Pakistan's creation the 'hostage theory' had been espoused. According to this theory the
Hindu minority in Pakistan was to be given a fair deal in Pakistan in order to ensure the protection of the
Muslim minority in India. However,
Khawaja Nazimuddin
Sir Khawaja Nazimuddin ( bn, খাজা নাজিমুদ্দীন; ur, ; 19 July 1894 – 22 October 1964) was a Pakistani politician and one of the leading founding fathers of Pakistan. He is noted as being the first Bengali to hav ...
, the
2nd Prime Minister of Pakistan
The prime minister of Pakistan ( ur, , romanized: Wazīr ē Aʿẓam , ) is the head of government of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan. Executive authority is vested in the prime minister and his chosen cabinet, despite the president of Paki ...
, stated: "I do not agree that religion is a private affair of the individual nor do I agree that in an
Islamic state
An Islamic state is a State (polity), state that has a form of government based on sharia, Islamic law (sharia). As a term, it has been used to describe various historical Polity, polities and theories of governance in the Islamic world. As a t ...
every citizen has identical rights, no matter what his caste, creed or faith be".
Separate electorates for Hindus and
Christians
Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words ''Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρι ...
were established in 1985—a policy which was originally proposed by Islamist leader
Abul A'la Maududi
Abul A'la al-Maududi ( ur, , translit=Abū al-Aʿlā al-Mawdūdī; – ) was an Islamic scholar, Islamist ideologue, Muslim philosopher, jurist, historian, journalist, activist and scholar active in British India and later, following the parti ...
. Christian and Hindu leaders complained that they felt excluded from the county's political process, but the policy had strong support from
Islamists
Islamism (also often called political Islam or Islamic fundamentalism) is a political ideology which posits that modern states and regions should be reconstituted in constitutional, economic and judicial terms, in accordance with what is c ...
.
The
Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal
The Muttahida Majlis–e–Amal (MMA; Urdu: , "United Council of Action") is a political alliance consisting of conservative, Islamist, religious, and far-right parties of Pakistan. Naeem Siddiqui (the founder of Tehreek e Islami) proposed s ...
(MMA), a coalition of Islamist political parties in Pakistan, calls for the increased
Islamization
Islamization, Islamicization, or Islamification ( ar, أسلمة, translit=aslamāh), refers to the process through which a society shifts towards the religion of Islam and becomes largely Muslim. Societal Islamization has historically occur ...
of the government and society, specifically taking an anti-Hindu stance. The MMA leads the opposition in the
national assembly
In politics, a national assembly is either a unicameral legislature, the lower house of a bicameral legislature, or both houses of a bicameral legislature together. In the English language it generally means "an assembly composed of the repre ...
, held a majority in the
NWFP
NWFP may refer to:
*North-West Frontier Province, a province of British India, and later, Pakistan
*Khyber Pakhtunkhwa
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (; ps, خېبر پښتونخوا; Urdu, Hindko: خیبر پختونخوا) commonly abbreviated as KP o ...
Provincial Assembly, and was part of the ruling coalition in
Balochistan
Balochistan ( ; bal, بلۏچستان; also romanised as Baluchistan and Baluchestan) is a historical region in Western and South Asia, located in the Iranian plateau's far southeast and bordering the Indian Plate and the Arabian Sea coastline. ...
. However, some members of the MMA made efforts to eliminate their rhetoric against Hindus.
[International Religious Freedom Report 2006](_blank)
Published by the US Department of State
The public school curriculum in Pakistan was Islamized during the 1980s. The
government of Pakistan
The Government of Pakistan ( ur, , translit=hakúmat-e pákistán) abbreviated as GoP, is a federal government established by the Constitution of Pakistan as a constituted governing authority of the Administrative units of Pakistan, four provin ...
claims to undertake a major revision to eliminate such teachings and to remove Islamic teaching from secular subjects.
The bias in Pakistani textbooks was also documented by Y. Rosser (2003). She wrote that
The bias in Pakistani textbooks was studied by
Rubina Saigol,
K. K. Aziz,
I. A. Rahman,
Mubarak Ali
Mubarak Ali ( ur, ), (born 21 April 1941) is a Pakistani historian, activist and scholar. His main theme, in most of his books, has been that some history books written in Pakistan had been 'dictated' by the ruling class (the so-called 'Establ ...
,
A. H. Nayyar,
Ahmed Saleem
Ahmed Saleem is a Maldivian diplomat who is currently serving as Ambassador-at-Large at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Maldives. Previously, he was the 11th Secretary-General of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) from ...
, Y. Rosser and others.
