Atheists Object to School Discrimination

One of the most frequent targets for religious exemptions from otherwise general laws and rules involves headgear. There are a number of situations where hats of various sorts may be banned, but there are also a number of religions which require head coverings of some sort. Adherents of these religions are usually given exemptions, but should they be?

The New Haven Register reports:

There is one exception to the hat rule: hats worn for religious purposes, such as turbans or yarmulkes. That doesn’t sit well with the state chapter of a national atheists group. The American Atheists Inc. of Connecticut posted a message about the dress code change on its Web site, saying the ban "is simply unfair." American Atheists President Dennis P. Himes said that the ban "is contrary to the fundamental principles of American society."

I haven't read the rule, so it is difficult to comment. However: if the rule is narrowly drawn such that only specifically named religions are given exemptions or such that a student must get a signed form from a recognized religious leader, then the rules are unfair. For one thing, this discriminates against unnamed religions or against religions that don't have traditional hierarchical structures where someone would have the authority to sign a form. Thus, even if we ignore nonbelievers, we have religious discrimination.

Secondly, the rules should not favor religion such that only religious reasons are acceptable in order to create an exemption. It's OK if religion is specifically mentioned on the assumption that most requests for exemption will be for religious reasons because... well, because that's true. Acknowledging that reality isn't a problem. However, the rules must still allow for the existence of non-religious exemptions. So it's not a problem that the rules exist and that exemptions exist, but only that exemptions can't exist without religious reasons. Sure, non-religious exemptions may be rare... but they should still be allowed.

Read More:

• Secularism 101
• Separation of Church and State 101
• Religion in Public Schools