Employers discriminate against religious (or irreligious) candidates, study finds

Religion (or atheism) hurts your résumé. Researchers Bradley R. E. Wright and Michael Wallace conducted an experiment using 9,600 résumés sent to employers in New England and in the South. They were résumés typical of college graduates searching for entry level work. The only difference was that some revealed a religious or irreligious affiliation. For instance, some would have the applicant leading a campus Jewish, Muslim or Atheist group on campus, whereas the control group résumés showed the applicant leading a group with no religious affiliation.
The control group with no religious or irreligious indication got 20 percent more responses on average than other candidates. And of the religious candidates, Muslims fared the worst by far, receiving on average 40 percent less interest from employers than the control group. Bradley R.E. Wright writes:
The remaining six groups fell in between the control group and Muslims. Among them, the pagan résumés did relatively well, the atheist résumés did relatively poorly, and Jews, evangelicals, Catholics, and Wallonians [a fake religion] were in the middle. .... So yes, religious discrimination in hiring seems to be very, very real. Our study seems to confirm a social norm in America: that religious expression should be compartmentalized and private, something kept at home or brought out only in specific, limited circumstances. [Christianity Today]
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Michael Brendan Dougherty is senior correspondent at TheWeek.com. He is the founder and editor of The Slurve, a newsletter about baseball. His work has appeared in The New York Times Magazine, ESPN Magazine, Slate and The American Conservative.
-
Supreme Court allows transgender troop ban
speed read The US Supreme Court will let the Trump administration begin executing its ban on transgender military service members
-
'You might be surprised by how much you find yourself cheering for them'
Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
-
India strikes Pakistan as tensions mount in Kashmir
speed read Pakistan's Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif called it an 'act of war'
-
Nobody seems surprised Wagner's Prigozhin died under suspicious circumstances
Speed Read
-
Western mountain climbers allegedly left Pakistani porter to die on K2
Speed Read
-
'Circular saw blades' divide controversial Rio Grande buoys installed by Texas governor
Speed Read
-
Los Angeles city workers stage 1-day walkout over labor conditions
Speed Read
-
Mega Millions jackpot climbs to an estimated $1.55 billion
Speed Read
-
Bangladesh dealing with worst dengue fever outbreak on record
Speed Read
-
Glacial outburst flooding in Juneau destroys homes
Speed Read
-
Scotland seeking 'monster hunters' to search for fabled Loch Ness creature
Speed Read