Excuse me, religiophobia, not Islamophobia 

The United Nations (UN) on Tuesday, March 15, adopted a resolution introduced by Pakistan, on behalf of the Organisation of Islamic Countries (OIC), designating the day as ‘International Day to Combat Islamophobia’. 

But India begged to differ. India made a plea to the UN to make the scope of the ‘Islamophobia’ debate broader to encompass other non-Abrahamic religions like Hinduism, Buddhism and Sikhism. Addressing the session before an OIC-sponsored vote on the ‘International Day of Islamophobia’ at the UN, India said that there was a need to acknowledge the prevalence of ‘religiophobia’, rather than single out just one religion. 

“Hinduism has more than 1.2 billion followers, Buddhism more than 535 million and Sikhism more than 30 million spread out around the world. It is time that we acknowledged the prevalence of religiophobia, rather than single out just one,” said India’s Permanent Ambassador T S Tirumurti. 

“These contemporary forms of religiophobia can be witnessed in the increase in attacks on religious places of worship like gurudwaras, monasteries, temples etc or in spreading of hatred and disinformation against non-Abrahamic religions in many countries,” he added. 

Citing examples such as the destruction of Bamyan Buddha, violation of gurudwara premises, massacre of Sikh pilgrims in gurudwara, attack on temples, glorification of breaking of idols in temples etc, India noted there was a rise in ‘contemporary forms of religiophobia’ against non-Abrahamic religions. It also asserted that it was not convinced that the UN needs to elevate phobia against one religion to the level of an international day. 

“It is in this context that we are concerned about elevating the phobia against one religion to the level of an international day, to the exclusion of all the others. Celebration of a religion is one thing, but to commemorate the combatting of hatred against one religion is quite another. In fact, this resolution may well end up downplaying the seriousness of phobias against all other religions,” India asserted. 

“We hope that the resolution adopted today does not set a precedent which will lead to multiple resolutions on phobias based on selective religions and divide the United Nations into religious camps,” it added. 

Indeed, India’s perception of the religious debate should be respected. Religious hate and discrimination are not endemic, they prevail in every society of the world and non-Abrahamic religions are also very susceptible to them. The debate about Islamophobia has become pertinent because of the recent religious divide between the West and Islam. The debate fails to include the societal disadvantages that adherents of most other religions face in the West, in general, and in Islamic countries, in particular.  

While it cannot be denied that Islamophobia, and in fact, religiophobia exist between individuals and within societies in secular nations, and there are many instances of religious hate crimes here, the official line in these countries seeks to protect religious minorities. It is in societies where religious restrictions and discrimination are official that the actual endemic problem lies.  

Religious discrimination can be viewed as treating a person or a group differently because of their religious beliefs. This includes instances of inequality to adherents of different religions, denominations or non-religions because of their particular beliefs, either before the law or in institutional settings, such as employment or housing. 

Religious discrimination can result in religious persecution. The most extreme forms of which would include instances of execution for beliefs perceived to be unorthodox. In contrast, mild forms of religious persecution or religious discrimination are laws that carry light punishments. Even in societies where freedom of religion is a constitutional right, adherents of religious minorities sometimes voice concerns about religious discrimination against them. In relation to legal policies, cases that are perceived as religious discrimination might result from interference of the religious sphere with other spheres of the public that are regulated by the law. 

In Pakistan, a non-Muslim cannot become Prime Minister or President, even if they are Pakistani citizens. The Blasphemy Law in Pakistan allows for persecution of non-Muslims, in that anyone can be accused of blasphemy even if they are innocent, and the onus lies on the accused to prove, before law, that they did not blaspheme; or face severe consequences, even death. On a non-official basis, there are several instances of attacks on temples, churches and gurudwaras in Pakistan. There are also reports of non-Muslim girls being abducted and forcibly married off to Muslim men.  

Over the past few years, China has incessantly oppressed freedom of expression in Tibet, Xinjiang and Hong Kong under the guise of “anti-separatism”, “anti-extremism” and “counter-terrorism”. In Xinjiang, since 2017, an estimated one million or more Uyghurs, Kazakhs and other predominantly Muslim peoples were arbitrarily detained without trial and subjected to political indoctrination and forced cultural assimilation in “transformation-through-education” centres.  Despite having initially denied the existence of these camps, authorities later described them as “vocational training” centres. Nevertheless, satellite imagery indicated that an increasing number of camps continued to be built over the years.  

China’s repression of religion in Xinjiang and Tibet remains severe. People are arbitrarily detained for ordinary religious practices that authorities deemed “signs of extremism” under the “De-extremification Regulations”.  

In 2017, according to official statistics, arrests in Muslim-majority Xinjiang accounted for nearly 21 percent of all arrests in China, despite people in Xinjiang making up only 1.5 percent of the total population. Since 2017, Chinese authorities have used various pretexts to damage or destroy two-thirds of Xinjiang’s mosques; about half of those have been demolished outright. Important Islamic sacred sites have been destroyed across the region. As part of regional authorities’ intrusive “Becoming Families” surveillance, development, and indoctrination campaign, officials impose themselves for overnight stays at the homes of Turkic Muslims, a practice that authorities say “promote[s] ethnic unity.” In another particularly cruel practice, some Turkic Muslim children whose parents have been arbitrarily detained are placed in state institutions such as orphanages and boarding schools, including boarding preschools. 

In countries like, Algeria, Egypt and Morrocco leaving Islam and inciting Muslims to leave Islam is punishable by law. Therefore, prison sentences for those that practice Christianity occur. In Egypt, violence of radical Muslims against the Christian minority is common. Coptic Christians face many difficulties in building and renovating Coptic churches. 

These are just a few instances. But official discrimination against non-Muslims in Islamic countries is very prevalent. In fact, in some Muslim countries, religious freedom is prohibited. What is even more deplorable is that forced or threatened conversion is undertaken in some Islamic nations. This is not to forget the callousness with which Rohingya Muslims have been treated in Myanmar. Recently, this month (March), Hindu temples were destroyed in, predominantly Muslim, Bangladesh.  

It is in this light, that the UN should not pretend that any particular religion is the target of religiophobic crimes. The root cause of Islamophobia, today, is that adherents of other religions are wary that their customary and traditional ways of life will be overhauled by the fanatical elements within Islam. It is noteworthy to mention here, that organised religion has been incendiary for most part of history and culminated the war of the worlds. History is replete with crimes against the Jews in most Christian societies, over the belief that the Jews killed Jesus.  

Religion is not God. It is the work of those who attempt to institutionalise God and seek power over and control the masses, thereby. It is definitely not in keeping with propriety to deem that non-believers will not garner salvation or that the rest of the world are infidels. This is doing the supreme being a singular injustice, who created all humankind, irrespective of race, religion, culture or sex, equal in his eyes.