A study by Nayyar & Salim (2003) that was conducted with 30 experts of Pakistan's education system, found that the textbooks contain statements that seek to create hate against Hindus. There was also an emphasis on
Jihad
Jihad (; ar, جهاد, jihād ) is an Arabic word which literally means "striving" or "struggling", especially with a praiseworthy aim. In an Islamic context, it can refer to almost any effort to make personal and social life conform with Go ...
, Shahadat, wars and military heroes. The study reported that the textbooks also had a lot of gender-biased stereotypes. Some of the
problems in Pakistani textbooks cited in the report were:
A more recent textbook which was published in Pakistan and titled ''
A Short History of Pakistan
''A Short History of Pakistan'' is an edited book published by University of Karachi Press and comprises four volumes. The book is edited by Prof Ishtiaq Hussain Qureshi and provides a comprehensive account of the history of the Pakistan regi ...
'', edited by
Ishtiaq Hussain Qureshi
Ishtiaq Hussain Qureshi ( ur, ) (20 November 1903 – 22 January 1981) popularly known as I.H. Qureshi, ''SP'', ''HI'', was a Pakistani conservative nationalist historian and playwright. He was the Vice Chancellor of the University of K ...
, has been heavily criticized by academic peer-reviewers for anti-Hindu biases and prejudices that are consistent with
Pakistani nationalism
Pakistani nationalism refers to the political, cultural, linguistic, historical, ommonlyreligious and geographical expression of patriotism by the people of Pakistan, of pride in the history, heritage and identity of Pakistan, and visions for ...
, where Hindus are portrayed as "villains" and Muslims as "victims" living under the "disastrous Hindu rule" and "betraying the Muslims to the British", characterizations that academic reviewers found "disquieting" and having a "warped subjectivity".
[Ahmed, A., Pacific Affairs, University of British Columbia, pp. 645–647, 1968]
Ameer Hamza, a leader of the terrorist group
Lashkar-e-Taiba
Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT; ur, ; literally ''Army of the Good'', translated as ''Army of the Righteous'', or ''Army of the Pure'' and alternatively spelled as ''Lashkar-e-Tayyiba'', ''Lashkar-e-Toiba'', ''Lashkar-i-Taiba'', ''Lashkar-i-Tayyeba'') ...
, wrote a highly derogatory book about Hinduism in 1999 called "Hindu Ki Haqeeqat" ("Reality of (a) Hindu"); he was not prosecuted by the Government.
According to the Sustainable Development Policy Institute report 'Associated with the insistence on the
Ideology of Pakistan has been an essential component of hate against
India
India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...
and the Hindus. For the upholders of the Ideology of Pakistan, the existence of Pakistan is defined only in relation to Hindus, and hence the Hindus have to be painted as negatively as possible'
[Nayyar, A.H. and Salim, A. (eds.)(2003)]
The subtle Subversion: A report on Curricula and Textbooks in Pakistan
Report of the project ''A Civil Society Initiative in Curricula and Textbooks Reform''. Sustainable Development Policy Institute, Islamabad. A 2005 report by the
National Commission for Justice and Peace a non profit organization in Pakistan, found that Pakistan Studies textbooks in Pakistan have been used to articulate the hatred that Pakistani policy-makers have attempted to inculcate towards the Hindus. "Vituperative animosities legitimise military and autocratic rule, nurturing a siege mentality. Pakistan Studies textbooks are an active site to represent India as a hostile neighbour", the report stated. "The story of Pakistan's past is intentionally written to be distinct from, and often in direct contrast with, interpretations of history found in India. From the government-issued textbooks, students are taught that Hindus are backward and superstitious." Further the report stated "Textbooks reflect intentional obfuscation. Today's students, citizens of Pakistan and its future leaders are the victims of these partial truths".
[In Pakistan's Public Schools, Jihad Still Part of Lesson Plan - The Muslim nation's public school texts still promote hatred and jihad, reformers say.](_blank)
By Paul Watson, Times Staff Writer; 18 August 2005; Los Angeles Times
The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the Un ...
. 4 Page article online Retrieved on 2 January 2010[Primers Of Hate - History or biology, Pakistani students get anti-India lessons in all their textbooks; 'Hindu, Enemy Of Islam' - These are extracts from government-sponsored textbooks approved by the National Curriculum Wing of the Federal Ministry of Education.](_blank)
By AMIR MIR; 10 October 2005; Outlook India Magazine Retrieved on 2 January 2010
An editorial in Pakistan's oldest newspaper
''Dawn'' commenting on a report in ''
The Guardian
''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...
