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Originally Posted by lilyka  But it is also logical that a business would require weekend availability. For us it is our busiest two days. And it sucks that I have to work Sundays as it keeps me as a religiously observant Christian from attending worship services. But I can assure my religion is not what they are thinking about. it is money. and they need minions to bring in the money. My religion is my problem. not theirs.
Is being discriminated against because you are not religious a form of religious discrimination?
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Sure, in many cases it could be discrimination not to hire someone because he or she was not religious.
But the idea that the only thing business must, or should, think about is money is, I think, very immoral. And I don't think that just as a Christian. I also think that idea is a big part of many of humanity's problems. People are more than economic units, which is why we have legally mandated breaks and working hours, minimum wages, worker's compensation rules, safety regulations, and so on.
Yes, some businesses are busyest on weekend, and if they need to have staff who work only or primarily on weekends, than it would be reasonable that they would look for people to work both days. (Though, perhaps not always necessary.) On the other hand, if they have a lot of full time employees, why not try to arrange shifts so that most, or all, get at least one weekend day off? This would not only be helpful for those who were religiously observant, but for others who might like to spend time with family, or take a class, or do regular volunteer work. It would be a matter of recognizing that as human beings we are more than our earning power.
This would always be a matter of good faith to at least some extent, because it would mean balancing one's whole employee pool. But that happens anyway - individuals are not always hired only on their own merits, but for how they will enrich or fit in with the group. There isn't any way we can judge the good intent of the employer in every instance, but that doesn't mean that we can say that an employer can behave however he wants if it will create more money.
It reminds me of the psychiatrists who "analyzed" the "personality" of large corporations in the movie "
The Corporation". They decided that they fit the profile of psychopaths. Given the power such groups have in our lives, and in society (especially in the US where they are heavily implicate in health care) I think that should be really scary to us. Being able to ignore a whole aspect of our humanity is just one aspect of something that could become far more insidious, and which we see around us already.
