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The Power of Belief? Review of the Evidence on Religion or Belief and Equalities in Great Britain. Item Type Report Authors Macey, Marie; Carling, Alan; Furness, Sheila M. Citation Macey, M. and Carling, A. with Furness, S. (2009). The Power of Belief? Review of the Evidence on Religion or Belief and Equalities in Great Britain. [Report]. Bradford; Department of Social Sciences & Humanities, University of Bradford. Publisher University of Bradford Rights © 2009 Macey, M., Carling, A. and Furness, S. M., Department of Social Sciences & Humanities, University of Bradford. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non- Commercial-Share-Alike License (http://creativecommons.org/ licenses/by-nc-nd/2.0/uk). Download date 30/09/2021 02:37:35 Link to Item http://hdl.handle.net/10454/4394 THE POWER OF BELIEF? REVIEW OF THE EVIDENCE ON RELIGION OR BELIEF AND EQUALITIES IN GREAT BRITAIN prepared for the XXXX by Marie Macey and Alan Carling, with Sheila Furness Department of Social Sciences & Humanities UNIVERSITY OF BRADFORD 2010 [2009] © 2009 The Authors CONTENTS Page PROVENANCE OF THE REPORT 6 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 7 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 12 ABBREVIATIONS 13 CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION AND TERMS OF REFERENCE 16 1.1 The Social Context of the Review 16 1.2 The Legal Framework of the Review 16 1.3 The XXXX Review Brief 18 1.4 Methods, Scope and Limitations of the Review 19 Methods 19 Geographical Coverage 19 Time Period and Materials Covered 19 Coverage of Religion or Belief 21 CHAPTER TWO: GENERAL APPROACH OF THE REVIEW 23 2.1 The Dimensions of Religious Experience 23 2.2 Religion, Culture and Ethnicity 23 2.3 Toleration, Prejudice and Islamophobia 24 2.4 Identities as Multiple and Contextual 27 2.5 The Relevance of Social Class 28 2.6 Inequality, Disadvantage and Discrimination 28 2.7 Perception and Experience of Religious Discrimination 29 2.8 Philosophical and Normative Issues 34 The Individual and the Community 34 Visions of Justice and Concepts of Equality 35 CHAPTER THREE: BRITAIN’S LANDSCAPE OF RELIGION OR BELIEF 38 3.1 Religious Institutions as Welfare Providers 38 3.2 Britain: Secular or Religious? 38 3.3 The (Re)Sacralisation of Policy 47 3.4 The New Global Context of Religion or Belief 49 3.5 Key Points 50 CHAPTER FOUR: RELIGION AND ETHNICITY - COMMUNITY AND REPRESENTATION 52 4.1 Religion and Ethnicity 52 4.2 Religion and Residence 53 4.3 Religion and Housing 56 4.4 Community 58 4.5 Religious Identity and Political Representation 60 2 4.6 Religion, Ethnicity and Relative Deprivation 62 4.7 Religious Representation in the Public Realm 66 Position of the Christian Church 66 Religious Buildings 66 The Media, Minority Religions and „Islamophobia‟ 67 Access to Alternative Media 71 Protests Against Cultural Representations of Religion 71 4.8 Disadvantage and Discrimination Practised by Religious Groups 72 Discrimination and Disadvantage in Employment or Service Provision 72 Denial of Religious Recognition 73 Expressions of Religious Antagonism 73 Religious Conversions 73 4.9 Key Points 74 CHAPTER FIVE: RELIGION, GENDER AND SEXUALITY 75 5.1 Introduction 75 5.2 Gender, Inequality, Disadvantage or Discrimination: The Wider Context 75 Education 76 Employment Sectors and Pay 76 Labour Market Participation, Families and Care 76 5.3 Violence Against Women 77 5.4 Discrimination against Women on the Basis of Religion or Belief? 79 5.5 Religion, Ideology and Gender Oppression 80 5.6 Religion and Patriarchy; Men and Masculinities 81 5.7 A Special Role for Women? 81 5.8 Marriage and Family Life 83 5.9 Consultations with Muslim Women 84 Forced Marriage 85 Domestic Abuse 86 „Honour‟ Killings 86 5.10 Sexuality, Inequality, Disadvantage or Discrimination: The Wider Context 86 Children and Young People 87 Schools 87 Health 87 The Workplace 88 Homophobic Violence 88 5.11 Religious Doctrine and Ideology: Heteronormativity and Homophobia 89 5.12 Religion, Social Policy and Discrimination 91 5.13 Negotiating Religious Prohibitions 92 5.14 Key Points 92 CHAPTER SIX: RELIGION AND EQUALITY IN THE WORKPLACE AND PUBLIC SERVICES 94 6.1 Religion in the Workplace 94 Differential Pay 94 Economic Participation Rates 95 Progression 95 Workplace Policy, Practice and Provision 95 The Christian Calendar 95 Working Hours 96 3 Facilities for Religious Practice 96 Dress Codes and Religious Symbols 96 Exclusion 96 Formal Challenges under the Religion and Belief Legislation 96 Workplace Bullying and Harassment 97 Potential Problems with the Religion and Belief Legislation 97 6.2 Inequality, Disadvantage and Discrimination in Health and Social Care 98 6.3 Religion and Health 99 Personal Prayer and Well-Being 99 Alcohol, Drugs and Smoking 99 HIV/AIDS 99 Mental Health 100 6.4 Religion and Disability 100 Learning Disabilities 101 Genetic Disorders 102 6.5 Unequal Treatment/Oppression 102 Hospital Chaplaincies 102 Women and Health Care 103 Female Genital Mutilation 103 6.6 Religion, Parenting, Social Work and Social Care 104 Parenting; Adoption 104 