'' on Pakistani Textbooks noted that "by propagating concepts such as jihad, the inferiority of non-Muslims, India's ingrained enmity with Pakistan, etc., the textbook board publications used by all government schools promote a mindset that is bigoted and obscurantist. Since there are more children studying in these schools than in
madrassahs
Madrasa (, also , ; Arabic: مدرسة , pl. , ) is the Arabic word for any type of educational institution, secular or religious (of any religion), whether for elementary instruction or higher learning. The word is variously transliterated '' ...
the damage done is greater."
[‘School texts spreading more extremism than seminaries’](_blank)
By Our Special Correspondent; Tuesday, 19 May 2009; Dawn Newspaper
''Dawn'' is a Pakistani English-language newspaper that was launched in British India in 1941. It is the largest English newspaper in Pakistan, and also serves as the country's newspaper of record. ''Dawn'' is the flagship publication of the Da ...
. Retrieved 1 January 2010 According to a study by a US government commission, textbooks in Pakistani schools foster prejudice and intolerance of Hindus and other religious minorities, and most teachers view non-Muslims as enemies of Islam. According to the historian Professor
Mubarak Ali
Mubarak Ali ( ur, ), (born 21 April 1941) is a Pakistani historian, activist and scholar. His main theme, in most of his books, has been that some history books written in Pakistan had been 'dictated' by the ruling class (the so-called 'Establ ...
, textbook reform in Pakistan began with the introduction of
Pakistan studies
Pakistan studies curriculum (Urdu: ') is the name of a curriculum of academic research and study that encompasses the culture, demographics, geography, history, International Relations and politics of Pakistan. The subject is widely research ...
and
Islamic studies
Islamic studies refers to the academic study of Islam, and generally to academic multidisciplinary "studies" programs—programs similar to others that focus on the history, texts and theologies of other religious traditions, such as Easter ...
by
Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto
Zulfikar (or Zulfiqar) Ali Bhutto ( ur, , sd, ذوالفقار علي ڀٽو; 5 January 1928 – 4 April 1979), also known as Quaid-e-Awam ("the People's Leader"), was a Pakistani barrister, politician and Politician, statesman who served as ...
in 1971 into the national curriculum as compulsory subject. Former military dictator Gen
Zia-ul-Haq
General Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq HI, GCSJ, ร.ม.ภ, ( Urdu: ; 12 August 1924 – 17 August 1988) was a Pakistani four-star general and politician who became the sixth President of Pakistan following a coup and declaration of martial ...
under a general drive towards Islamization, started the process of
historical revisionism
In historiography, historical revisionism is the reinterpretation of a historical account. It usually involves challenging the orthodox (established, accepted or traditional) views held by professional scholars about a historical event or times ...
in earnest and exploited this initiative. "The Pakistani establishment taught their children right from the beginning that this state was built on the basis of
religion
Religion is usually defined as a social- cultural system of designated behaviors and practices, morals, beliefs, worldviews, texts, sanctified places, prophecies, ethics, or organizations, that generally relates humanity to supernatural, ...
– that's why they don't have tolerance for other religions and want to wipe-out all of them."
Outside Asia
Fiji
By the time
Fiji
Fiji ( , ,; fj, Viti, ; Fiji Hindi: फ़िजी, ''Fijī''), officially the Republic of Fiji, is an island country in Melanesia, part of Oceania in the South Pacific Ocean. It lies about north-northeast of New Zealand. Fiji consists ...
gained independence from
colonial rule
Colonialism is a practice or policy of control by one people or power over other people or areas, often by establishing colonies and generally with the aim of economic dominance. In the process of colonisation, colonisers may impose their relig ...
, Hindus and other
Indo-Fijians
Indo-Fijians or Indian-Fijians (also known as Fiji Indians) are Fijian citizens of Indian descent, and include people who trace their ancestry to various regions of the Indian subcontinent.Girmit by Suresh Prasad Although Indo-Fijians constitu ...
constituted nearly fifty percent of the total
Fijian population. Nevertheless, the colonial-era laws and the first constitution for Fiji, granted special rights to
native Fijians. These laws relegated Hindus as second class citizens of Fiji without full rights. For example, it denied them property rights, such as the ability to buy or own land. Hindus and other
Indo-Fijians
Indo-Fijians or Indian-Fijians (also known as Fiji Indians) are Fijian citizens of Indian descent, and include people who trace their ancestry to various regions of the Indian subcontinent.Girmit by Suresh Prasad Although Indo-Fijians constitu ...
have since then not enjoyed equal human rights as other Fijians. They can only work as tenant farmers for Fijian landlords. The difference in human rights has been a continuing source of conflict between "native" Fijians and Indo-Fijians, with native Fijians believing Fiji to be their ancestral land that only they can own, and Indo-Fijians demanding equal rights for all human beings.
