Why it’s important for kids and families to respect diverse religious beliefs

Accepting and respecting religious diversity means:

• understanding and respecting the role of religion and spirituality in people’s lives
• respecting and valuing people of all faiths and their different beliefs and practices
• respecting people who don’t identify with any faith groups and their beliefs
• respecting people who are exploring or changing their spiritual beliefs.

When kids and their families accept, respect and value diverse religious beliefs, kids are more likely to:

• feel accepted for their own religious or spiritual beliefs
• feel included and understood, which builds their self-esteem and wellbeing
• be curious about the world and thrive in a diverse society
• develop friendships with people from many different communities
• experience diverse foods, clothes, music, dancing, customs and celebrations.

Religion is important in some children’s lives. When they experience religious discrimination, it can affect their health, education, wellbeing and development in the short and long term. Religious discrimination can be similar to racism, and some kids might experience both.

How to role-model a respectful attitude to diverse religious beliefs

Role-modelling is one of the most powerful ways to guide your child’s behaviour, attitudes and beliefs, now and in the future.

Here are ideas:

• Be curious and learn about religions and forms of spirituality. For example, ask questions and show a genuine interest in other people’s religious beliefs and practices.
• Treat everyone with openness, respect and fairness. For example, invite families from diverse backgrounds to your home, or make sure that people from diverse backgrounds feel welcome in any sports, clubs or other groups that you’re part of.
• Admit your own mistakes. For example, apologise if you mispronounce a religious word that you’re not familiar with.
• Avoid using religious language to express frustration.
• Avoid making or laughing at comments that stereotype or belittle religions or cultures, and gently challenge them when you hear them.
• Avoid assumptions about people from particular cultures and their religious practices – for example, the assumption that all Muslims fast during Ramadan.

How to help your child embrace religious diversity

You can actively encourage your child to learn about and embrace diverse religious beliefs.

Children

• Play music, read books, tell stories and cook foods from diverse religious and cultural backgrounds.
• Watch movies and TV shows that include characters from diverse backgrounds with meaningful roles and stories.
• Take your child to cultural celebrations like Harmony Week or local cultural or religious festivals, or celebrate religious holidays from diverse traditions.
• Talk with your child about religious diversity in their school, peer group or sports club and how it makes our society multicultural. For example, ‘In our culture, we celebrate Diwali. What do your friends celebrate?’
• Use simple and positive language to talk about diverse traditions. For example, ‘Zaynab celebrates Eid al-Fitr at this time of the year. She spends a lot of time with her family and loved ones’.
• Talk with your child about the similarities they share with friends from other backgrounds. For example, ‘Benjamin, Aisha, Priya, Bodhi and you all like Bluey!’

Teenagers

• Discuss why diversity is important. For example, you could say that a community with many people from diverse backgrounds is a community with many ideas, points of view, knowledge, foods, art and more.
• Talk with your child about how diverse faiths share common values like compassion and honesty.
• Learn about religious discrimination. For example, you could look at The Melbourne Holocaust Museum’s virtual tour of the Holocaust. Or you could talk about online discrimination, like AI-generated images of Muslim girls without their hijab.
• Work out how to ask people about their culture respectfully. For example, your child could say, ‘Ramadan sounds wonderful! May I ask you some questions so that I can learn about this special time of year for you?’
• Encourage your child to read books about other people’s life experiences – for example, Does my head look big in this? by Randa Abdel Fattah or The diary of a young girl by Anne Frank.

How to call out religious discrimination

When your child sees you call out religious discrimination, they learn that it’s not OK and that it’s good to stand up for yourself and others. They also learn how to have calm and respectful discussions, support others when they’re being treated unfairly, and influence the world around them.

Remember – it’s important to call out religious discrimination, but make sure it’s safe.

Helping your child call out religious discrimination

If it’s safe for your child, here are things they can do to call out religious discrimination:

• Focus on fairness – for example, by saying, ‘That’s not a fair thing to say’.
• Ask people to explain – for example, by saying, ‘Why do you think that?’
• Report the behaviour and get help.
• Comfort someone who has experienced religious discrimination.

And in all situations, these tips can keep your child safe:

• Check that there are trusted adults nearby.
• If an adult is behaving in a discriminatory way, don’t engage with them. Tell you or another trusted adult about the behaviour.
• If a person is behaving in an aggressive as well as a discriminatory way, don’t engage with them. Tell you or another trusted adult.
• If a person gets angry or aggressive when your child calls out their discriminatory behaviour, walk away from the conversation.
• Call 000 if they’re at risk of violence or they feel unsafe.

What to do if you notice religious discrimination in your child’s views or behaviour

If you notice your child behaving in discriminatory ways, it’s important to talk with your child. This might be a challenging conversation.

It can help to make a distinction between how your child has behaved and who your child is or wants to be – a respectful, caring person. If your child knows that you believe they’re a good person, they’re more likely to think about their views or behaviour.

How to talk with your child about their views or behaviour

• Calmly start a conversation. For example, ‘That’s a very unkind thing to say about Jewish people. I wonder where you got that idea’.
• Talk with your child about how their views or behaviour might affect others. For example, ‘How do you think that boy felt when you laughed at his turban? It might have hurt his feelings’ or ‘When you post jokes about Hindus, it can make people feel unsafe’.
• Encourage your child to think about more respectful views or behaviour. For example, ‘What else could you have said? Did you need to say anything?’
• Show your child evidence that counters their views or behaviour. For example, ‘Muslims believe in helping others and being fair, not in hurting people or causing harm’.

How to help your child change their views or behaviour

• Reflect on how or where your child might have got discriminatory messages. Could they have picked it up at school, sport or home?
• Check what you’re modelling for your child. Do you avoid interacting with people from diverse backgrounds in the community? Do you express negative verbal or nonverbal ideas about people from diverse backgrounds?
• Keep having regular, age-appropriate discussions with your child about religious discrimination.

If your child’s behaviour might be harming others, it’s important to address it immediately. Talk with your child as soon as possible about their behaviour, reach out to others who might be involved, and plan how to deal with the behaviour.

If you’re getting distressed when talking or thinking about discrimination or you’ve been experiencing discrimination yourself, talk to your GP or a mental health professional. You can also call 13 YARN on 139 276, Lifeline on 131 114, Beyond Blue on 1300 224 636 or a parenting helpline.

Common questions about religious discrimination

What is religious discrimination?

The Australian Human Rights Commission defines discrimination on the grounds of religion as treating someone less favourably because of their religious belief or lack of religious belief.

What does religious discrimination look like?

Religious discrimination can include:

• bullying
• using stereotypes
• excluding people from activities
• not letting people practise their religion – for example, not giving people prayer breaks.

What are examples of religious discrimination?

Examples of religious discrimination include Islamophobia (hatred of Muslim people) and antisemitism (hatred of Jewish people).

What can you do about religious discrimination?

You can:

• complain to the Australian Human Rights Commission
• contact your state or territory antidiscrimination agency
• contact the Islamophobia Register
• contact the Antisemitism reporting hub
• contact another community group or support organisation.