-
Welcome to Religious Forums, a friendly forum to discuss all religions in a friendly surrounding.
Your voice is missing! You will need to register to get access to the following site features:- Reply to discussions and create your own threads.
- Our modern chat room. No add-ons or extensions required, just login and start chatting!
- Access to private conversations with other members.
We hope to see you as a part of our community soon!
Have you faced prejudice because of your religion?
- Thread starter Prima
- Start date
BruceDLimber
Well-Known Member
Greetings, all!
As a Baha'i, I've occasionally faced prejudice from various individuals, primarily due to their own ignorance of what the Baha'i Faith is and what we believe. (This isn't all that unusual as it probably happens to a lot of us fairly often....)
And in a larger sense, the Baha'i Faith, despite its worldwide spread and peaceful nature and message, has undergone extreme opposition during all of its roughly-160-year existence! This includes intense opposition by certain (not all) Muslim groups and certain Islamic governments, especially Iran. This extends so far as to include the occasional kidnapping of children in order to force-raise them as Muslims, imprisonment and even execution for involvement in Baha'i activities! This has occurred since our beginnings, has intensified during the past 25 years, and is still going on today. Indeed, I have two personal Baha'i friends here in my area (near DC) who between them have lost two fathers and a brother who were executed for the "crime" of being Baha'i!
So sad to say, yes, religious oppression and persecution are still ongoing today! :-(
Peace,
Bruce
As a Baha'i, I've occasionally faced prejudice from various individuals, primarily due to their own ignorance of what the Baha'i Faith is and what we believe. (This isn't all that unusual as it probably happens to a lot of us fairly often....)
And in a larger sense, the Baha'i Faith, despite its worldwide spread and peaceful nature and message, has undergone extreme opposition during all of its roughly-160-year existence! This includes intense opposition by certain (not all) Muslim groups and certain Islamic governments, especially Iran. This extends so far as to include the occasional kidnapping of children in order to force-raise them as Muslims, imprisonment and even execution for involvement in Baha'i activities! This has occurred since our beginnings, has intensified during the past 25 years, and is still going on today. Indeed, I have two personal Baha'i friends here in my area (near DC) who between them have lost two fathers and a brother who were executed for the "crime" of being Baha'i!
So sad to say, yes, religious oppression and persecution are still ongoing today! :-(
Peace,
Bruce
Katzpur
Not your average Mormon
Well, since you asked...Prima said:
At the risk of sounding like I'm trying to play the victim, YES! I have seen my beliefs twisted and distorted to the point I can hardly recognize them. I have had people who have never set foot in an LDS worship service tell me that they know more about what Mormons really believe than I do and insist that Mormons are intentionally deceitful when explaining their beliefs. I have seen people spread the most vicious lies imaginable about my Church's leaders, doctrines, history and culture. I have watched people stand outside an LDS worship service shouting that Mormons are going to Hell or waving signs to that effect in the faces of a couple coming out of the temple after their wedding.
And yet, I've had it easy. I have not been driven out of my home in the middle of the winter and forced to walk 1300 miles across the Great Plains so that I could worship God according to the dictates of my own conscience. I have not been raped because I was a Mormon, nor has my husband been tarred and feathered. I live in a day and age when I don't need to worry about being fair game for anyone who would just as soon kill a Mormon than live next door to one. I wonder how many people realize that in the mid-1830s, the governor of Missouri actually issued an "extermination order" against the members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and that for many, many years after that, it was legal in Missouri to kill Mormon!
Okay, I've said my piece. Sorry for the outburst.
Now, I'll just try to behave myself.Kathryn
DeepShadow
White Crow
Found a hole from a pellet gun in my bike helmet one day in the mission field. Never found out who the shooter was, may have been a stray shot...but I doubt it...
Beyond that, just ditto all of Katzpur's stuff; it's the same all over.
"Musicians have changed, but the music is still the same."--Vincenzo de Francesca
Beyond that, just ditto all of Katzpur's stuff; it's the same all over.
"Musicians have changed, but the music is still the same."--Vincenzo de Francesca
Fat Old Sun
Active Member
Ok, I don't feel so bad now.
