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Anti‐Discrimination Law, Religious Organizations, and Justice
Author(s) -
Bailey Adam D.
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
new blackfriars
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 1741-2005
pISSN - 0028-4289
DOI - 10.1111/nbfr.12062
Subject(s) - argument (complex analysis) , economic justice , law , sexual orientation , sociology , sort , epistemology , law and economics , psychology , social psychology , political science , philosophy , biochemistry , chemistry , computer science , information retrieval
In many jurisdictions the list of factors for which anti‐discrimination law applies has been expanded to include sexual orientation. As a result, moral and legal difficulties have arisen for religious organizations whose basic beliefs include the belief that sexual acts between persons of the same sex are immoral. In light of these difficulties, is anti‐discrimination law of this sort unjust? Recently John Finnis has argued that, as commonly applied, such anti‐discrimination law is disproportionate and therefore unjust. In this essay, I critically examine Finnis's argument, and argue that, on account of the conception of disproportionateness that is employed, it does not succeed. So as to enable the argument from disproportionateness to succeed, I develop and defend a modified conception of disproportionateness.