“If a person wants to believe in the Bible let him say so, but why should he discard his own religion? This proselytization will mean no peace in the world … My position is that all the great religions are fundamentally equal. We must have innate respect for other religions as we have for our own. Mind you, not mutual tolerance, but equal respect”.
Since August, radical Hindu nationalist mobs have rioted and attacked Christians in a number of Indian states, claiming Christians have been forcing conversion upon lower caste Hindus. Christians allege that Hindu activists in the area have tried to intimidate Christians to reconvert to Hinduism. Thirty people have already died in the violence, and thousands more have fled their homes. It has been described as the most serious violence against the Christian community in India in the last 50 years.
This is only one case of Religious Oppression, a wide-reaching problem that also raises the question of the balance between state sovereignty and human rights. Join us on Wednesday 29 October at 7PM in CAS 326 as we represent countries in SOCHUM (the UN Third Committee on Social, Humanitarian and Cultural Issues), deciding whose rights take precedence in the international system: the rights of states, or those of its citizens, and how states and the international community will respond to the increase in religious repression and violence in the world.
Background of Religious Problems in the UN:
- Conflicts often stem from competing interests between a religious group and the government, or between two different religious groups.
- Freedom of religion is outlined in the United Nations Declaration on Human Rights.
- Religious oppression continues to occur in almost all regions of the world (even in secular countries).
- Government sometimes alienate or ostracize minority religious groups through rule of the law, leading to the loss of political and economic rights, and resulting in communal violence.
- Religious oppression can also occur in secular countries due to the positive secular view toward the separation of church and state.
- Religious oppression infringes on the practice of religion, bringing human rights and state sovereignty directly into conflict.
In Other Countries
- Islamic Republic of Pakistan in the 1970s: Declared the Ahmedis, a sect of Islam, to be non-Muslim within the Pakistani constitution.
- French government banned headscarves and other religious symbols in government institutions.
In India
- In Orissa, rising Hindu revivalism has targeted Christians, burning down churches, hospitals, and schools.
- This movement stems from the increased conversion of socially and economically backward “untouchables” from Hinduism to Christianity.
- The Hindutva groups, however, claim that the conflict emerged due to the violation of the Orissa Freedom of Religion Act, which makes it illegal for forced or fraudulent conversions to take place.
Key Question
How can the international system safeguard human rights if government laws are used as the basis for religious violence?
