Religious Discrimination and Accommodations in the U.S. Military: Best Practices for Leaders

The current study investigates the experiences of religious minorities in the United States (U.S.) Military. Specifically, we predicted that Muslim and Jewish individuals in the military would perceive higher levels of religious discrimination than Christians. Furthermore, we predicted that those re...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:North American journal of psychology 2019-03, Vol.21 (1), p.189-206
Main Authors: Law, Charlie L, Harris, Erica
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Affirmative action
Armed forces
Authoritarianism
Best practices
Christian-Jewish relations
Christian-Muslim relations
Christianity
Christians
Civil rights
Commanders
Constitution-US
Discrimination
Employees
Employers
Employment
Employment discrimination
First Amendment-US
Job satisfaction
Laws, regulations and rules
Leadership
Litigation
Military aspects
Military leaders
Military personnel
Minorities
Multiculturalism & pluralism
Muslims
Organizational change
Psychological aspects
Psychology
Religion
Religious aspects
Religious discrimination
Religious minorities
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Summary:The current study investigates the experiences of religious minorities in the United States (U.S.) Military. Specifically, we predicted that Muslim and Jewish individuals in the military would perceive higher levels of religious discrimination than Christians. Furthermore, we predicted that those religious minorities would be more likely than Christians to experience negative workplace outcomes. Results indicate that Muslim and Jewish individuals are more likely than Christians to experience religious discrimination. Muslim and Jewish individuals are also more likely to report lower job satisfaction and lower organizational commitment than Christians. Finally, we found that experiencing religious discrimination negatively affects workplace outcomes regardless of one's religious affiliation, although that discrimination was particularly detrimental to the job satisfaction for Muslim individuals. We conclude with recommendations for commanders, including the recommendation that military leaders increase their knowledge of Equal Opportunity (EO) policies and directives, expand support for diverse religious needs, search for and implement tried-and-true policies for dealing with religious discrimination, and use methods other than religion to help promote personal growth in their subordinates.
ISSN:1527-7143