Beyond land ownership, Hindus have been persecuted in the Fijian communal structure. Spike Boydell states, "the
olonial authoritiesintroduced the divisive and unworkable system of communal representation and communal electoral rolls. Thus, different communities were represented by their own kind. This still extends to schooling in a prevailing quasi
apartheid
Apartheid (, especially South African English: , ; , "aparthood") was a system of institutionalised racial segregation that existed in South Africa and South West Africa (now Namibia) from 1948 to the early 1990s. Apartheid was ...
educational system."
[Spike Boydell (2001)]
Philosophical Perceptions of Pacific Property - Land as a Communal Asset in Fiji
Department of Land Management and Development, School of Social and Economic Development, University of the South Pacific
During the late 1990s, Fiji witnessed a series of riots by radical native Fijians against Hindus (and other Indo-Fijians). In the spring of 2000, the democratically elected
Fijian government led by
Prime Minister
A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is not ...
Mahendra Chaudhry
Mahendra Pal Chaudhry ( hif, महेन्द्र पाल चौधरी; born 9 February 1942) is a Fijian politician and the leader of the Fiji Labour Party. Following a historic election in which he defeated the long-time former lead ...
, who was a Hindu, was held hostage by a group headed by
George Speight
George Speight (born 1957) is a Fijian businessman and politician who was the leader of the 2000 Fijian coup d'état, in which he and rebel soldiers from Fiji's Counter Revolutionary Warfare Unit seized the Fijian Parliament and held Prime Minister ...
. They demanded a
segregated state exclusively for the native Fijians, thereby legally abolishing any
human rights
Human rights are Morality, moral principles or Social norm, normsJames Nickel, with assistance from Thomas Pogge, M.B.E. Smith, and Leif Wenar, 13 December 2013, Stanford Encyclopedia of PhilosophyHuman Rights Retrieved 14 August 2014 for ce ...
the Hindu inhabitants held up until then. Hindu owned shops, Hindu schools and
temples
A temple (from the Latin ) is a building reserved for spiritual rituals and activities such as prayer and sacrifice. Religions which erect temples include Christianity (whose temples are typically called churches), Hinduism (whose temples ...
were destroyed, vandalized and looted.
The
Methodist Church of Fiji and Rotuma
The Methodist Church of Fiji and Rotuma is the largest Christian denomination in Fiji, with 36.2 percent of the total population (including 66.6 percent of indigenous Fijians) at the 1996 census. Of the 280,628 persons identifying themselves a ...
, and particularly
Sitiveni Rabuka
Sitiveni Ligamamada Rabuka, (; born 13 September 1948) is a Fijian politician who has served as Prime Minister of Fiji since 24 December 2022. He was the instigator of two military coups in 1987. He was democratically elected as Prime Ministe ...
who led the
1987 coup in Fiji, called for the creation of a
Christian State
A Christian state is a country that recognizes a form of Christianity as its official religion and often has a state church (also called an established church), which is a Christian denomination that supports the government and is supported by ...
and endorsed forceful conversion of Hindus after a coup d'état in 1987. In 2012, Fiji Methodist Church's president, Tuikilakila Waqairatu, called for Fiji to officially declare
Christianity
Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth. It is the world's largest and most widespread religion with roughly 2.38 billion followers representing one-third of the global pop ...
as the
state religion
A state religion (also called religious state or official religion) is a religion or creed officially endorsed by a sovereign state. A state with an official religion (also known as confessional state), while not secular state, secular, is not n ...
; the Hindu community leaders demanded that Fiji be a
secular
Secularity, also the secular or secularness (from Latin ''saeculum'', "worldly" or "of a generation"), is the state of being unrelated or neutral in regards to religion. Anything that does not have an explicit reference to religion, either negativ ...
state where religion and state are separate.
United Kingdom
After the Leicester riots in October 2022, Hindu groups were set to boycott a review by a man they claimed was an Islamophile.
Conservative Party
=Shaun Bailey
=
In October 2018, it was reported that
Conservative Party
The Conservative Party is a name used by many political parties around the world. These political parties are generally right-wing though their exact ideologies can range from center-right to far-right.
Political parties called The Conservative P ...
candidate for the
Mayor of London
The mayor of London is the chief executive of the Greater London Authority. The role was created in 2000 after the 1998 Greater London Authority referendum, Greater London devolution referendum in 1998, and was the first Directly elected may ...
Shaun Bailey had written a pamphlet, entitled ''No Man’s Land'', for the
Centre for Policy Studies
The Centre for Policy Studies (CPS) is a think tank and pressure group in the United Kingdom. Its goal is to promote coherent and practical policies based on its founding principles of: free markets, "small state," low tax, national independe ...
