Discrimination Against Religion
Discrimination against religion is a worldwide issue. It has been going on for decades and there isn’t much action that are being taken to stop it. It has taken away a lot of opportunity away from people of different religion as well has facing mental and physical abuse. The first amendment of the constitution includes freedom of religion. However, just like many other laws this has been broken many times. In the U.S the problem has spread much more after 9/11. Muslims in the US has been facing harassment at their workplace, school, restaurants and even while walking down the street. The event has put a mark on the Muslim population which does not seem to be removable. Kids are still facing bullying in school based on the incident. It is an ongoing crisis that is taking place all over the world and the next few articles will provide some of the religious crisis that takes place in different countries.
The article Muslims, atheists more likely to face religious discrimination in US by Kim Eckart is about the experiences of Muslims and atheists in the US. Religious bias is a serious problem. Which is why researchers sent an email to principals of 45000 schools in 33 states varied by belief system. “While none of the principals’ responses were explicitly negative, Pfaff said, it was the lack of response that indicated a pattern. Somewhat less than half of emails got a response. But those that signaled affiliation with Islam or atheism, indicated by a famous quote attributed to either the Prophet Muhammad or Richard Dawkins in the email signature, were about 5 percentage points less likely to receive a response than the control emails.” (Pfaff, 2020) The majority of the emails that did not get response back had Muslims and atheists mentioned in. The purpose of the article is to show how differently people gets treated based on their religious belief. The article is directed to parents and school systems. It is giving clear understanding to the parents about the environment their kids will be in. The genre of the article is a research-based article that uses data to show how discrimination works in education centers. From the information given the author seems to agree to the fact that religious discrimination happens schools and it shouldn’t be this way.
In the video, There is no peace for us the reporter talks about the fight that is going on between the Muslim and Buddhist people in Myanmar. The Buddhists ate attacking Muslims in every way possible. Their houses, schools, cemeteries, and mosques are being burned down by some of the Buddhist groups and they are threatening to kill the Muslims. At least 240 people have been killed and more than 140000 people have been displacing since June 2012. Which is turning into a bigger crisis between the two religious’ groups. The purpose of the video is to spread awareness about the problem that most Rohingyas are facing in Myanmar. Deborah Lutterbeck gives visual evidence of the place for her audience to understand the situation. She also includes the number of people that were killed and the number of people who were affected by the attack. This video is directed to the people internationally because the country is not as popular for everyone to know about the crisis that is going on. The genre of there is no peace for us the video is a news report. Lutterbeck talks about a situation in Myanmar with visuals and also data to support the claims that have been made. “A Muslim cemetery in Myanmar and a school inside its compound were set on fire Friday evening” (Lutterbeck, 2014) She mentions the circumstances that the Muslim population was facing. Even though there was no direct opinion about what the author stands for. From all the information that was given in the video, it seems to me that the author stands with the Muslim leader seeking peace. She mostly has information about the damage that has happened and also used opinions from religious leaders from both the Buddhist and Muslim groups. However, at the very end, she mentions that the majority of the population that was under the attack was the Muslims.
The article “TikTok apologizes to US teen after removing video critical of Chinese government” by Lydia Emmanouilidou is about tiktok banding videos that were made to send an awareness to people about the Situation in China. A tiktok about the Chinese crisis went viral which was created by Feroza Aziz. The video started as a how to get long lashes video, where she quickly changes her topic and talks about the torture Muslims and other religious ethnic minorities are facing in Chinese concentration camps. Tiktok apologies after getting a lot of questions from the audience, “TikTok explained that the first action it took against Aziz — banning her from accessing TikTok from her phone — was because of an entirely different video she had created, and that it was part of a scheduled, platform-wide enforcement on thousands of accounts that had been flagged for violating TikTok’s rules on terrorist imagery.” (Emmanouilidou,2019) however the video was intended to be satirical as Aziz said. The article was written about the situation that is happening in China. Most of the population did not know about the crisis because of the security China is using. As some footages from the concentration camp were leaked, many people tried to post this on social media to spread the news. However, it seems like the platform tiktok does not support it. As it was a Chinese owned company a lot of the videos were taken down. This article is directed to the younger generation because of the app’s popularity. Since a massive number of teenagers and young adults uses this app the author tried to draw their attention by using the title “TikTok apologizes to US teen after removing video critical of Chinese government” The purpose of the article is to inform the audience about the way some of the social media works depending on the situation. “But the biggest surprise came a few days after that, when Aziz learned that TikTok had removed her video from the platform.” is only one of the examples of the actions tiktok took. The genre of the article is a news report on one of the most popular social media platforms. “TikTok says it’s sorry for removing a US teen’s video criticizing the Chinese government’s crackdown on Uighur Muslims and other ethnic and religious minorities in the country.” (Emmanouilidou, 2019) The author brings out some of the main points behind the actions that Tiktok has taken and also the justification that tiktok gave. There is no direct opinion of which side the author stands with because the article is about Tiktok’s confession and Aziz’s opinion on what happened.
In the article “The right to freedom of religion and the right against religious discrimination: Theoretical distinctions” author Tarunabh Khaitan and Jane Calderwood Norton describes how Islamophobia has become a major issue. Most people feel like they are being victimize because of their religion. “This article approaches the debate around law and religion from a different angle by arguing that, while they are often conflated, the right to freedom of religion and the right against religious discrimination are in fact distinct human rights.” (khaitan, Norton, 2020) This article highlights the difference between the committed and non-committal perspectives, a conceptual distinction, the right to freedom of religion, the right against religion, etc. There shouldn’t be a problem with the right to be against religion unless it is non-discrimination. The purpose of the article is about the ongoing debate about legal protection of religion. The article is directed to the general public to give them information about both of the rights that can be used in the right way. The genre of this journal is a scholarly article that gives information about the protection of the practice of religion. The author does not seem to have a stand in this because they stated information about both of the sides and how it can be used differently without including discrimination.
In conclusion, Religious discrimination brings major problem in people’s life all around the world. It brings a conflict in our society and people, which takes away peace that is the first teaching of any religion. Many governments have rules, but it is not being followed. We as humans need to work together to end the separation between each other create a better world. Where people are not afraid to believe what they believe in.
Work Cited
“Muslims, Atheists More Likely to Face Religious Discrimination in US.” UW News, www.washington.edu/news/2020/09/22/muslims-atheists-more-likely-to-face-religious-discrimination-in-us/.
“‘There Is No Peace for Us’- Muslim in Myanmar.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 5 July 2014, www.nytimes.com/video/multimedia/100000002983556/there-is-no-peace-for-us-muslim-in-myanmar.html?searchResultPosition=2.
“TikTok Apologizes to US Teen after Removing Video Critical of Chinese Government.” The World from PRX, www.pri.org/stories/2019-11-29/tiktok-apologizes-us-teen-after-removing-video-critical-chinese-government.
Khaitan, Tarunabh, and Jane Calderwood Norton. “Right to Freedom of Religion and the Right against Religious Discrimination: Theoretical Distinctions.” OUP Academic, Oxford University Press, 21 Jan. 2020, academic.oup.com/icon/article/17/4/1125/5710828.
