“I know God won't give me anything I can't handle. I just wish he didn't trust me so much.”

― Mother Teresa

“There’s nothing holy about hatred.”

- Lady Gaga

“Science without religion is lame, religion without

science is blind.”

- Albert Einstein

“God has no religion.”

– Mahatma Gandhi

― Abraham Lincoln

“My concern is not whether God is on our

side; my greatest concern is to be on God's side, for

God is always right.”

Taoism, Hinduism and

Islam

Taoism

Epistemology: Taoism is a philosophical and religious tradition that emphasizes living in harmony with the “Tao” or way.

Truth is an idea, as a Daoist ,they see truth as what is left when subjectivity is removed. The world is much more basic than

people believe.

Metaphysical:Metaphysically, Daoism is naturalistic in that any first-order moral Dao must be rooted in

natural ways.

Axiology: emphasizes wu-wei, naturalness, simplicity, spontaneity and the three treasures: compassion, moderation

and humility

Proponent

The founder of Taoism is believed by many to be Lao Tse (604 - 531 BCE), a

contemporary of Confucius. (Alternate spellings: Li Erh, Lao Tan, Lao Tze, Lao Tsu, Lao Tzu, Laozi, Laotze, etc.). He was searching for a way that would

avoid the constant feudal warfare and other conflicts that disrupted society during his lifetime. The result was his book: Tao te Ching (a.k.a. Daodejing),

composed some time between the sixth and third centuries B.C. Some believe that Lao Tzu is a mythical

character.

Hinduism

Epistemological:All knowledge came from the Vedas which was written by the

rishis or ancient sages

Metaphysical:Brahman is the Absolute, the Supreme Reality – formless,

shapeless, unknowable, unseen.Transcendent reality through reincarnation

Axiological:All actions have its own consequences guided by the principle of

karma. As a man acts, so does he become.

ProponentsAryan invasion started the Vedic religion which was

based on the hymns, rituals, devotion to the deities of

the cosmos.Brahmin or the priestly class

contributed a lot to the development of Hinduism through the facilitation of

the sacrifices on fire to Agni, the god of Fire.

IslamEpistemological – All knowledge is from Allah. Allah’s knowledge is

limitless but human knowledge is limited. – can be innate or acquired.

Metaphysical –From the view of metaphysics, the thought of Islam concentrates on the aspects between human, human and god and

human with the environment. – Muslims believe that our senses do not reveal all of reality.

Axiological – Allah is the One who determines what is acceptable and what is not.

– The Noble Quran is very detailed and clearly mentions the significance of good manners, just like it mentions the importance of

belief, worship, and all our daily affairs.

The Five Pillars of Islam

• The Testimony of Faith• Prayer• Giving zakat (support of the needy)• Fasting the Month of Ramadan• The Pilgrimage to Makkah (Hajj)

ProponentMuhammad, also known as rasul Allah, or God's Messenger to the Arabs, and to all of humanity is

often regarded as the founder of Islam.

He had a vision in which he heard God, speaking through the angel Gabriel, command him to become the Arab prophet of the

"true religion." Thus began a lifetime of religious revelations,

which he and others collected as the Qur'an. These revelations

provided the foundation for the Islamic religion.

Ethnic cleansing of Bangladesh's Hindus continues in 2012

• It talks about the anti-hindu atrocities made by Islamic forces such as religious desecration, land grabs, property destruction, beating, forced conversion to Islam, child abduction, rape and murder.

1. vested property act2. Eight amendment of Bangladeshi constitution

• Primary: Bangladeshi Muslims , Hindu minorities,

Awami League• Secondary: New York Times,

Hindu-American Foundation,United Nations

Who are the parties involved?

• Muslims are supposed to wage jihad to change the House of War (where non-Muslims are dominant) into the House of Islam, dominated by Muslims.

• Islamic terror groups justify their atrocities by references to the shari'a rules on jihad.

• Discrimination on the basis of religion is fundamental to shari'a. By religious edict, Islam must be dominant; only Muslims are considered to be full citizens.

Pros

Cons

• The battle against Muslim persecution in India is just one front in a much larger battle against Islamic expansionism and terror throughout the world.

• Islamic terrorism is one of the manifestations of the Hindu atrocities in Bangladesh

• Religious extremism is the driving factor towards the ethnic cleansing.

• All forms of religion should be equal and human rights are violated especially on the minorities.

HISTORICAL BACKGROUND• Over a period of 800 years, millions of Hindus were

slaughtered by Muslims as infidels or converted by the sword. In 1946-1947, when British India was divided into India and Pakistan, Muslims massacred many thousands of Hindus in Calcutta, the capital of West Bengal, and all along the fault line which separated India and Pakistan. Anti-Hindu riots and massacres continued during the 1950s and 1960s, but it was in 1971, when East Pakistan broke away to form the country of Bangladesh, that things worsened for Hindus in the area.

Relevance

• The issue revolved around the philosophy of Islam which practices the strict Sharia Law wherein it tells that Islam must be dominant among all religions. In all sense, religious extremism is

• Islamization of Bangladesh give the way for the radical Islams to eradicate other religions and abuse them physically, mentally, economically, politically, sexually and morally.

• Islamic terrorism continues to rise through the concepts of the Holy War.

Insights

Religion gives us the idea that we cannot judge for ourselves on what is right or wrong, and because of their(Muslims) beliefs, we cannot fully blame them

for some actions, except those crimes which are done with no valid reasons. We have seen a hard time to

end this violence because it is anchored in their religion. We are seeing this as violence but for them it is part of their being. But the more palpable thing is

human rights are violated by them.

Insights

The human rights of members of ethnic minorities to freedom from any distinction,

exclusion, restriction or preference based on race, colour, national or ethnic origin,

language, religion, birth, or any other status, which has the purpose or effect of impairing

the enjoyment of human rights and fundamental freedoms.

Insights

Now, this is a religious persecution. I don’t agree to the cleansing of Hindus in Bangladesh because we all

have different faith that should be respected and because of the way Muslims persecute the Hindus – it is inhuman. Killing in Islam is not prohibited if the

reason is to defend their religion, but even if we look at any angle, killing and other brutal acts they did to

the Hindus are considered as violations of human rights.

References• Retrieved on August 3,2012 from

http://eastbengaleye.blogspot.in/2012/05/ethnic-cleansing-of-bangladeshs-hindus.html• Retrieved on August 3,2012 from

http://indianmotherland.blogspot.in/2012/05/muslim-persecution-of-hindus-in-india.html• Retrieved on August 3,2012 from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethnic_cleansing• Retrieved on August 3,2012 from http

://eastbengaleye.blogspot.in/2012/05/another-spate-of-hindu-persecution-in.html• Retrieved on August 3,2012 from

http://www.discoverthenetworks.org/viewSubCategory.asp?id=774• Retrieved on August 3,2012 from

http://humanrightsinvestigations.org/2011/09/26/libya-ethnic-cleansing-tawargha-genocide/• Retrieved on August 3,2012 from Http://Plato.Stanford.Edu/Entries/Taoism/#Primer• Retrieved on August 3,2012 from Http://En.Wikipedia.Org/Wiki/Laozi• Retrieved on August 3,2012 from http://omarkasule-03.tripod.com/id828.html• Retrieved on August 3,2012 from

http://ungs2030.blogspot.com/2011/05/islamic-metaphysics.html• Retrieved on August 3,2012 from http://realislam.webs.com/themainislamicbeliefs.htm• Retrieved on August 3,2012 from

http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/founder-of-islam-dies

• Do you agree that one religion must be superior among others?

• Do you agree that a state religion must be proclaimed? Why or why not?