Library > Philosophy, Religion & Mythology > Religions

Religious Persecution: Shades of Grey

2000
What is religious persecution? At the beginning of this project, we thought religious persecution was a black and white topic with a clear definition. We thought that religious persecution was simply the persecution of a group because of their religious faith. However, we discovered that there are no simple explanations of religious persecution, and it is a much more complex and controversial issue than we had imagined. In fact, some events categorized as religious persecution reveal only shades of grey and ambiguities and do not neatly fit this simple definition. We wanted our viewers to come to this same understanding. Therefore, we have formulated our own definition of religious persecution. It is the persecution of individuals within a group in the struggle to maintain their religious identity, or the abuse of power by an individual or organization that causes members of a religious group to suffer. Within this website, we explore the complexity of religious persecution, based on our new definition, through in-depth studies of three cases: The Holocaust, China in Tibet, and the Sikhs versus the Indian government.