Ban on Religious Discrimination: Will it Help?

This has been one of the most talked about subjects whenever the Muslim Community have engaged with the Government or it’s agencies and a ban is perceived by some quarters to be productive in bringing about social cohesion. Nevertheless, one cannot help feel that at times, it has been used as a carrot by the current government to woo the Muslim vote and as a stick by Muslim community leaders in their criticism of the government.

Whether or not the ban, which provides protection in securing goods, facilities, services and premises, will help to dematerialise Islamaphobia and intolerance towards Muslims maybe an aspiration too far-fetched. Rather that the measure will address to some degree an imbalance from case law where Jews and Sikhs have been afforded protection while others, including Muslims have not.

A positive slant from the point of view of Muslims could be that, being included as a category alongside colour, race, nationality or national or ethnic origin, could be a step in the direction of realising that Muslims as a group transcend all other barriers to discrimination. Such that in their need for provision of goods and services, they will finally be recognised as Muslims (larger and easier to distinguish) rather than merely belonging to a particular ethnic group i.e Asian or Black, which as some sociological studies suggest, would be more helpful.

An opposite slant could be that this could encourage profiling of Muslims by the authorities and others, encouraging targeting of them as a group. However, post 9/11 is that not already the case?