A Protest by Hindu Apostates

An important commentary on Islam is being made indirectly in India, yesterday (October 14, 2006). The BJP party, a Hindu nationalist party which overall I tend to support, has made a huge mistake in making it difficult to change religion in several Indian states. The Dalits, the polite terms for untouchables, protested this law by converting in mass to another religion, mostly Buddhism, though a small number converted to Christianity. That no one converted to Islam in this ceremony tells volumes about Islam. Islam is the second largest religion in India, and the protesting Dalits are able to assess whether Islam and its level of tolerance for apostates would be appropriate for their protest. They clearly did not think so. The next time Christianity is morally equivalenced to Islam, it’s worth bringing this incident up. It shows in small way an important difference between Christianity and Islam.

I am slightly concerned by the shortsightedness of the BJP. It needs to enlist the small religious minorities in India as allies against Islam and stop looking so intolerant. When the muslims are at the door with knives and nukes is not the time for petty bickering between traditions that are capable of mutual respect.

Media bias works in strange ways. Reuters showed a bias towards Christianity in its reporting of this protest, which is understandable as it is the more familiar. The reporting mentioned Buddhism and Christianity equivalently in the article and the accompanying photograph was of a Christian baptism. But, the number of converts was 9000 for Buddhism and 500 for Christianity.