Religious Bigotry

Mar 11, 2012 Features / Columnists, Ravi Dev

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On the national holiday of Holi/Phagwah, the SN published a letter from a parent of a nursery school child. The individual wrote:  “I am a Christian but yesterday the teachers at the nursery school went against my beliefs and threw a mixture of different colour powders to celebrate the Hindu tradition of Phagwah on my child’s head…As an active Christian I am not going to or ever will have my children participate in any cultural or religious activity that is against my religion!”
The following day, this paper ran the story of Kevin Ally. He evidently was doused with water by some children celebrating Phagwah. He responded by throwing stones at them. When reprimanded by an onlooker, Nassair Ghani, he stabbed and killed the latter gentleman. I believe that the stance of individuals/parents such as the one quoted above leads to the tragedy of the murder of Mr Ghani – or even worse.
We boast that Guyana is a ‘multi-religious’ country. But how effective are our policies to deal with that reality to ensure that they not lead to bigotry and murder? It is not coincidental that over the last year, there has been quite a vigorous debate in the Hindu blogsphere over the dominant modern strategy: “toleration”.
Hindus have been in Guyana for 174 years (this May 5th) and they know what it means to be ‘tolerated’. “Toleration’ first and foremost implies a hierarchical power relationship involving superiors and inferiors – and it is the superiors that exhort their members to ‘tolerate’ the other.
In Guyana, after official persecution and conversion, some Christian churches, at best, taught its followers to ‘tolerate’ Hindus. But they are still driven to convert the Hindus, who they assert, are engaged in ‘sin’. Interfaith dialogues that are based on tolerance are therefore disingenuous at best, because the Christian leaders taking part believe in the superiority of their faiths. The more they emphasise ‘tolerance’ the more they are emphasising their ‘superiority’.
What has been proposed instead by Hindus is “mutual respect”. If I respect you and your right to practice whatever you want, I am doing more than just tolerating you under sufferance. I am no longer wishing for the day when ignorant fools like the ‘Other’ would correct their mistakes and follow the righteous path (which just happens to be my path). It is no longer ‘My way or the highway’. Instead, I have shifted my thoughts. I may not agree with you on every matter, but I am glad that you are here. I am celebrating our differences as well as our similarities. The ‘Other’ is no longer a threatening force, but a friend whom I respect.
But since this implies an acceptance of some sort of equality among the religions, those that preach they are the ‘only path’ or ‘one right way” would most likely balk. And as the parent above revealed would certainly not want to be ‘contaminated’ with Hindu activities.
Some would retort that the Hindu should not intrude on the privacy of others and ‘play Phagwah’ with them. But what about the invasion of privacy when Christians turn up in droves at my gate to convert me? And do my children stab their teachers when they are forced to recite the “Lord’s Prayer”? We have to learn and teach mutual respect in our interactions.
Reacting to religious bigotry, the UN declared the first week of February, “World Interfaith Harmony Week”. It was co-sponsored by Guyana and commemorated here. The resolution, ‘Encourages all States to support, on a voluntary basis, the spread of the message of interfaith harmony and goodwill in the world’s churches, mosques, synagogues, temples and other places of worship during that week, based on love of God and love of one’s neighbour or on love of the good and love of one’s neighbour, each according to their own religious traditions or convictions.’
If we can’t go as far as ‘love’ for our neighbours what about ‘mutual respect’? Can’t we agree to disagree on some ideas but have mutual respect on common criteria of, let’s say, virtuous actions? Surely there are ‘good’ persons in every religion?
I would like to suggest that our country should adopt the principle of ‘mutual respect’ as our strategy for dealing with religious diversity. This inevitably flows if we see each as ends and not means. But we will have to abandon the dogmatic view that we are always indubitably right and the ‘other’ wrong and at best we must ‘tolerate them.” This, we know, can so easily slide into hatred, bigotry and murder.
I pray for the soul of Nassair Ghani and hope that he receives salvation by whatever path he chose to thread. And I believe that his family should be recompensed for his murder which was nothing less than a hate crime.

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