. In it, Bailey argued that accommodating Hindus "
obsBritain
Britain most often refers to:
* The United Kingdom, a sovereign state in Europe comprising the island of Great Britain, the north-eastern part of the island of Ireland and many smaller islands
* Great Britain, the largest island in the United King ...
of its community" and it is also turning the country into a "crime riddled cess pool". He also claimed that
South Asians
South Asian ethnic groups are an ethnolinguistic grouping of the diverse populations of South Asia, including the nations of India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, Bhutan, the Maldives, and Sri Lanka. While Afghanistan is variously considered to b ...
"bring their culture, their country and any problems they might have, with them" and that this was not a problem within the
black community
Black is a racialized classification of people, usually a political and skin color-based category for specific populations with a mid to dark brown complexion. Not all people considered "black" have dark skin; in certain countries, often in s ...
"because we’ve shared a religion and in many cases a language". In the pamphlet, Bailey confused the Hindu religion with the
Hindi language
Hindi (Devanāgarī: or , ), or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi (Devanagari: ), is an Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in the Hindi Belt region encompassing parts of northern, central, eastern, and western India. Hindi has been de ...
: "You don’t know what to do. You bring your children to school and they learn far more about
Diwali
Diwali (), Dewali, Divali, or Deepavali ( IAST: ''dīpāvalī''), also known as the Festival of Lights, related to Jain Diwali, Bandi Chhor Divas, Tihar, Swanti, Sohrai, and Bandna, is a religious celebration in Indian religions. It is ...
than
Christmas
Christmas is an annual festival commemorating Nativity of Jesus, the birth of Jesus, Jesus Christ, observed primarily on December 25 as a religious and cultural celebration among billions of people Observance of Christmas by country, around t ...
. I speak to the people who are from
Brent and they’ve been having Hindi
(sic) days off."
=James Cleverly
=
The Conservative Party Deputy Chairman,
James Cleverly
James Spencer Cleverly (born 4 September 1969) is a British politician and Army Reserve officer who has served as Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs since 2022. A member of the Conservative Party, he has been ...
, defended Bailey and insisted that he was being misunderstood, and he implied that black boys were drifting into crime as a result of learning more about other faiths rather than learning about "their own
Christian culture
Christian culture generally includes all the cultural practices which have developed around the religion of Christianity. There are variations in the application of Christian beliefs in different cultures and traditions.
Christian culture has ...
". However, the anti-racism
Hope Not Hate
Hope not Hate (stylized as HOPE not hate) is an advocacy group based in the United Kingdom which campaigns against racism and fascism. It has also mounted campaigns against Islamic extremism and antisemitism. It is self-described as a "non-par ...
campaign group called Bailey's comments "grotesque".
United States
The rise of the
Indian American community in the
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...
has triggered some isolated attacks on them, as has been the case with many minority groups in the United States. Attacks which specifically target
Hindus in the United States stem from what is often referred to as the "racialization of religion" among Americans, a process that begins when certain phenotypical features which are associated with a group and attached to race in popular discourse become associated with a particular religion or religions. The racialization of Hinduism in American perception has led Americans to perceive Hindus as belonging to a separate group and this contributes to prejudices against them.
In 2019, Swaminarayan Temple in
Kentucky
Kentucky ( , ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States and one of the states of the Upper South. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north; West Virginia and Virginia to ...
was vandalised. They sprayed black paint on the deity and sprayed "
Jesus
Jesus, likely from he, יֵשׁוּעַ, translit=Yēšūaʿ, label=Hebrew/Aramaic ( AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ or Jesus of Nazareth (among other names and titles), was a first-century Jewish preacher and religious ...
is the only God" on the walls. The
Christian cross was also spray painted on various walls. In April 2015, a
Hindu temple
A Hindu temple, or ''mandir'' or ''koil'' in Indian languages, is a house, seat and body of divinity for Hindus. It is a structure designed to bring human beings and gods together through worship, sacrifice, and devotion.; Quote: "The Hind ...
in north
Texas
Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...
was vandalised when nasty images were spray-painted on its walls. In February 2015, Hindu temples in
Kent
Kent is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north-west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south-west, and Essex to the north across the estuary of the River Thames; it faces ...
and the
Seattle Metropolitan area
The Seattle metropolitan area is an urban conglomeration in the U.S. state of Washington that comprises Seattle, its surrounding satellites and suburbs. It contains the three most populous counties in the state—King, Snohomish, and Pierce ...
were also vandalised.
