St. Michael's the Archangel Case

St. Michael's the archangel catholic school located on the south side of Chicago is where I attended school. Although my religious denomination is not catholic, they did not discriminate allowing me become a student. However, I did have to participate in religious activities and classes planned by the school. Such activities included prayer before and after classes, religion class for every grade level, and arranged catholic events for the community. I really didn't mind my involvement in these events because at my younger age I didn't realize the differences in my Christian denomination and the catholic denomination. I look back on it now and accept my experience because of the better education I received at the catholic school versus the quality of education I would have received in the Chicago Public School (CPS) system.

One event sticks out in my mind when I think back on my catholic school days. It happened in the church that was connected to the school. Every week we had mass on Friday. While the father was addressing the congregation one boy decided to stand up and blurt out "God is not real. If he is real then where is he? Why can't I see or talk to god?" Before the boy could continue one of the nuns swooped in and carried the boy off and out of the church. The look of shock and disappointment on the face of the faculty as well as some of the students was eye opening. I had never really encountered atheist thoughts before this instance so my personal reaction was just simply confused. I thought everyone believed in god and that was the end of it. I didn't realize that there were different people out there. Now that I am older I have a clearer understanding of people's differences. No one person is just out right better than other person; furthermore, a person's beliefs are a big part of what shapes a person's persona. It is morally and lawfully wrong to discriminate against someone based on physical differences so it is only right that ideological differences receive the same respect. I believe that religious accommodations should be granted so long as they do not put the employer in a compromising position and the religion is a key component in the person's values.

Religion plays a big role in many people's core beliefs. Their religion shapes them into the person that they go on to be in life. Unlike separation of church and state, different religious views and the workplace come to meet occasionally. This leads one to question if religious accommodations are the rights of a person so they can function at work. A working definition of religious accommodations is needed to clarify the argument for them. According to Bou-Habib's 2006 article "a 'right to religious accommodation', I shall mean; 'a right to be free of burdens that either impede one's religious conduct or make it too costly to perform'." Religious accommodations include job reassignments, flexible scheduling, modifications to workplace policies, etc.

Allowing a person to be themselves may sometimes result in permitting that person to express their religion freely. "Since some, indeed many, individuals see their religious conduct as something they must perform out of duty, in order for them to enjoy the good of integrity, it is necessary that they be able to perform their religious conduct freely" (Bou-Habib, P., 2006). This should be accepted as long as the people involved are not doing harm to others. Integrity