Some Migrants Are ‘Not People’
Every morning when I am in the kitchen brewing the dark brown elixir of life, I can hear from a mosque somewhere in the distance the call to prayers. In the otherwise silent and dark morning, the sing-song call is such a soothing sound. Like all is well with the world.
The freshly brewed hot coffee makes the world even better.
This is an interesting few weeks when Muslims fast and reflect on life during the month of Ramadan, as Christians prepare themselves for the days that really define Christianity—Good Friday and Easter Sunday.
It is at such a time that the old country’s strongman and the adopted country’s wannabe dictator unloaded on illegal migrants!
The rapist who wants to be the President again so that he can become a full-fledged dictator, and with an Attorney General who will withdraw all the federal cases against him, keeps ramping up his attacks on everybody and every institution that he hates.
He asserted, without evidence, that other countries were emptying their prisons of “young people” and sending them across the border. “I don’t know if you call them ‘people,’ in some cases,” he said. “They’re not people, in my opinion.” He later referred to them as “animals.”
He continues to plumb the depths of vulgarity, indecency, and inhumanity. Yet, his strongest supporters are evangelical Christians who are, of course, white. Pew Research reports:
Overall, two-thirds of White evangelical Protestants say they have a favorable view of the former president, including 30% who have a very favorable opinion of him.
I am sure it is because the rapist personifies Christ’s teachings unlike President Biden who is merely a practicing Catholic who rarely misses going to church on Sundays, yes?
Pew Also reports:
But in every other U.S. religious group large enough to be analyzed in this survey, large majorities have unfavorable opinions of Trump, including:
88% of atheists
82% of agnostics
80% of Black Protestants
79% of Jewish Americans
The 2024 election is clearly coming down as White Christians vs. the rest. I suppose this is why Jesus died: To help the rapist save America from the damn infidels!
Meanwhile, the old country is all set for elections, which will be staggered over weeks in April and May, and results will be announced on June 4th.
There, it is Hindu fundamentalists vs. the rest.
In order to drive up the fundamentalist vote, and to put Muslims on notice, the government has decided that now is the moment to implement a citizenship law that excludes Muslims, even though it was passed in 2019.
The text aims to regularize refugees belonging to religious minorities persecuted in neighboring Muslim-majority countries – Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan – who entered India legally or illegally before the end of 2014. It lists the religions eligible for naturalization as Hindus, Parsis, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains and Christians, but excludes Muslims. However, the latter are also victims of persecution in the surrounding area, such as the Rohingya in Myanmar or the Hazara in Pakistan
This legislation marks a constitutional break, as for the first time in the history of this secular country, it introduces a religious criterion into the granting of nationality.
That is how the Hindu fundamentalists celebrate Ramadan! As the WaPo report noted, “Modi has increasingly mixed religion with politics in a formula that has resonated deeply with India’s majority Hindu population.”
Surely nothing can go wrong when politics is mixed with religion to such an extent, right?
In my travels, I have always enjoyed visiting old temples, churches, and mosques. An atheist I am, yes, but I recognize the role that religions have played in history, and how they continue to influence life.
A favorite is Aurangzeb’s tomb, which is in central India. How much ever flawed a person the Mughal emperor Aurangzeb was, he was also a pious Muslim. In contrast to the huge and lavish tombs, like the Taj Mahal (yep, it is a mausoleum!) the pious Aurangzeb wanted a simple tomb, which is actually nothing compared to many grave sites that one might visit in America these days.
A few years ago, when traveling in India, I stopped at Aurangzeb’s tomb.
A powerful emperor one day, and six feet under the next. All grandiosity comes to an end.
After centuries of fighting god’s fight, in the 21st century, do we not know better than to fight for “our” god over “theirs”?