In July 2019, a Hindu Priest who was dressed in his religious attire was physically beaten in
Queens
Queens is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Queens County, in the U.S. state of New York. Located on Long Island, it is the largest New York City borough by area. It is bordered by the borough of Brooklyn at the western tip of Long ...
,
New York
New York most commonly refers to:
* New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York
* New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States
New York may also refer to:
Film and television
* '' ...
, two blocks from Shiv Shakti Peeth Temple in
Glen Oaks
A glen is a valley, typically one that is long and bounded by gently sloped concave sides, unlike a ravine, which is deep and bounded by steep slopes. Whittow defines it as a "Scottish term for a deep valley in the Highlands" that is "narrower ...
by Sergio Gouveia. A Senator and
New York State Attorney General
The attorney general of New York is the chief legal officer of the U.S. state of New York and head of the Department of Law of the state government. The office has been in existence in some form since 1626, under the Dutch colonial government of ...
have called it a
hate crime
A hate crime (also known as a bias-motivated crime or bias crime) is a prejudice-motivated crime which occurs when a perpetrator targets a victim because of their membership (or perceived membership) of a certain social group or racial demograph ...
because "If someone is targeted because of religious robe and couple of blocks from temple where he resides it is difficult to believe this was random." Yet, the
New York police have not registered it as a hate crime.
Pat Robertson
In addition, anti-Hindu views have been expressed which are specifically based on misperceptions of the religion of Hinduism as well as mistaken racial perceptions. In the United States
Pat Robertson
Marion Gordon "Pat" Robertson (born March 22, 1930) is an American media mogul, religious broadcaster, political commentator, former presidential candidate, and former Southern Baptist minister. Robertson advocates a conservative Christian ...
has denounced Hinduism as "
demonic", believing that when Hindus "feel any sort of inspiration, whether it's by a river or under a tree, on top of a hill, they figure that some God or spirit is responsible for that. And so they'll worship that tree, they'll worship that hill or they'll worship anything." His remarks were widely condemned and disputed by
Indian Americans
Indian Americans or Indo-Americans are citizens of the United States with ancestry from India. The United States Census Bureau uses the term Asian Indian to avoid confusion with Native Americans, who have also historically been referred to ...
and members of many non-partisan advocacy groups.
Evangelical
Evangelicalism (), also called evangelical Christianity or evangelical Protestantism, is a worldwide Interdenominationalism, interdenominational movement within Protestantism, Protestant Christianity that affirms the centrality of being "bor ...
leader
Albert Mohler
Richard Albert Mohler Jr. (born October 19, 1959) is an American evangelical theologian, the ninth president of The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky, and host of the podcast ''The Briefing'', where he daily analyzes ...
defended Robertson's remarks, saying "any belief system, any
world view
A worldview or world-view or ''Weltanschauung'' is the fundamental cognitive orientation of an individual or society encompassing the whole of the individual's or society's knowledge, culture, and point of view. A worldview can include natural p ...
, whether it's
Zen
Zen ( zh, t=禪, p=Chán; ja, text= 禅, translit=zen; ko, text=선, translit=Seon; vi, text=Thiền) is a school of Mahayana Buddhism that originated in China during the Tang dynasty, known as the Chan School (''Chánzong'' 禪宗), and ...
Buddhism
Buddhism ( , ), also known as Buddha Dharma and Dharmavinaya (), is an Indian religion or philosophical tradition based on teachings attributed to the Buddha. It originated in northern India as a -movement in the 5th century BCE, and gra ...
or Hinduism or
dialectical materialism
Dialectical materialism is a philosophy of science, history, and nature developed in Europe and based on the writings of Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. Marxist dialectics, as a materialist philosophy, emphasizes the importance of real-world con ...
for that matter,
Marxism
Marxism is a Left-wing politics, left-wing to Far-left politics, far-left method of socioeconomic analysis that uses a Materialism, materialist interpretation of historical development, better known as historical materialism, to understand S ...
, that keeps persons captive and keeps them from coming to faith in the
Lord Jesus Christ
Jesus, likely from he, יֵשׁוּעַ, translit=Yēšūaʿ, label=Hebrew/Aramaic ( AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ or Jesus of Nazareth (among other names and titles), was a first-century Jewish preacher and religious ...
, yes, is a demonstration of satanic power."
United States Congress
In July, 2007, The
United States Senate
The United States Senate is the upper chamber of the United States Congress, with the House of Representatives being the lower chamber. Together they compose the national bicameral legislature of the United States.
