Cultural Diversity - The Civil Service

Land Registry Cultural DiversityReligious BeliefWe all work with, or through our work come into contact with, people who havedifferent religious beliefs. We live in a multi-racial and multi-cultural society in which sixmajor world faiths are represented: Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Islam, Judaismand Sikhism. An understanding of the history of these six major religions and theirbasic beliefs will help you to recognise some of the things which people from differentfaiths take for granted and which form part of their culture. It may help you inappreciating and responding to the needs of staff from minority ethnic communitiesand in developing effective liaison with those communities, particularly in recruitmentactivities. In fact, many people from minority communities define themselves more bytheir religious beliefs than by their ethnic origin.It is important to remember that all faiths are practised by people from differingbackgrounds and traditions and with varying degrees of adherence. For example, notall the Muslims you meet say their prayers five times a day, just as not all Christians goto church every Sunday. However, even people who do not strictly adhere to all of thepractices of their religion are affected by the beliefs, rituals and history of the faith theywere born into or later adopt.It is equally as important to recognise and respect those people who have no religiousbelief.The aim of this section is to give managers, colleagues and staff involved inrecruitment activities and those working with our customers a basic understanding ofthese different faiths, to help them to respond in a positive way to people whosebeliefs differ from their own.A note about languageIt is important to remember that in a diverse workforce we all need to make sure thatour language is sensitive and relevant and that we do not use words or phrases thatcould offend people, either intentionally or unintentionally. Sensitivity to other people’sbeliefs and cultures includes being aware that using the name of a particular God as aswear word often causes offence.A note about non-beliefPeople are non-believers for many reasons and it is important to respect non-belief too.Atheism is the absence of belief in God and takes different forms including Humanism,Secularism and Rationalism. Buddhism does not believe in a God and is a form ofatheism.3