, s 14.Google Scholar
28 Ie under ibid, s 13.
29 For evidence of the need, see Oliva, J G, ‘Sociology, Law and Religion in the United Kingdom’ (2004) 152 Law and Justice 8 at 10.Google Scholar
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