Social Work 104 6.7 Religion and Education 105 Religion and Educational Attainment 105 Educational Separation and Social Cohesion 105 Faith Based Schools 106 „Supplementary‟ Education 107 Religion and Education in Scotland 108 Religion and Educational Attainment in Scotland 109 Religion, Education and Social Cohesion 109 6.8 The Criminal Justice System [CJS] 110 The Ethnic Composition of the CJS 110 Perpetrators and Victims 110 Hate Crime 111 The Police Service 112 Inequality, Disadvantage and Discrimination Within the Police 113 Discrimination By the Police 114 Complaints Against the Police 114 Deaths/Near Misses During/Following Police Contac 115 Prosecutions and Sentencing 115 The Prison Service 116 Race and Ethnicity 116 Religion 116 Inequality, Disadvantage and Discrimination in Prisons 116 Deaths in Prison 117 6.9 Key Points 117 Health, Social Work, Social Care and Disability 117 Education 117 The Criminal Justice System 117 4 CHAPTER SEVEN: OVERVIEW AND RECOMMENDATIONS 118 7.1 Overview of Research and Recommendations for Future Research 118 Topic Areas 118 The Workplace and Public Services 119 Geographical Coverage 120 Religion or Belief 120 7.2 Recommendations for Stakeholders and Practitioners 121 7.3 Disadvantage of Religion or Belief in Service Provision and the Law 122 7.4 General Recommendations of the Review 123 REFERENCES 124 APPENDICES 1. Methods 160 2. Academic or Professional Surveys and Polls 166 Abrahams and Houston (2007) 166 Channel 4 Dispatches (2006) 167 Mirza et al. (2007) 171 Pew Global Attitudes Project (2006) 173 Pew Global Attitudes Project (2008) 175 3. Hearing the Voices of Muslim Women 177 Raz (2006) 177 Mahoney and Taj (2006) 178 Wollaston (2008) 180 4. Conflict Between Equalities Strands in the Workplace (ACPO) 181 5. Ongoing Research 184 Funded Projects 184 Other Research 188 TABLES AND FIGURES Table 3.1: UK Population by Self-Identified Religion or Belief 40 Figure 3.1: Scottish Population by Self-Identified Religion or Belief 40 Table 3.2 Followers of „Other Religions‟ by Self-identified Religion 41 Figure 4.1: Ethnicity by Religion, England and Wales 52 Figure 4.2: Religion by Ethnicity, England and Wales 53 Table 4.1: Non-Christian Religious Populations. UK Selected Cities 54 Figure 4.3: Non-Christian Religious Populations. Selected Areas 55 Figure 4.4: Religion of Household Reference Person by Housing Tenure 57 Figure 6.1: Illness and Disability by Religion and Sex. GB 98 Figure 6.2: Educational Qualifications by Religion. Scotland 109 Table 6.1: Ethnic Groups in the Criminal Justice System 110 Table 6.2: Deaths During/Following Police Contact by Ethnicity 115 5 THE POWER OF BELIEF? REVIEW OF THE EVIDENCE ON RELIGION OR BELIEF AND EQUALITIES IN GREAT BRITAIN THE PROVENANCE OF THIS REPORT In December, 2007, the authors of this report were commissioned by a well-known equality and human rights organisation to conduct a review of the empirical research on disadvantage and discrimination on the basis of religion or belief. As well as being restricted to empirical research, the review was further limited to: (a) Great Britain, rather than the United Kingdom; (b) religion, rather than spirituality; (c) specific religions, and, (c) research carried out between 2000 and 2008. We were specifically told not to engage with theological debates and – part way through the process – not to pursue the cross-cutting issue of social class which we had raised. (Further details of the terms of reference to which we worked are provided in Chapter One). We endeavoured throughout to produce a review that is written with due regard for sensitivities, but which remains true to the data, and which takes its lead from two sources: (a) The new legislative framework in Britain, which is expressly even-handed at the level of principle in its treatment of all religions and non-religious belief systems (as explained in Chapter One); (b) The evidence for the incidence of inequalities of various kinds relating to religion or belief, as revealed by the analysis of empirical sources (see especially Chapter Two). Throughout the process, we worked closely with colleagues in the commissioning organisation, who subjected successive drafts of the report to a searching process of internal review. In June, 2008 we were informed that the report required only minor, stylistic, amendments prior to publication. Subsequently, however, a decision was taken – at a different level of the organisation – not to proceed with publication. At this point, we were informed that we could publish the report elsewhere, so long as references to the commissioning organisation were withheld. Accordingly, the name of this has been replaced throughout with the symbols „XXXX‟. We do not feel that it is appropriate to comment further on what turned out to be a most unsatisfactory experience from a research point of view. Readers should note, however, that the time factor means that additional research will undoubtedly have been published in the sphere of religion and belief since we completed the main part of the research review in 2008, and this version of the report in early 2009.