Published On: Fri, Jan 22nd, 2010

Religious Persecution Around the World – the Only Solution is Oneness

In this article we focus on religious persecution against Muslims worldwide

Universalism is a fundamental underlying principle of Hinduism – the absolutely indisputable idea that we are all part of the Oneness (Advaita) of this cosmos and anyone and everyone irrespective of their nationality, race, skin color, gender or any other skin-deep references can experience the powers that come from this Oneness with consciousness.  

Standing up against Religious Persecution Worldwide

Hinduism always stands for those who are marginalized, sidelined or attacked by others. For thousands of years Hindus have faced their own Holocaust, where millions were killed for practicing (and even suspected to practice) their religion.  Hindus have been persecuted in countries all over the world, and more often in India itself. Millions of Hindu Kashmir Pundits have been massacred in India.

Whether they are Muslims, Buddhists, Christians, Sikhs, or any other religion worldwide, we oppose persecution for their religious beliefs. The worlds problems are created due to lack of Oneness, due to ideas of duality or division. The truth is: the problems that arise from lack of Oneness cannot be solved with other ideas that come from lack of Oneness.

Six Million Jews were killed under the Nazi regime in countries such as Germany, Poland, etc in the 1930s and 40s – an unbelievable act of hatred and violence targeting members of one religion. An effort to solve this problem from the space of duality or lack of Oneness led to the problem in Palestine, where millions of Muslims have been killed or driven out of their homes – homes in which they have lived for generation, in a land which they have owned for decades.

The Cold War between USA and Russia has led to many wars where other religions have been caught in the middle, leading to persecution. Afghanistan is a great example of a small nation caught in the middle. USA and Russia both used Afghanistan to fight their cold war, but in the end they killed and persecuted millions of Muslims in that region. The super powers have played this game in Syria where the innocent people have been caught in the middle of this fight. Millions have died horribly in Syria – innocent women and children even gassed with chemical weapons.

The injustice done to Muslims in Palestine and Afghanistan and other areas have given rise to Islamic extremist groups in the last 50 years. These extremist groups do not represent the core of Islam, but those who want to persecute Muslims have conveniently used extremism as a way to stereotype Islam with broad brushstrokes. For example, after 9/11 thousands of innocent Muslims have been falsely targeted, harassed, imprisoned and even killed by hate groups in the US and around the world. In one of the most egregious examples of bias and harassment, in 2015 a 14-year old boy named Mohamed Ahmed was arrested because he built a clock which his teacher thought was a bomb! Instead of rewarding a 14-year old’s innovation, the biased teacher chose to report him to the authorities.

2017 Pew Research Center released a report which showed that discrimination against Muslims in the US has increased dramatically over the past decade. The travel ban imposed by the Trump administration unfairly targets Muslims and those coming from Muslim majority countries under the guise of security. The Pew Research shows that 48% of Muslims polled say that they have faced discrimination based on religion in the US and close to 20% have been called offensive names based on their religion. 6% have been physically threatened or attacked.

One of the most egregious examples of persecution is the recent mass murder & exodus of Rohingya Muslims in Burma. In 2017 alone over 690,000 Muslims have been killed, raped, or driven out of Myanmar. Over the last 50 years the Myanmar government and army has systematically denied Rohingya Muslims their fundamental rights. Many were falsely stripped of citizenship even though their families have been living there for decades. This is one of the worst crises humanity has faced. Millions of refugees have poured into Bangladesh, which has been facing its own refugee crisis.

Religious tensions between Hindus and Muslims have existed for centuries in India, but the  partition of the country by the British led to reopening of fresh wounds. Mob clashes between the two religions during partition led to millions being killed. This has led to violent conflict over Kashmir, leading to hunting, killing, rape and persecution of millions of  Kashmir Hindus and subsequently Kashmir Muslims. Religious tensions over the dispute of whether the Babri Mosque was built over the ancient birthplace of Hindu God Rama led to violent demolition of the Babri Mosque by angry mob. In the religious violence that followed in the aftermath, thousands died. The 2002 Gujarat riots ended with 1000 dead – 3/4ths of them were Muslim. Although mob violence happened from members of both religions, the leaders of the nations were accused of instigating and condoning mob violence against Muslims.

Such violence and discrimination needs to stop worldwide. Hinduism supports the rights of everyone to practice their path to Oneness with the divine. Hinduism also believes that Oneness is the right solution to all problems. Violence begets more violence when we try to solve problems from the same space that created them  – the problem of division. Let us all get back to that space of Oneness and solve all our problems from that space of divinity.