The composition and pow ...
conducted its morning prayer services with a Hindu prayer, a historical first. During the service, three disruptors, named Ante Nedlko Pavkovic, Katherine Lynn Pavkovic and Christen Renee Sugar, from the Fundamentalist Christian activist group
Operation Save America
Operation Save America (formerly Operation Rescue National) is a fundamentalist Christian conservative organization based in Concord, North Carolina, a suburb of Charlotte, that opposes human induced abortion and its legality, Islam, and hom ...
protested by arguing that the Hindu prayer was "an
abomination
Abomination may refer to:
* Abomination (Bible), covering Biblical references
**Abomination (Judaism)
*Abomination (character)
The Abomination is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The original ...
", and they also claimed that they were "Christians and Patriots". They were swiftly arrested and charged with disrupting Congress.
The event generated a storm of protest by
Christian right
The Christian right, or the religious right, are Christian political factions characterized by their strong support of socially conservative and traditionalist policies. Christian conservatives seek to influence politics and public policy with t ...
groups in the country, with the
American Family Association
The American Family Association (AFA) is a Christian fundamentalist 501(c)(3) organization based in the United States. (AFA) opposing the prayer and carrying out a campaign to lobby senators to protest against it. Their representative attacked the proceedings as "gross idolatry".
The AFA sent an "Action Alert" to its members in which it asked them to e-mail, write letters, or call their Senators and ask them to oppose the Hindu prayer, stating that it is "seeking the invocation of a non-monotheistic god."
[Hindu Prayer in Senate Disrupted]
" Associated Press
The Associated Press (AP) is an American non-profit news agency headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association. It produces news reports that are distributed to its members, U.S. newspa ...
(published on NBC News
NBC News is the news division of the American broadcast television network NBC. The division operates under NBCUniversal Television and Streaming, a division of NBCUniversal, which is, in turn, a subsidiary of Comcast. The news division's var ...
). 2007-06-12. Retrieved on 2007-06-15 The "alert" stated that "since Hindus worship multiple gods, the prayer will be completely outside the American paradigm, flying in the face of the American motto ''
One Nation Under God.''" The convocation by Zed was in fact disrupted by three protesters in the gallery reportedly shouting "this is an abomination" and other complaints.
Barry W. Lynn Barry W. Lynn (born 1948) was the executive director of Americans United for Separation of Church and State from 1992 to November 2017, when he retired. He was ordained as a minister in the United Church of Christ and a prominent leader of the rel ...
, executive director of
Americans United for Separation of Church and State
Americans United for Separation of Church and State (Americans United or AU for short) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that advocates for the disassociation of religion and religious organizations from government. The separation of church ...
, said the protest "shows the intolerance of many
religious right activists. They say they want more religion in the public square, but it's clear they mean only their religion."
California Textbook Controversy
A controversy in the
US state
In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its sover ...
of
California
California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...
concerning the portrayal of
Hinduism
Hinduism () is an Indian religion or '' dharma'', a religious and universal order or way of life by which followers abide. As a religion, it is the world's third-largest, with over 1.2–1.35 billion followers, or 15–16% of the global p ...
in history textbooks began in 2005. A protest was led by Vedic Foundation (VF) and the American Hindu Education Foundation (HEF) by complaining to the California's Curriculum Commission, saying the coverage in sixth grade history
textbooks
A textbook is a book containing a comprehensive compilation of content in a branch of study with the intention of explaining it. Textbooks are produced to meet the needs of educators, usually at educational institutions. Schoolbooks are textbook ...
of
Indian history
According to consensus in modern genetics, anatomically modern humans first arrived on the Indian subcontinent from Africa between 73,000 and 55,000 years ago. Quote: "Y-Chromosome and Mt-DNA data support the colonization of South Asia by m ...
and Hinduism was biased against Hinduism; and points of contention includes a textbook's portrayal of the
caste system
Caste is a form of social stratification characterised by endogamy, hereditary transmission of a style of life which often includes an occupation, ritual status in a hierarchy, and customary social interaction and exclusion based on cultura ...
, the
Indo-Aryan migration theory
The Indo-Aryan migrations were the migrations into the Indian subcontinent of Indo-Aryan peoples, an ethnolinguistic group that spoke Indo-Aryan languages, the predominant languages of today's North India, Pakistan, Nepal, Bangladesh, Sri Lank ...
, and the
status of women in Indian society
The status of women in India has been subject to many changes over the span of recorded Indian history. Their position in society deteriorated early in India's ancient period, especially in the Indo-Aryan speaking regions, and their subordinat ...
as the main features of Hinduism.
The
California Department of Education
The California Department of Education is an agency within the Government of California that oversees public education.
The department oversees funding and testing, and holds local educational agencies accountable for student achievement. Its st ...
