E/CN.4/1999/58/Add.1
page 16
acts. Jewish representatives also suggested that the methods developed by
Jewish organizations to monitor and report such incidents to local and state
authorities serve as a model for other groups and communities facing
discrimination, both in the United States and abroad.
44.
They also drew attention to the Smith case and said that since
the 1990 ruling, the Government in most cases is no longer required to
demonstrate a compelling reason for restricting religious exercise. This has
led to efforts to adopt the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, which the
Supreme Court declared unconstitutional and which is being revised and
reviewed by a very broad coalition of religious and faith communities. A
related initiative, the Religious Freedom in the Workplace Bill, proposed in
the Congress, would address the obligations of individual employers to
accommodate religious practice in the workplace more adequately. One Jewish
representative noted that the Clinton Administration had announced guidelines
to protect religious freedom in the federal workplace and that it supported
passage of the Religious Freedom in the Workplace Bill to ensure the same
protection in the private sector. It was noted that the focus of the Bill is
not on religious discrimination, but rather on the question of how to provide
more accommodation to religious obligations of employees in the private
sector, including, for example, observance of the Sabbath and other holy days,
the right to wear required religious garb, etc. At issue has been the fact
that the courts have interpreted narrowly the provision that employers must
reasonably accommodate their employees as long as that accommodation does not
present undue hardship. A representative of the Justice Department confirmed
to the Special Rapporteur that this was the legal situation, while
representatives of the Commission on Equal Opportunity in Employment said that
a large number of complaints in this area came from the Jewish community,
which was more aware of its rights.
45.
In addition to this situation, considered very satisfactory by the
Jewish community, Jewish representatives stressed very strongly the primary
role of the constitutional provisions as well as the numerous remedies
available under existing local, state and federal laws. They also noted that
the Jewish community had played a pioneering role in American society in
initiating interreligious dialogue such as the Catholic/Jewish Educational
Enrichment Programme which sends rabbis into 30 Catholic high schools to teach
about Judaism, anti-Semitism and the Holocaust, and which sends a Catholic
professor to teach about Catholicism and the Catholic community in Jewish day
schools. Similarly, there are interfaith dialogues and ongoing programmes
with, inter alia, Protestant denominations, as well as an ongoing
Jewish-Muslim dialogue, on the national and local levels. The Special
Rapporteur was, however, informed by a representative of the Jewish community
in Chicago that dialogue with the Nation of Islam was refused so as not to
give legitimacy to “religious fanatics”. The Special Rapporteur was also
informed about a request - which was refused - by ultra-Orthodox Jews at Yale
University to have separate toilets.
3.
Other communities in the field of religion or belief
46.
In general, it appears that the situation of minority communities in the
field of religion and belief is satisfactory. Asian religions, such as
Buddhism and Hinduism, are integrated into American society and are even