Religion

Religion is not a ground of discrimination in community life.

The law makes some allowances for conscientious objection on the grounds of freedom of thought, conscience, or religion though. For example:

• in times of conscription, a person may be exempted from fighting if they have a conscientious objection to war.
• some religions have a conscientious objection to voting and their members are exempt from compulsory-voting laws.
• Sikh men, who wear turbans, are exempt from having to wear bicycle helmets.

The idea is that the law should not force a person to act against their conscience.

Equal opportunity law also makes some exceptions regarding organised religion (but not other forms of conscientious objection). Examples are:

• religions are exempt in the way they conduct their religious activity. This is why a church is allowed to require that its priests are male or are single. If a religion wanted to make a rule that a divorced person could not get remarried in one of their churches, or that a person living in a de facto relationship could not take part in a particular religious ceremony, that would also be lawful.
• a club or association that is based on religious teachings is also allowed to make membership rules that reflect those teachings.
• a school that is run on religious principles is entitled to refuse to hire homosexual staff, if the religion requires this. However, it cannot expel or penalize gay students.

Organisations run by a religion that provide services that are also provided by non-religious bodies, such as hospitals, aged-care homes or employment agencies, must follow general discrimination law.

Something to think about: