Is your religion a barrier to employment?

Just to be clear, the Euro law was brought in to remove the practice, I didn’t mean to imply it had been changed again to allow it! The point here is that it took secular law to enforce ‘love thy neighbour’, and to break up ‘them and us’ exclusivity practices. I have no problem with the practice of religion, but it is hypocritical to worship someone who stood up for the poor and then to create poverty by ignoring his guidance by practising prejudice. The bigger point is that without equality law, such traditions would have continued - just as they had done for centuries previously. This is the danger not so much of blind faith but of blind tradition.

None at all, not even if origin of life theories come up, which is pretty good for scientists. There is quite a diverse bunch of people working in my department which is really nice.

Great isn’t it - working with people from other cultures is tremendously enlightening. You may have noticed Angela Merkel last week saying multiculturalism in Germany had failed. Her implication was that the immigrants had not done enough to integrate themselves. I couldn’t help wondering what the established German citizens had done to help the integration process become a success. At street level, unfortunately, the lack of fluency in a common language and a lack of sensitivity to differences in cultural values can be big barriers. Interestingly, again at street level, integration can be easier for those with the same faith - they speak the same religious language. ‘Native’ Europeans have the advantage of a set of languages with common roots and centuries of integration made easier by that virtue. Islamic and Eastern languages do not come easily to European tongues - or vice versa - which leads to silo cultures and silo thinking. Overcoming this requires a more structured approach, similar to that used in corporations, but on a national - even international scale. I am giving this serious thinking time! I have often wondered about how difficult it can be for an employee who is thoroughly at home in the integrated corporate world to go home to the urban jungle. NZ has less of an issue with this I suspect, due to lower population and less of an ‘us and them’ legacy (I theorise), but it remains a difficulty in rather a lot of countries. Do you have any Maoris in your dept? I’m not conscious of Maori or Aboriginal scientists internationally, but there must surely be some by now?