Richard Dawkins on discrimination.

[tbourner]

http://richarddawkins.net/articles/583650-should-employers-be-blind-to-private-beliefs

 

I'm not a fan of Dawkins, but I'm not sure if I agree with him or not on this point. What do you lot think? Should we discriminate over something that disagrees with the job, or are people capable of putting it away and getting on with it? We're all capable of putting opinions away at work and doing as the boss tell us regardless of whether we agree, more so in certain jobs like the forces, so why should it be different for anything else?

 

 

Also his point at the end; he's not saying whether or not we should discriminate, just that discrimination in any form should be held in the same opinion as specifically religious discrimination. You wouldn't employ a quadriplegic to climb ladders, ergo you shouldn't employ a YEC to write or teach about evolution and the big bang.

Either you should say, “I don’t care whether his beliefs are based on religion or not, they are private and I refuse to take them into account.” Or you should join me in saying, “I don’t care whether his beliefs are based on religion or not, they affect his suitability for the job, and I am going to take them into account.” A law that encourages you to say, “If a candidate’s private beliefs are based on religion I shall ignore them, otherwise I shall take them into account”, is a bad law. It is a bad law because, while purporting to oppose discrimination, it is actually highly discriminatory.

[Thorin]

I'm also not a Dawkins fan, and don't agree with his reasoning in that article. If a person performs what is expected of them in their job well, despite having beliefs that contradict that work/teachings... What difference does it make? Sure, they might be a mentalist, but they're doing their job as is expected of them or anyone else.