I was 'encouraged' to leave the Boy Scouts because I left christianity to explore other religions, mainly Native American beliefs. On our camping trips, instead of going to their makeshift church service on sunday morning, I prefered to sit on a large log that had fallen accross the river and meditate. I guess the Boy Scouts are all about Native American symbols as long as they no longer symbolize anything of substance.
I stopped in a little redneck bar in michigan with a friend of mine to get something to eat and ended up having to fight my way out. I had a bumper sticker on my car that said 'Born Again Atheist' . When the entire bar was asked by four skoal spittin' Bubbas who the heathen was that was drivin' that there car, I knew what was coming, but stood up and proudly claimed it as mine. The funny thing is, my friend, who punched his way out right beside me, was a youth minister.
That same bumper sticker also led to the manager of the car wash I frequented informing me that my business was no longer welcome there. I told him that my money says 'In God We Trust' just like everyone elses, but he wasn't buying it. I guess he's done his part to make the world a better place now that heathens like myself have to drive a little farther to wash our cars somewhere else.
I have also had cars vandalized on several occasions.
It's hardly the worst thing that's ever happened to anyone. It bothered me at the time, but I usually laugh about it now. It is amazing what people will say to you with a straight face based on one aspect of your life. I didn't even bother to include mere words. That is too long a list and really of no consequence. Hold your heads high everyone. There is no reason to feel shame for someone else's ignorance.
I was 'encouraged' to leave the Boy Scouts because I left christianity to explore other religions, mainly Native American beliefs. On our camping trips, instead of going to their makeshift church service on sunday morning, I prefered to sit on a large log that had fallen accross the river and meditate. I guess the Boy Scouts are all about Native American symbols as long as they no longer symbolize anything of substance.
I stopped in a little redneck bar in michigan with a friend of mine to get something to eat and ended up having to fight my way out. I had a bumper sticker on my car that said 'Born Again Atheist' . When the entire bar was asked by four skoal spittin' Bubbas who the heathen was that was drivin' that there car, I knew what was coming, but stood up and proudly claimed it as mine. The funny thing is, my friend, who punched his way out right beside me, was a youth minister.
That same bumper sticker also led to the manager of the car wash I frequented informing me that my business was no longer welcome there. I told him that my money says 'In God We Trust' just like everyone elses, but he wasn't buying it. I guess he's done his part to make the world a better place now that heathens like myself have to drive a little farther to wash our cars somewhere else.
I have also had cars vandalized on several occasions.
It's hardly the worst thing that's ever happened to anyone. It bothered me at the time, but I usually laugh about it now. It is amazing what people will say to you with a straight face based on one aspect of your life. I didn't even bother to include mere words. That is too long a list and really of no consequence. Hold your heads high everyone. There is no reason to feel shame for someone else's ignorance.
Fluffy
A fool
Yes but nothing like on the kind of scale that other people have reported here. Worst events for me were being shouted at by classes of pupils as I pass by them (things like witch or Harry Potter or whatever takes their fancy) or defacement of my belongings, generally with the same kinda of ideas.
DeepShadow
White Crow
There's no need to downplay your trials just because someone else has suffered more. If you are laying in the hospital with a broken leg, and the person next to you has had theirs amputated, you still have every right to express the pain you feel.
Big or small, prejudice and thoughtlessness and bigotry are to be condemned. While there's no need to wallow in victimhood, sharing these experiences can draw us closer together, and might even help us see the three fingers pointing back, if we've ever been on the giving end.
I'd especially like to thank Fat Old Sun for his comments. As an Eagle Scout, I'm appalled a such treament of someone trying to find God. I'm sad you weren't in my troop.
Big or small, prejudice and thoughtlessness and bigotry are to be condemned. While there's no need to wallow in victimhood, sharing these experiences can draw us closer together, and might even help us see the three fingers pointing back, if we've ever been on the giving end.
I'd especially like to thank Fat Old Sun for his comments. As an Eagle Scout, I'm appalled a such treament of someone trying to find God. I'm sad you weren't in my troop.
Engyo
Prince of Dorkness!
Yes; some Christian and Muslim folk are intolerant of Buddhists. The really interesting thing is that I have faced more intolerance for being the "wrong" type of Buddhist from certain Buddhist groups, than I have from non-Buddhists. Please note that this applies only to certain, out-of-the-mainstream Buddhist groups, though.