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Awareness Wednesday :: Xenophobia, Part IV — Let Them Worship
We claim the privilege of worshiping Almighty God according to the dictates of our own conscience, and allow all men the same privilege, let them worship how, where, or what they may (Articles of Faith 1:11). India is a secular federal republic of more than 1.3 billion people, governed by a democratic parliamentary system. It is a pluralistic, multilingual, and multi-ethnic society. About 80% of the population is Hindu. Nearly 15% are Muslim. Jawaharlal Nehru was the first prime minister of the Republic of India. He was committed to the idea of India being a secular nation. In 1950, when the Republic was first formed, perhaps some felt they had…
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Awareness Wednesday :: Xenophobia, Part III — Never Again
January 2020 marked the 75th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz, the largest extermination and concentration camp run by the Nazis. It is the place where about 1.1 million Jewish people were murdered; others were used as slave labor. As the second World War ended in 1945, the Allied soldiers found stacks of naked corpses in Auschwitz and other Nazi concentration camps. The few survivors were emaciated prisoners that looked more like skeletons than human beings. At the time of liberation, the prisoners had no food, no fuel, and no water. The Holocaust is one of the worst atrocities of humankind. It is a terrible reminder of our potential for evil. Sadly, the Holocaust was…
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Awareness Wednesday :: Xenophobia, Part II — Symptom of a Virus
The beginning of wisdom is to call things by their right names. — Chinese Proverb In the closing months of 2019, a novel coronavirus jumped from animals to humans and began spinning a web of infection, starting with the people of China and spreading with staggering speed worldwide. The virus, and its potentially deadly symptoms, are not the only thing being disseminated on a global scale. Xenophobia, particularly toward those of Asian descent, has seen a dramatic rise in the ensuing months, both here in the United States and around the world. A young woman from Brooklyn reported that while visiting Washington D.C., a man started making faces at her on the metro. She…
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Awareness Wednesday :: Xenophobia, Part I — Compassionate Eyes
“But he, willing to justify himself, said unto Jesus, And who is my neighbor? And Jesus answering said, A certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell among thieves…” (Luke 10: 29–30). What follows is a beautiful and compelling parable. A Jewish man, robbed and beaten, his bloody and broken body left helplessly on the side of the road. Two men pass him, actually crossing the road to avoid close contact with the destitute figure. A certain Samaritan notices the injured Jew, and he stops. Two men look at one another. One broken, one whole. Two men trained and taught to despise each other and everything they represent —…
