Religion / Belief
Religion is a set of principles and practices, often centred upon specific, and claims about, the cosmos and human nature. Belief or Faith can refer to a religion itself or to religion in general. Faith involves a concept of future events or outcomes, and is used conversely for a belief not resting on logical proof or material evidence. Religion also encompasses ancestral or cultural tradition writings, history, and mythology as well as personal faith and religious belief. The term "religion" refers to both the personal practices related to communal faith and to group rituals and communication stemming from shared conviction.
Yor-OK
The Children and Young People’s Plan has a priority, which commits to promoting and enabling an inclusive city.
Priority 22: Make sure that a commitment to equalities underpins everything we do by:
- delivering fair services and achieving equitable life outcomes for all children and young people, whilst respecting diverse needs and aspirations;
- recognising that equality is not about treating everyone the same. Children and young people can only achieve their absolute potential if diversity is recognised, valued and supported;
- concentrating support on those children, young people and families struggling against disadvantage and discrimination;
- fulfilling our legal duties in relation to gender, disability, race, sexual orientation, religion and belief, and age.
Facts and Figures
All of the major faiths are represented in York along with a significant number of atheists. After Christianity the largest faith groups are Muslims and Buddhists.
| York | Number | % of total population | % of people with a faith |
| Christian | 134,771 | 74.42% | 98.10% |
| Buddhist | 388 | 0.21% | 0.28% |
| Hindu | 347 | 0.19% | 0.25% |
| Jewish | 191 | 0.11% | 0.14% |
| Muslim | 1,047 | 0.58% | 0.76% |
| Sikh | 95 | 0.05% | 0.07% |
| Other religions | 538 | 0.30% | 0.39% |
| Total | 137,377 | 75.86% | 100.00% |
| Religion not stated | 13,714 | 7.57% |
| No religion | 30,003 | 16.57% |
Source: 2001 census
Religion is different from ethnicity; you can’t assume someone follows a particular religion based on their racial background. For example India is predominantly Hindu (80.5%) but it has the worlds second largest Muslim population (13.4%) as well as Christians, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Jews, Zoroastrians, Bahá'ís and others. Different religions have different holy days and holidays. Our bank holidays in the UK are based on the Christian calendar. However to be more inclusive of other religious communities you may want to avoid scheduling meetings or events on particular days. For example Friday is the holy day for Muslims.
Even though religion and ethnicity are different sometimes the two can get mixed up together. Islamphobia (the demonisation of Muslims) increased after the London bombings in July 2005. This is reflected in the number of racial harassment incidents; in York incidents increased by over 300% in 2005/06 compared to previous year.
Although Islamphobia is directed at Muslims, and is fuelled by prejudice and misunderstandings, non Muslims also get targeted. Someone who ‘looks’ Muslim might be on the receiving end of harassment, but as Muslims come from all over the world, not just Asia, and not all Asian’s are Muslim, faith and ethnicity become muddled. Islamphobia merges into racism and xenophobia (fear or hatred of foreigners).
The Law
The EU Employment Directive 2003 covers discrimination in employment for religion and belief and the Equality Act 2006 covers discrimination in goods, facilities and services. This legislation outlaws discrimination, harassment and victimisation and in employment applies to current and ex-employees. It applies to the public and private sectors.
A religion or belief must be recognised as being cogent, serious, cohesive and compatible with human dignity. The concept includes religions that are widely recognised in Britain, such as: Baha’i faith, Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Islam, Jainism, Judaism, Rastafarianism, Sikhism, Zoroastrianism.
For more thorough information please download the ‘Summary of religion / belief legislation’ produced by the City of York Council Equalities team.
Useful Web links
The Inter Faith Network for the UK was founded in 1987 to promote good relations between people of different faiths in this country. Its member organisations include representative bodies from the Baha'i; Buddhist; Christian; Hindu; Jain; Jewish; Muslim; Sikh; and Zoroastrian communities; national and local inter faith bodies; and academic institutions and educational bodies concerned with inter faith issues.
The Commission for Equalities and Human Rights is a useful website to check out legislation requirements, codes of practice and get an idea of what the big issues for disabled people are.
The Office of Public Sector Information (OPSI) is at the heart of information policy, setting standards, delivering access and encouraging the re-use of public sector information. OPSI provides a wide range of services to the public, information industry, government and the wider public sector relating to finding, using, sharing and trading information.
The Government Equalities Office has responsibility within Government for equality strategy and legislation and take the lead on issues relating to women, sexual orientation and transgender equality matters.
