This is getting cartoonish since it is extremely unlikely that the most qualified candidate for a given position maintains membership in an avowedly racist organization. But yes, again with the proviso that the candidate's beliefs somehow don't impact their ability to do the job, I would hire racists. Why wouldn't I exactly? Just as a way of saying "Booo racism!" or "Booooo religion!"? Who is even reading my signaling other than myself? Am I supposed to think that by depriving a highly qualified person of a job opportunity, and thereby hurting myself, I will damage the group they are a member of or lead them to rethink their beliefs?
My answer to your question is, "It depends." because really it does depend on a lot of other things, such as how many other comparable candidates there are. Given typical circumstances, I draw the line just before enthusiastic religious belief, like in my hypothetical. If it was an easy decision, I wouldn't be posting about it.
I think we're gonna start bumping up against terminal values pretty soon. I don't see how not hiring the enthusiastically religious is an efficient use of the lost income that results from your inefficient hiring practices.
This is getting cartoonish since it is extremely unlikely that the most qualified candidate for a given position maintains membership in an avowedly racist organization.
What would you do if a large percentage of population had such membership, so that it became quite likely?
Let's say you are interviewing a candidate for a job. In casual conversation, the candidate mentions that he is a member of a rather old and prestigious country club. You've never heard the name of the club before.
You look up the country club afterwards, and are surprised by what you read. The club refuses membership to homosexuals. It revokes the membership of couples who use birth control. Leadership positions are reserved to unmarried males.
The candidate is otherwise competent. Under what conditions would you hire him? Would you want a law passed banning hiring discrimination based on country club membership?
(The country club is analogous to a nicer version of the Catholic church. I left out a couple bad things.)
Religious discrimination is illegal in many parts of the world, and I think that's probably a good thing. Still, keeping this at the object level (no meta-rules or veils of ignorance) it seems to me that discriminating against religious people is fine. I'm curious what other people think.