Is it discrimination to ask for one's religion?

[God=BS]

I recently had to expand my business and needed to hire 3 more web developers. After deciding on which candidates to interview, I filtered them out by asking for their religion.
Many were surprised by my question and some told me it was none of my business.
Needless to say I hired the ones that told me they were Atheists. My ex-wife suggested (strongly ) that I shouldn't do that in the future and it is considered discrimination. Like I didn't already know or cared.
My reasoning is; If theists can discriminate against me and call me a godless communist with no moral values without even knowing me or what my views are, why can't I do the same thing?
Wanting to be fair and not a fascist, I like to get your intelligent input on this subject. Am I doing anything really wrong here?

[Silver]

You could technically be sued for discrimination if someone decided to go that far. The religious based companies that do hire mainly only other religious employees do it in a way without directly asking people their religion.

[God=BS]

You could technically be sued for discrimination if someone decided to go that far. The religious based companies that do hire mainly only other religious employees do it in a way without directly asking people their religion.

suing is easy. Anyone can sue anyone else. Winning and proving intent, that;s another story.

[CleanShavenJesus]

Did you really pick your applicants by what religion they followed?

To be perfectly honest, I think that's totally wrong. You could have had a very good wep developer on your hands that might've followed the Hindu faith. So what? And the applicants that said it was none of your business were right. Religion is a private thing for a lot of people, and I'm glad about that. Nobody wants to know people's religions anyway.

But seriously, that is not right. I'd say it's definitely discriminatory as well.

[Psykhronic]

Why the fuck do you care about someone's religion when you're looking for a web developer? Shouldn't you care about, ya know, web developing skills?

[Faith No More]

Is their religion relevant to the work they're doing? If not, you're just doing exactly what you're complaining about others doing.

Two wrongs don't make a right.

[FlyingNarwhal]

You could technically be sued for discrimination if someone decided to go that far. The religious based companies that do hire mainly only other religious employees do it in a way without directly asking people their religion.

suing is easy. Anyone can sue anyone else. Winning and proving intent, that;s another story.

Yeah but here's the thing, you kinda proved intent. You asked them all what their religion was, and unless you live in a largely secular country chances are that most of them were religious to a degree. So there are other corroborating witnesses that can attest that you asked them what their religion was. Further, if you hired all atheists then it shows that you acted upon the discriminating questions you asked.

Personally I think discrimination laws are bullshit anyways, but it's the law and they can probably nail you for it. I definitely wouldn't do it again if you don't want to risk your business.

[God=BS]

Did you really pick your applicants by what religion they followed?

To be perfectly honest, I think that's totally wrong. You could have had a very good wep developer on your hands that might've followed the Hindu faith. So what? And the applicants that said it was none of your business were right. Religion is a private thing for a lot of people, and I'm glad about that. Nobody wants to know people's religions anyway.

But seriously, that is not right. I'd say it's definitely discriminatory as well.

Programming is all about logic and reasoning. If the programmer lacks logic (Theist), then I have no use for them. I find religious people not just boring, but void of logic and reasoning. For that reason alone, I'm out.

[Savannahw]

My vote is that is very discriminatory. You claim that religious people show you discrimination, but how does being discriminatory yourself help anyone? I find your actions to be on a very low road.

If someones religion is a big deal to you, make your work place a religion free zone. Not hiring someone based on religion, could cause you to lose out on someone awesome.

Also I don't know where you live, but here that is highly illegal.

[Silver]

If the programmer lacks logic (Theist), then I have no use for them.

Lacking logic in regards to theistic matters is completely different than being a programmer.