EHRC plans religion or belief seminars

Freedom of religion, freedom to manifest your religion, and the right to be free from discrimination because of your religious beliefs are all fundamental human rights protected by UK law.

But these rights can cause conflict with the rights of others – the right to equality and freedom from discrimination because of sexual orientation or gender identity, for example.

The Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) will be holding a series of open dialogues in Autumn 2012 on religion or belief and the application of the UK's equality and human rights laws. The EHRC will be inviting leading figures from religious, secularist, humanist and other belief communities, together with employment and education leaders, to share their views.

These seminars build on research published by EHRC in the summer, which examined religion or belief in the workplace and public services. It was carried out for the Commission by London Metropolitan University. You can read the research report by clicking here.

The research found tensions between some religious and secular views on equality and human rights law, and highlights that most people want ground rules to mediate public debate and avoid unnecessary court cases.

The EHRC want the seminars to help create a better understanding of how these challenges can be handled more effectively.