(CDE) initially sought to resolve the controversy by appointing Shiva Bajpai, Professor Emeritus at
California State University Northridge
California State University, Northridge (CSUN or Cal State Northridge) is a public university in the Northridge neighborhood of Los Angeles, California. With a total enrollment of 38,551 students (as of Fall 2021), it has the second largest un ...
, as a one-man committee to review revisions proposed by the groups.
Michael Witzel
Michael Witzel (born July 18, 1943) is a German-American philologist, comparative mythologist and Indologist. Witzel is the Wales Professor of Sanskrit at Harvard University and the editor of the Harvard Oriental Series (volumes 50–80).
Witze ...
and others revisited the proposed changed on behalf of the
State Board of Education and suggested reverting some of the approved changes.
In early 2006, the
Hindu American Foundation
The Hindu American Foundation ( ) is an American Hindu advocacy group founded in 2003. The organisation has its roots in the Hindu nationalist organisation Vishwa Hindu Parishad America and its student wing Hindu Students Council. Scholars argue ...
sued the State Board over matters of process;
the case was settled in 2009.
Dotbusters
The
Dotbusters
The Dotbusters was a Hinduphobic hate group active in Jersey City, New Jersey from 1975 to 1993 that attacked and threatened Indian Americans, particularly Indians in the fall of 1975. The name originated from the fact that traditional Hindu wo ...
was a
hate group
A hate group is a social group that advocates and practices hatred, hostility, or violence towards members of a race (human classification), race, Ethnic group, ethnicity, nation, religion, gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, or any o ...
in
Jersey City, New Jersey
Jersey City is the second-most populous city in the U.S. state of New Jersey, after Newark.[Indian-Americans
Indian Americans or Indo-Americans are citizens of the United States with ancestry from India. The United States Census Bureau uses the term Asian Indian to avoid confusion with Native Americans, who have also historically been referred to ...]
in the fall of 1987. The name originates from the
bindi traditionally worn by Hindu women and girls on their forehead. In July 1987, they had a letter published in the ''
Jersey Journal
''The Jersey Journal'' is a daily newspaper, published from Monday through Saturday, covering news and events throughout Hudson County, New Jersey. ''The Journal'' is a sister paper to ''The Star-Ledger'' of Newark, ''The Times'' of Trenton and ...
''
stating that they would take any means necessary to drive the Indians out of Jersey City:
I'm writing about your article during july icabout the abuse of Indian People
Indians or Indian people are the Indian nationality law, citizens and nationals of India. In 2022, the population of India stood at over 1.4 billion people, making it the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, second-most p ...
. Well I'm here to state the other side. I hate them, if you had to live near them you would also. We are an organization called dot busters. We have been around for 2 years. We will go to any extreme to get Indians to move out of Jersey City. If I'm walking down the street and I see a Hindu and the setting is right, I will hit him or her. We plan some of our most extreme attacks such as breaking windows, breaking car windows, and crashing family parties. We use the phone books and look up the name Patel. Have you seen how many of them there are? Do you even live in Jersey City? Do you walk down Central avenue and experience what its iclike to be near them: we have and we just don't want it anymore. You said that they will have to start protecting themselves because the police cannot always be there. They will never do anything. They are a weak icrace physically and mentally. We are going to continue our way. We will never be stopped.
See also
*
Anti-Indian sentiment
Anti-Indian sentiment, also known as Indophobia or anti-Indianism, is a modern term referring to negative feelings and hatred towards the Republic of India, Indian people, and Indian culture. Indophobia is formally defined in the context of ant ...
*
Antiziganism
Anti-Romani sentiment (also antigypsyism, anti-Romanyism, Romaphobia, or Antiziganism) is hostility, prejudice, discrimination or racism which is specifically directed at Romani people (Roma, Sinti, Iberian Kale, Welsh Kale, Finnish Kale, H ...
*
Indomania
Indomania or Indophilia refer to the special interest that India, Indians and their cultures and traditions have generated across the world, more specifically among the cultures and civilisations of the Indian subcontinent, as well those of t ...
References
Sources
*
Further reading
*
* Benkin, Richard L. (2014). A quiet case of ethnic cleansing: The murder of Bangladesh's Hindus. New Delhi: Akshaya Prakashan.
* Kamra, A. J. (2000). The prolonged partition and its pogroms: Testimonies on violence against Hindus in East Bengal 1946-64.
* Rosser, Yvette Claire (2003). Islamization of Pakistani Social Studies Textbooks. New Delhi: Rupa & Co. .
* Chaturvedi, Vinayak (2021)
The Hindu Right and Attacks on Academic Freedom in the US The Nation.
External links
* https://www.hinduamerican.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/hate_report_2007.pdf
{{Authority control
Persecution of Hindus