User:Hannahjameson/sandbox

Religious Discrimination

I will be putting this section into the Asian category in the original article

For India, I will be adding this to the pre existing paragraph about India.

India

India is a religiously diverse country. Although the majority of the citizens follow Hinduism, many Indians follow other religions, such as Christianity, Islam, Sikhism, Jainism, and many more. The government in India, however, can be against other religions; for example, in Uttar Pradesh, many Hindu militants destroyed a church leader's house, injured many people there, and then threatened to come back if they prayed again. This exemplifies the difference between individuals who follow different religions. "Some observers point to the rise of the pro-Hindu Bharatiya Janata Party in 2014 as a cause for compromised religious freedom because many Hindus interpret the political shift as a mandate to move toward a Hindu-only nation". The rise of this party restricts a lot of religious freedom in India causing many people to worship in secret and behind closed doors. BJP's ruler, Narendra Modi, the prime minister of India, has created "the Hindutva philosophy—the creation of a great Hindu state". Due to this mindset, many of these government officials have destroyed many Mosques, and instead, built Hindu Temples, causing an uproar against this party through violence by killing over 1,000 people.

Many women in India are also fighting really hard to get equality in their religion. For example, there was a bill that was passed from the BJP party that abolished the Muslim practice of the Taleq-e-biddat, which is a way for Muslim women to divorce their husbands. Government officials wanted to stop this because a lot of these women, once they're divorced, aren't provided with childcare or even support. Many women who are apart of Muslim feminist groups voiced their opinion saying how the verdict is anti-children and women. "It was considered a deeply flawed decision, especially because of a lack of consultation with Islamic religious scholars and leaders". Many of their citizens have been demanding change, and after seeing equality for men, they want the government to show equality even through religion for the women.

For China, I will also be adding on to the already written paragraph about China.

China Much like the Indian Government, the Chinese government exerts control over its citizens' lives. The Chinese government persecutes different groups such as the Buddhists, Muslims, Protestant Christians, and Catholics. The Chinese legal system limits a lot of human's rights such as not allowing people to have access to religious leaders, imprisoning people for following different religions, and not allowing citizens to worship freely. "The U.S. State Department and human rights groups have documented instances of torture, wrongful imprisonment, and other inhumane treatment of minorities". Citizens try to use their voices to stand up for equality, but many of the government officials haven't shown any changes. So many of the citizens took their own stance, and called on the Canadian and U.S. governments to change these things. The people in China wrote a long list on ways to reform these rules so they can become a better nation; for example, many people wanted the Canadian and U.S. government to fund programs and seminars on how to deal with religious challenges, as well as having the Canadian and U.S. governments inform citizens on how to protect their workers of their freedom of rights.

Women in China are also having a limited amount of rights in regards to their religious freedom. There is a group of Muslims called the Uyghur Muslims, and a lot of police officers have detained them because of their possession of religious texts that were unauthorized. In a particular instance, police invaded a Uighur women's house when she was teaching kids about the Koran, because she was "illegally possessing religious materials and subversive historical information.” China's Human Rights Watch are still wondering on where she currently is. Many of these workers are also forcing these type of women to have fewer children and to marry outside of their religion. If women broke this rule, they would have to pay a fine from 2,000 to 6,000 yuan, ~$306- $918. A lot of these women are also forced to have abortions at any stage of their pregnancy, no matter how close they are to giving birth. However, many of the Uyghur Women decided to keep their babies and hide it in secret by not telling healthcare services and rather just having a traditional mid wife. The Chinese communist party has tried many different methods to repress this population, by getting "hi tech surveillance, re-education camps, and socio-economic exploitation of the Uyghur population" This led to a change in their demographics of this population.

Lastly, for Pakistan I will also be adding to the paragraph already written in the original article.

Pakistan The Pakistani government exercises extensive power over its citizens. The pro-Muslim Pakistani government discriminates against the nation's Christian minority. In one case, a Muslim man kidnapped a 19-year-old Christian woman named Maira. The Authorities caught the kidnapper. However, during the trial, the judge ruled that Maira should stay with her kidnapper because he had converted her from Christianity to Islam. There is a Pakistani Law called the Sindh Child Marriage Restraint Act. This law restricts men to marry girls under the age of 18, however many of these girls aren't protected by it. Because many of these girls aren't protected, they are seen as the next targets for these type of men. Causing anxiety and fear to be spread upon the society and especially to these young girls. Restricting them from doing normal activities such as walking to school or playing outside of their homes. Christians only make up 2% of Pakistani's population, however the government officials has repeatedly shown public threats towards this group of believers. "Two bomb blasts at churches in Lahore in March 2015 killed 14 and hurt more than 70 people" Due to these casualties, many Christians are afraid to worship freely. Instead, they are forced to follow other religions so their safety is kept & many of the citizens are ready for a change.