Religious Minorities

The terms race, ethnicity, and minority are also used in this chapter. Race refers to a group that is socially defined on the basis of physical characteristics. Ethnicity refers to a shared culture and lifestyle, especially as reflected in language, folkways, religious and other institutional forms, material culture such as clothing and food, and cultural products such as music, literature, and art. Finally, the term minority group refers to a part of a population differing from others in some characteristics, which often subject them to differential treatment (Byrd and Clayton, 2002 Van de Berghe, 1967). 

From the standpoint of biblical scholarship, the Persian period was important in shaping and developing the Judean community from a defeated nation to a religious entity. However, biblical sources for this period are limited to the brief books of Ezra and Nehemiah, some of the minor prophetic books, and an occasional reference or indirect inference in some later work. 

Base stock requirements will vary dependent on the customer base served, which obviously dictates the hnished product mix. A wide variety of source oils are available that could be used for shortening base stocks, as illustrated by Table 1. The choices are narrowed by factors such as customer specihcations, costs, religious prohibitions, traditional preferences, crop economics, legislation, availability, transportation, and others. These factors have favored soybean oil in the United States for several decades. Therefore, most U.S. shortening processors have base stock systems dominated by soybean oil with only minor representation by the other source oils. The minor oils in most base stock systems serve as (3 promoters for plasticity, like cottonseed and palm oils, or those source oils required for specialty product preparation. 

Like the LGBT employee, religious minorities sometimes face pressure— both internal and external—not to rock the boat by disclosing their non-normative beliefe or practices. These employees may choose to remain invisible (hide their religious beliefs and practices) or, alternatively, be subject to undue perceptions or prejudices about their religious beliefs. 

The legal fields of minority rights and self-determination have a similar history with many points of contact. For example, the Religious Peace of Augsburg of 1555 is discussed in the chapter of minority rights. Yet, it may just as well be placed in the... 

For a definition of the term minority and the distinctions between national or ethnic, religious and linguistic minorities see Sect. 8.1.1. 

The Lisbon Treaty inserted minorities into the Treaty on European Union in art. 2 however, it is yet too early to evaluate the consequences of this. " The provision does not further describe or restrict the term minorities . It is not clear whether the classic minorities, being national, ethnic, linguistic or religious in nature, are the only ones covered. The article as it stands now will open the door for the so-called new minorities, for example immigrants, to claim protection under this article. 

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