logoalt Hacker News

paxy • today at 2:34 PM • 2 replies • view on HN

I disagree. At the moment religious exemptions are almost always granted only to the majority religions, or at least views that the majority religions find acceptable. If you started applying the law fairly the whole thing would immediately fall apart.


Replies

rafram • today at 2:43 PM

That’s not true at all. Many of the most famous religious accommodations in the US are things that mainstream Christians find illogical/absurd:

- Sikhs keeping long hair/beard in the military or police

- Quakers being exempt from the draft

- Quakers, again, refusing to drive with NH plates that say “live free or die,” because they don’t believe that

- Muslims needing breaks to pray 5x/day

- Jews requiring food that follows extremely complex kosher preparation rules

- Native Americans using peyote, a hallucinogen

- Jehovah’s Witnesses and others refusing to swear oaths, even in court

Of course many of these had to be fought for in court, but courts are very amenable to the earnestly held beliefs of minority religious groups in the US. We don’t have a state religion.

➕ show 2 replies
giantg2 • today at 2:58 PM

Can you provide an example? The undue burden, safety issues, etc tend to strike down most requests that are unusual.