World Blog by humble servant.What is discrimination because of religion or belief It is against the law to discriminate against you because of your religion or belief. This applies: when you buy or use goods and services at work in education in housing.

What does religion or belief mean
You are protected by law from discrimination because of your religion or belief if you:

belong to an organised religion such as Christianity, Judaism or Islam
have a profound belief which affects your way of life or view of the world.

This includes religious and philosophical beliefs, or a lack of belief, such as Atheism
take part in collective worship
belong to a smaller religion or sect, such as Scientology or Rastafarianism
have no religion, for example, if you are an atheist.

The law against discrimination because of religion or belief does not cover purely political beliefs unless they are also philosophical beliefs.

You are protected if someone discriminates against you because they think you are a certain religion, when you are not.

For example, it's against the law for someone to discriminate against you for wearing a headscarf because they think you are a Muslim, even if you are not actually Muslim.

Discrimination by association is also against the law. For example, it is against the law to refuse to let you into a restaurant because of the religion of someone who is with you.

What is discrimination

It is discrimination to treat you unfairly compared to someone else, because of your religion or belief. This is called direct discrimination and is illegal. Examples include:

refusing you a bank loan because you're Jewish
refusing to allow you into a restaurant because you're Muslim
dismissing you from work because you're Rastafarian.
You may be able to make a complaint if you have suffered direct discrimination because of your religion or belief.

For more information about direct discrimination, see Direct discrimination.

It is also illegal for someone to have a rule, policy or practice which someone of a particular religion or belief is less likely to be able to meet than other people and this places them at a disadvantage. This is called indirect discrimination.

Examples of indirect discrimination might include:

refusing to allow you into a restaurant if you're wearing a hijab or turban
requiring all your employees to dress in a particular way if this means they can’t wear an item of clothing they regard as part of their faith.

If you have suffered indirect discrimination because of your religion or belief, you may be able to make a complaint about it.