Religious Freedom and Hinduphobia

We acknowledge that there are multiple paths to divinity. We believe in interfaith harmony. Divine is ONE. We are all rowing our  different boats in different ways in  the same direction to the same destination. Vedas  declare " let noble thoughts  flow to us from everywhere, from all directions. '

 Hinduphobia or hatred against Hindus has a tragically long history that continues to this day across the globe. This is fueled by a range of factors including the religious intolerance, a lack of religious literacy, misrepresentation in the media, academic bias still rooted in the oftentimes racist, colonial era misportrayals.

 Hinduphobic rhetoric reduces the entirety of Hinduism to a rigid, oppressive and regressive tradition. Prosocial aspects of Hindu beliefs practices and traditions are ignored or attributed  to non-Hindu influences. This erases and denies the persecution of Hindus  that has been happening repeatedly over the centuries and also it disproportionately paints Hindus as violent. These stereotypes are used  to justify  the  external Reformation and demonization of a range of Hindu knowledge and traditions called Sanatana Dharma.

 A working definition of Hinduphobia was developed in 2021 at a conference held at Rutgers University  and it states:

“Hinduphobia is a set of antagonistic, destructive and derogatory attitudes and behaviors towards Sanatana Dharma(Hinduism) and Hindus that may manifest as prejudice, fear or hatred.”

 The complete range of Hinduphobic acts  extend from microaggressions to  attempts at genocide. Hinduphobic  projects include destruction and desecration of  Hindu sacred  Spaces, forced proselytization of Hindu populations, targeted violence towards Hindu people, communities  institutions, genocide and ethnic cleansing.

 Hindu Americans are hardly exempt from such attacks on their religion and culture. Worse yet, the existence of Hinduphobia and anti-Hindu hatred is often denied which in itself is a form of the same. In the past several years anti-Hindu hate crimes, ranging from  damage to the temples, the religious properties and acts of physical violence including bullying have been on the rise in the United States.

 The recently held Dismantling Global  Hindutva Conference at Rutgers  is a typical example of the efforts that Hinduphobic forces  are continuing to make to malign our sacred religion and we must not let it continue. Nowadays, words are easy to weaponize, people are easy to label and misinformation is easy to spread. We condemn the wrong interpretation,weaponization and misrepresentation of our religion. Our viewpoints are grounded in Hindu values  such as  respect for all religions, truthfulness,  nonviolence, mutual love and respect  for all.We do not base our thinking on political or dogmatic ideologies.

 There is good in all of us, even those who actively work to discredit us. We should have an open discussion to move forward in a positive manner. That'll make our neighborhoods better, more tolerant and happier. That will bring a universal joy to one and all.