Disrupting religious privilege

Religion engages people’s deepest convictions about the world and what their places in it should be. It is central to how many people understand themselves and organise their identities. Frequently, people are socialised into a religious identity from birth, and in that sense do not choose their religion any more than they choose their first language or culture of origin. Yet religion is not just inherited. People may change their minds concerning religious belief and practice, including to the point of adopting a new religious identity – sometimes changing many times over the course of a life. The malleability of such a deeply held human value means that religion can become a tool or site of manipulation, coercion and abuse; a recognition that places religion among the human goods worthy of protection. Protection against religious coercion is not the same as discouraging religious change. On the contrary, protecting religious identity, belief and practice recognises that the right of religious change belongs irrevocably to the person experiencing and living that change. Religious identity belongs to the individual, and should not be compelled by another. ²