Religion – Religious Identities – Equality

Being part of a religious identity conveys a complex notion. I grew up in north of Germany which was traditionally protestant and from the age of 9 I had weekly protestant bible lessons taught by my neighbour of Jewish origin while the rest of my family was not religious. I now live with my partner of Muslim origin and 2 daughters in East London. We celebrate Christmas, Easter and Eid and all 4 of us are atheists.

Culture, race, tradition and religion are all interrelated. Looking at what religion means Kwame Anthony Appiah Reith describes in his lecture ‘Creed’ that ‘religion is not just a matter of belief’ but that it vitally must consist of the three following components: ‘practice, community or fellowship of faith and a body of beliefs.’ The second notion about ‘community or fellowship of faith’ bears a strong significance in that people of any background like to be part of and identify with a community. As Professor Tariq Modood elucidates: “Religious identities are only partly about religion. They are labels for groups that may be distinct in various ways and have a range of concerns that are not strictly religious.”

The above represents a complicated impediment to inclusivity and anti-racism. Going back to my own experience I was born into a non-religious family, chose to be religious and then chose not to be religious any longer. The religion I had chosen did not have any effect on how I lived my life except choosing to pray, choosing how to interpret the bible and choosing to go to church when I wanted to. It further did not affect my dress code. People do not choose to be or not to be born into a Muslim family. Professor Tariq Modood elaborates: ‘Similarly, no one chooses to be born into a society where to look like a Muslim or to be a Muslim creates suspicion, hostility or failure to get the job you applied for.’

Additionally, Professor Tariq Modood states that some supporters of diversity hesitate to include religious groups when talking about multiculturalism and instead express that ‘a Muslim is about chosen beliefs, and that Muslims therefore need or ought to have less legal protection than the other kinds of identities.’ This existing reluctance to be absolute inclusive of everyone not only race, disability, gender, sexuality and age but also religious groups and the rise in anti-Muslim sentiment in the UK is a pressing issue. In a Western society terrorism and women’s oppression represent prevailing associations with the Muslim community as a female student of Iranian origin described in the case study ‘Scenario’ p.2 – 4 from SoN ‘The Little Book of Big Case Studies’. In this context it is vital to refer to the 2010 Equality Act which made religion or belief a protected characteristic and prohibits discrimination.

As the Muslim community follows a particular dress code and the Islamic headscarf constitutes a distinct feature in a Western society like Britain, Muslim women can be distinguished from other communities based on their physical appearance. Further in a Western society the headscarf can be perceived as a public expression and even physical object representing women’s oppression.Humans react to and judge physical appearances immediately and intuitively and therefore; the Western viewer can have an immediate misconception of a woman wearing an Islamic headscarf.Being a woman and having listened to my female peers during a recent lesson it is apparent that including and supporting a religion that oppresses women constitutes a challenge however, it is absolute vital to understand that just because somebody wears a headscarf does not mean we, the viewer, know and understand the person and their believes. More importantly, even if the person has different principles in life, we still must not discriminate them as we cannot be partly inclusive.

Regarding applying the above to my teaching practice, I would guide and support my students on an individual basis in one-to-one tutorials as we only have few students examining religion on our BA Fashion course. Moreover, we organise weekly group meetings with each individual year group of students where we discuss the upcoming week, try to resolve any issues and share any other points raised by the students which have been thoughts around sustainability or race in the past. Depending on the group of students we could lead a session around religion which could initially evolve around quite basic but essential information such as informing the students about the Chaplain and Interfaith advisor; the quiet spaces for prayer, reflection and health; UAL as public institution complying with the 2010 Equality Act; mentioning the SoN publication around religion etc. If we notice more interest among the students, then we could for instance initiate a further group discussion looking specifically at inclusivity and equality regarding religion at UAL. We could examine to what extent ‘the tentative sense of the British being Christians’ is present at UAL and to what extent UAL remains being the product of a dominating Christian society which is apparent for instance in the term dates and academic calendar.  

References:

• Modood, Tariq ‘” We don’t do God”? the changing nature of public religion’, Stimulus paper ‘Religion in Britain: Challenges for Higher Education.’ (Modood & Calhoun, 2015), pp 7-16
• The Kwame Anthony Appiah Reith lecture ‘Creed – Mistaken Identities’ on BBC Radio 4
• Case study ‘Scenario’ p.2 – 4 from SoN ‘The Little Book of Big Case Studies’