I imagine you have seen the articles reporting on women being raped, brutalized and murdered on buses in India. I have not read the articles in their entirety but in what I have read, I have not seen any mention of religion. This puzzles me, or it did until I realized it was our media reporting on it and this is a third rail they refuse to touch.
India is a country swamped in religious tension and violence. In the far north you have the Sikhs. In the northwest you have the Muslims. In the middle you have the Hindus. Mixed in you have a good number of Christians and Buddhists. It is a regular thing to see angry mobs of Muslims and Hindus attacking people of other faiths, usually each other.
It makes me wonder about these attacks on the buses. Is religion a factor? In America we are not tuned into this much. In spite of all the outcry about racism and hate crimes Americans don’t get too worked up just because people are different. We expect it and generally overlook it. It is not a focus. We might notice a Jew wearing different types of hats. We might notice the dot on the forehead of some women, but we are generally out to lunch, and glad to be there. About all we notice is the guys in turbans and most think they are Arabs when in reality they are usually Sikhs.
That is not the way it is in other countries. In most parts of the world you cannot go into another neighborhood without fear of being attacked. Are these Muslims out attacking Hindu women as prostitutes or attacking Muslim women who are hanging with men. Are these honor killings? We may not want to admit it, but it makes a difference and with the growth of the number of Muslims and Hindus in our country it is something we need to be aware of.
How many of us can tell the difference between a Persian and an Arab or a Turk and an Arab? How many can tell the difference between an Armenian and an Azerbaijani. Believe me, they know.
Should we?
homo unius libri
Dern tootin' we should know. My first question, when Crystal Mary posted this was; "I wonder what religion they were?" Because we were once a Christian nation, we here have the idea that religion civilizes a person. With other religions quite the opposite often occurs.
ReplyDeleteI believe she is in Australia. She would be even more aware of what is going on in India. Religious beliefs make a difference.
ReplyDeleteGrace and peace.