Conversion to escape discrimination.

Snoopy

Snoopy

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…Hindus from the former Untouchable castes are converting to Buddhism in protest at the continuing discrimination they face.
Conversion is a highly charged political issue. Several states have passed laws this year making it harder to convert, and the mass ceremonies will infuriate Hindu nationalist parties that have been campaigning to stop lower caste Hindus changing their religion.
But for many Dalits, as Untouchables are now known, conversion is the only way to escape the oppression they still face in Hindu society.
Gujarat, home to some of the most hardline Hindu groups, has introduced a more controversial law under which Buddhism is considered part of Hinduism.


Here’s an inflammatory mixture of religion, politics, society and freedom. I wonder to what extent the conversions are primarily a matter of escaping discrimination and the choice of religion (Buddhism and Christianity according to the article) is maybe secondary?
s.
 
Snoopy said:
…Hindus from the former Untouchable castes are converting to Buddhism in protest at the continuing discrimination they face.
Conversion is a highly charged political issue. Several states have passed laws this year making it harder to convert, and the mass ceremonies will infuriate Hindu nationalist parties that have been campaigning to stop lower caste Hindus changing their religion.
But for many Dalits, as Untouchables are now known, conversion is the only way to escape the oppression they still face in Hindu society.
Gujarat, home to some of the most hardline Hindu groups, has introduced a more controversial law under which Buddhism is considered part of Hinduism.


Here’s an inflammatory mixture of religion, politics, society and freedom. I wonder to what extent the conversions are primarily a matter of escaping discrimination and the choice of religion (Buddhism and Christianity according to the article) is maybe secondary?
s.
Click to expand...
It seems that many Untouchables who convert to Christianity receive even more persecution because of their conversion. -source-
 
Y'all aren't going to start talking about fish again, are you? Lemons, anyone? I was just studying up on the different varieties of nationalism....

InPeace,
InLove
 
Guess you're discussing just for the halibut.

Snoopy, your thread is floundering.
 
I imagine Christianity had a lot of that in the beginning.

I mean - everyone was equal in G-d's sight - slaves, women - quite an attactive thing.
 
seattlegal said:
Much like the Dalits? Are you suggesting that they just make lemonade since the caste system has condemned them to a lifetime supply of lemons?
Click to expand...

Seems to me, by the articles, that lemons were not what the Dalits were getting a lifetime supply of...

excrete! excrete!
 
buddha does not mind stinky poo-loving dog eaters! To buddha, u are as pure as the freshly flowering lotus! Ur upper caste superiors are not as fortunate!

and about time too, Dalits! candala of the world unite!

bit much though them having to seek official permission before they change their religion...? I would have assumed that it was up to them what they believed...? Does anyone know how u go about converting in India?


and, btw, great thread... salute!
 
Hi,

Just found a magazine article on the history of this.

It seems the movement’s iconic leader is Dr Bhimrao Ambedkar who lead the first mass conversion in 1956.

He was born a dalit but won scholarships to Columbia University and became the first dalit to gain a PhD at the LSE. Although Ambedkar was born a Hindu he rejected it for its supernatural belief in deities and the condoning of inequality through the caste system. He researched other religions, choosing Buddhism for its values of liberty, equality and fraternity and for not sanctifying poverty. He developed a Buddhism that he saw appropriate to other dalits, on the basis that he saw the Buddha being a social reformer, and by focusing on the morality aspect of the eightfold path. He was therefore a driver of engaged Buddhism before the term was coined.

Ambedkar died not long after the first mass conversion but it seems he started a rebirth (!) in the land in which the Buddha was born. Inspiring stuff.

s.
 
Francis king said:
Does anyone know how u go about converting in India?
Click to expand...

Same as anywhere else I think; one takes the Precepts and Vows of the order in which you are becoming a lay member of.

I think some of the Ambedkar Vows (see above) are statements against Hinduism. Rather controversial but defended as being a being a positive statement rejecting discrimination and oppression.

s.
 
Francis king said:
and about time too, Dalits! candala of the world unite!

bit much though them having to seek official permission before they change their religion...? I would have assumed that it was up to them what they believed...? Does anyone know how u go about converting in India?
Click to expand...

Snoopy said:
Same as anywhere else I think; one takes the Precepts and Vows of the order in which you are becoming a lay member of.

I think some of the Ambedkar Vows (see above) are statements against Hinduism. Rather controversial but defended as being a being a positive statement rejecting discrimination and oppression.

s.
Click to expand...
Uh-oh. From the BBC (April 2005)
State (of India) to bar religious conversion
excerpts said:
"We will not allow anyone to convert poor and illiterate people."
Gulab Chand Kataria,
Rajasthan home minister
<snip>
State governments in India do have the power to introduce anti-conversion laws.

The southern state of Tamil Nadu had similar legislation but it was scrapped amid political controversy and opposition from religious minorities.
Click to expand...
 
More uh-oh. From the current issue (May 6, 2007 edition) of the Organizer in India.
Why we should ban conversion
first paragraph said:
Because it is the primary cause of the conflicts in the world.

Because we cannot allow the Hindus to become a minority in their own country through conversion. Because we cannot allow ourselves to become extinct through conversion. Why? Because we have a better record of concern for humanity. Because our civilisation has more to offer mankind than Islam or Christianity. Because we are committed moral beings compared to Muslims and Christians. There is yet another reason—perhaps more important: Because it is time to eliminate conversion, the primary cause of the conflicts in the world.
Click to expand...
 
Hi sg and yeah uh-oh.

Just to be clear, I'm not on a pro-Buddhism soapbox here, I'm on a pro-freedom of conscience soapbox.

It's good to see "the world's largest democracy" (isn't that how India is described?) trying to control the insides of people's heads. Not.

I've been reading about Dr Ambedkar. He was India's first law minister and was the chief architect of its constitution, which supposedly guarantees equal rights for all.:mad:

s.
 
What was that someone said around here recently about the greatest good for the greatest number?


(*this is what you end up with...*)
 
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