Spanish employees suffer discrimination because of religion

About 80.5 per cent of the participants said that they had witnessed some discrimination, Protestante Digital reports. According to the survey, discrimination against religious minorities happens even more often than discrimination against LGBT people. About 45 per cent of the participants experienced that religion was the main reason for their discrimination.

Even though most of the discrimination cases happened on the street (84.1 per cent), the workplace is also an environment where it takes place. About 59 per cent said during the survey that they were discriminated against at work.

Some who experienced discrimination at work stated that their religious beliefs “have influenced to some extent the acceptation of the job, and the type of profession they were hired for, among other factors. More than 30 per cent of the participants acknowledged that they felt harmed at work because of their religious beliefs. Most of the harm was experienced during the moment of hiring (51.2 per cent). In addition, people are made to feel uncomfortable when expressing their religious beliefs, for example, the use of religious clothing for Muslims or the offer of food in the workplace for Jewish believers. About 79 per cent of the participants said that that was the leading cause of harm at work.

Moreover, it is not always easy for people belonging to a religious minority to participate in holiday celebrations that are not mainstream in Spanish culture. Often, employees find it hard to combine the festivities with their work schedule.

Many people belonging to a religious minority say that they experienced discrimination by hearing offensive language from their co-workers. In almost half of the cases, they, therefore, found it hard to engage in social relationships with their colleagues, Protestante Digital writes.

It should be noted that the survey was completed by 1,986 people. Of them, 96 per cent identified as non-Catholic. Roman Catholicism is the main religion in Spain. The survey is not representative of the Spanish population as a whole.