Religism

Religism refers to beliefs, practices, and institutions that discriminate against people based on their perceived or ascribed 'religion'. Primarily, it refers to an assumption that the religious beliefs of a person, or the absence of such beliefs, can or should determine the way such a person is to be treated in societal and/or private life.

Some use the word 'religism' more narrowly to refer to a system of oppression, as in institutional religism; a nexus of religist beliefs, whether explicit, tacit or uncounscious; practices; organizations and institutions that combine to discriminate against and socially marginalize a group of people who are 'non-believers'.

Religism can be defined as any distinction, exclusion, restriction or preference based on religion which has the purpose or effect of nullifying or impairing the recognition, enjoyment or exercise, on an equal footing, of human rights and fundamental freedoms in the political, economic, social, cultural or any other field of public and private life.

All religions, including atheism, distinguish between 'believers' and 'non-believers'; they however differ in the extent to which they prescribe discriminatory behaviour.