Religion and Belief
Religion refers to any religion, including lack of religion. Belief refers to any religious or philosophical belief, including a lack of belief. A belief should generally affect life choices or the way someone lives to be included in the definition.
The Equality Act
Religion and belief are one of the nine protected characteristics. Religion refers to any religion, or lack of religion. Belief can be any religious or philosophical belief, and includes a lack of belief. A belief should affect your life choices or the way that you live, for it to be included in the definition.
Religions include, but are not restricted to: Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Islam, and Judaism. An example of a religious belief is Christians who wear a cross, while philosophical (non-religion) belief include things like humanism or atheism.
Under the Equality Act 2010, you cannot be discriminated against because you are (or are not) of a particular religion, or you hold (or do not hold) a particular philosophical belief. You also cannot be discriminated against because someone thinks you are of a particular religion or hold a particular belief (this is known as discrimination by perception) or because you are connected to someone who has a religion or belief (this is known as discrimination by association).
Discrimination
Holding an awareness of where and how discrimination can occur can help you check your biases. Acas have identified three key areas of employment where religion or belief discrimination can most frequently occur:
- Recruitment,
- requests for taking annual leave, breaks and time away from work for religious reasons,
- and dress code.
Discrimination can happen during the hiring process of recruitment. One study in the US found that Muslim job candidates faced more discrimination than Christian job candidates during the hiring process. For Muslim candidates, there was a 13% lower call-back rate compared to the Christian candidates.
The engagement and commitment of individuals can be affected if they believe there is religious discrimination in their workplace. Feelings of discrimination can lead to poor job performance, less job satisfaction, and stress.
Faith-based stereotypes
Faith-based stereotypes are stereotypes made based on views and bias associated with a religion or belief. An example of a faith-based stereotype is that Muslim women are submissive and therefore unable to take on leadership roles. Such stereotypes and assumptions about Muslim women being submissive and weak can affect their career progression.
Religion and belief in higher education
Colleagues in higher education have a variety of religious beliefs. Advance HE reported that of the sample of higher education colleagues who disclosed their religion in 2021, 50.8% have no religion, 37.0% are Christian, 3.6% are Muslim, and 3.1% hold other beliefs or religion. Advance HE’s figures show valuing and acknowledging any religious beliefs will go a long way in helping your team members feeling supported and like they belong.
Advance HE have researched the experiences of colleagues and students with regard to religion and belief. While they did not find discrimination and harassment to be particularly prevalent across the sector, respondents raised several incidents where it had taken place. Participants reported experiencing both direct and indirect discrimination and a variety of forms of harassment. There is a variety of sources of support for students about religion or belief. These include academic colleagues, counsellors, students’ union advisers, chaplaincy colleagues and other faith advisers. Students’ unions often have a formal role in advocacy relating to discrimination and harassment but not all students are aware that this is the case.
What actions can we all take? As a researcher, research enabler or leader in research
- Be open to conversations with team members about whether they have any religion or belief. Some people may be hesitant in about bringing it up themselves as they may be nervous of the response they’ll get. Reassure colleagues that these conversations can help accommodate them.
- Don’t make assumptions. Don’t make assumptions about someone’s religion or belief based on their ethnicity.
- Be aware of policies and guidelines that will help you to support your colleagues. For example, find out where the quiet rooms are that can be used for prayer.
- Avoid stereotypes and bias. Faith-based stereotypes are very common. For example, Muslim women are submissive, therefore unable to take on leadership roles. These must be avoided.
What additional actions can you take as a leader in research?
- Understand your team member’s needs. Get to know them and their identity, so you can support them better.
- Be supportive of any religious commitments, celebrations or festivals. For example, if a Hindu team member requests leave to celebrate Diwali. Lots of universities share a diversity calendar each year which can help you keep up to date on religious celebrations.
- Be thoughtful and mindful when arranging events. When arranging social events or team building, be inclusive. For example, don’t have them all at pubs, where Muslim members of your team may feel uncomfortable. Think about what sort of food is served at events and whether non-alcoholic options are available.
Throughout this page we have linked to articles, studies and books which you can explore to increase your understanding of religion and belief. You may also wish to check out our page about Allyship to help understand the various ways that we can be an ally to support our colleagues and students.
We recognise that not everyone has the same learning styles, so to complement some of the written information and resources listed throughout this section, below there are a range of resource recommendations to engage with, as well as some further research articles that may interest you.
The Newcastle University Library site also hosts a guide to highlight useful information around faith, religion and belief. You can also check out our EDI Toolkit Reading List on the library’s EDI page for a summary of books to engage with around the protected characteristics.
Guides
- Religion and belief in Higher Education - WONKHE
- Supervising Postgraduate Researchers from Diverse Backgrounds
Research studies
- Religious Diversity at Work: The Perceptual Effects of Religious Discrimination on Employee Engagement and Commitment – Messarra, 2014
- An Experiment in Hiring Discrimination Via Online Social Networks – Acquisti & Fong, 2020
Video
Books
- Religious Discrimination (Discrimination in Society) – Peggy Parks
- The social equality of religion or belief: a new view of religion's place in society – Alan H. Carling
Podcasts
- Beyond Belief – Radio 4
- Philosophy for our times
Below you will find a list of services and resources available to colleagues and students at Newcastle University. You may find it useful to be aware of these either for yourself or to direct members of your team to.
Newcastle University Chaplaincy Service
The Chaplaincy Service is a dedicated team made up of Newcastle colleagues from a variety of faith organisations. The team is committed to making the University a place of religious tolerance, diversity and respect. Colleagues can join a Faiths Forum email group.
Newcastle University Diversity Calendar
The NU Diversity calendar provides a selection of faith festivals, awareness raising days as well as equality, diversity & inclusion-related events reflecting the diverse population of our students and colleagues. You could save the web link or print a copy to make sure you stay up to date on upcoming dates.
Internal Religion and Belief Guidance Page
There is a Religion and Belief guidance page on the intranet with further links and support to be aware of.
Training courses and workshops
You can access training on the Learning Management System (LMS) that cover ‘What Is Religion, Belief and Non-Belief?’ and ‘Religion, Belief and Non-Belief at Work’ (ncl login required).
Newcastle University Annual EDI Report
Within Newcastle’s ‘Annual EDI Report’, the University reports on the colleague demographic in terms of the nine protected characteristics. For example, within the 2022 report, it notes that 17.9% of colleagues told us they had a religion; 13.4% were Christian, 0.6% Hindu, 0.5% Spiritual, and 0.4% Muslim and or Buddhist. 2.5% stated having a religion not listed and 19.4% reported having no religion.
