Religion Issue....

[Malevolent]

In Minnesota Muslim cabbies at the airport are turning down and refusing passengers due to religion status, color, religious jewlery, people with adding dogs such as seeing eye dogs, people bringing home aclcohol from their trip. All because it violates thier religion.

I for one have experienced this...i came back from a recent trip from Buckhead, GA arrived in MN yesterday and tried catching a cab home...took me 3 hours to get one...all becasue i have a cross tattooed on my forearm and also a cross neckelace. When it came time for my turn in line for a cab i was told to go to the end of the line because i was holding up the line because of my choice in religion....finally i just waited untill my wife got home and called her. Anyways...is anyone seeing something wrong with this?? If you'd like to read a story about this trouble in MN go to www.myfox9.com it made headlines in our newspaper and local news.

I'm quite outraged....

[Caspian]

Re: Religion Issue....

That sucks, I also fail to see how helping someone of another religion is a sin. Love thy neighbor, no?
However, as much as it sucks, they work for a private company and if the cab company is ok with it, then there's not much you can do about it through legal measures (I mean through the court system.) I would however write letters to the cab company(ies) and if you have time and can organize enough people, protest in front of the company, boycott their service, etc.
That does seriously suck.

[Omniblast]

Re: Religion Issue....

Wow, I can't believe some people, this takes religion and religious fanatics to the extreme. And I thought they were the ones that wanted religious tolerance? It's a 2 way street, not 1. Idiots.

[Jei]

Re: Religion Issue....

you know, muslim down south of my country had turned into terrorist for the past 5 years wanting to seperate their region from being part of Thailand. They want to merge with malaysia where muslims are allowed more than 1 wife. They bomb schools, blew up a power plant, killed police, hanged teachers and broadcast them. And my government are taking ZERO actions against them.

I'm so pissed off.

[Theyaden]

Re: Religion Issue....

That sucks, I also fail to see how helping someone of another religion is a sin. Love thy neighbor, no?
However, as much as it sucks, they work for a private company and if the cab company is ok with it, then there's not much you can do about it through legal measures (I mean through the court system.) I would however write letters to the cab company(ies) and if you have time and can organize enough people, protest in front of the company, boycott their service, etc.
That does seriously suck.

Not completely true the cab company can be sued for this just as they can be if they refused their services to someone for being black, hispanic, exc., but as a practical matter it depends on how far are your willing to push back, it takes a lot of time and money to take a company to court also saying you can sue, but doesn't neccesarily mean you will win since you can sue for anything with or without firm legal grounds. Also you'ld need to show what your damages happen to be.

A hospital denying you medical treatment causing injurry would have a higher damage than you being forced to walk home. Sorry you ran into an intolerant asshat, informing the company you were refused service is probably the best way to go since it is probably the individual cabbie's policy rather than the companies. After all Christian money spends just as well as Muslim, Budist, exc.

Edit: It should be noted that areas ruled by Islamic law tend to be very intolerant to the point of executing people for differences in religion so it is unfortunately unsurprising that many that practice Islam are also intolerant in following the example of some leaders in passing on interance. Christianity used to be this bad but has tamed over the last several centuries considerably.

[Bricklayer]

Re: Religion Issue....

Christianity used to be this bad but has tamed over the last several centuries considerably.

I would say "Catholicism," but that might seem like splitting hairs. Even Catholicism probably can't be blamed for the Crusades (I assume this is what you are talking about). Perhaps you should say Folk Religion. IIRC, many of the Crusaders were not even particularly religious. Forced conversion by the sword is far from a "Christian" value.

Edit: Catholicism, or more appropriately Pope Urban II, should be blamed for the Crusades. Thank you, Maju, for correcting my statement.

[Maju]

Re: Religion Issue....

Even Catholicism probably can't be blamed for the Crusades (I assume this is what you are talking about).

Who should you blame then? As far as I can remember, it was the Pope who set the crusades in motion and the European kings who took part in them followed.

[Bricklayer]

Re: Religion Issue....

Who should you blame then? As far as I can remember, it was the Pope who set the crusades in motion and the European kings who took part in them followed.

Wikipedia supports your statement.

Excerpt from "First Crusade 1095–99":
After Byzantine emperor Alexius I called for help with defending his empire against the Seljuk Turks, in 1095 at the Council of Clermont, Pope Urban II called upon all Christians to join a war against the Turks, a war which would count as full penance. Crusader armies managed to defeat two substantial Turkish forces at Dorylaeum and at Antioch, finally marching to Jerusalem with only a fraction of their original forces. In 1099, they took Jerusalem by assault and massacred the population. As a result of the First Crusade, several small Crusader states were created, notably the Kingdom of Jerusalem.

I've edited my original post to reflect this.

However, I still stand by the statement that "Forced conversion by the sword is far from a 'Christian' value." In addition to that, I'll mention that massacring populations (in times of war or otherwise) is also not a Christian value.

[Nerotu]

Re: Religion Issue....

man that really sucks
Over here where I live, religion is a pretty big thing.
Seriously, I grew up getting beaten up because of my religion. And I couldn't really go to the police, because a 97% protestant police force over here would rather give a catholic a kick than help him.
I honestly believe that religion has caused more harm than good. Very rarely does it bring the good out in people, which is most frightening.

I would have suggested that you take off your necklace and cover your forearm, but I don't see why you should hide who you are. If you are refused service for anything because of your religion (i've been there) then that is sectarianism.

[Maju]

Re: Religion Issue....

I honestly believe that religion has caused more harm than good. Very rarely does it bring the good out in people, which is most frightening.

I completely agree.

By the way, why don't you resign from your church if you think religion is bad? That's what I did.

[Murphie]

Re: Religion Issue....

I was just never a part of any church (formally) in the first place. It worked out well for me. Perhaps not for my eternal soul, but whatev!

[Nerotu]

Re: Religion Issue....

I completely agree.

By the way, why don't you resign from your church if you think religion is bad? That's what I did.

oh trust me, I would love to, but unfortunately I am at a very good school (one of the top in northern ireland) and it just so happens to be catholic
I never go to church anyway, and I always questioned my religion teacher in school. She could not answer me a very simple question "Does God exist?" Which I find strange because she IS preaching the subject
I have no problem with people who believe in god or a god, and I don't have a problem with people who talk about their faith and are adament about it. But I have a serious problem with people who try and force their faith among others.

[Theyaden]

Re: Religion Issue....

I would say "Catholicism," but that might seem like splitting hairs. Even Catholicism probably can't be blamed for the Crusades (I assume this is what you are talking about). Perhaps you should say Folk Religion. IIRC, many of the Crusaders were not even particularly religious. Forced conversion by the sword is far from a "Christian" value.

Edit: Catholicism, or more appropriately Pope Urban II, should be blamed for the Crusades. Thank you, Maju, for correcting my statement.

I was actually refering to more of the medivial values when being a heritic was an executable offence rather than the crusaids spefically. In history most religions that have take control of governments have used that power to ruthlessly weed out their competition. Be it by imprisionment, setting a person in stocks, hanging, beheading, or even burnign to death. My reference to Christianity was not ment to be an attack on that particular religion, but rather to show than if how christianity is applied has managed to become more tolerant at some point we will hopefully see Islam make a simular transformation once people rather than Iams start to examine their own beliefs.

[Ameroth]

Re: Religion Issue....

Wow, I can't believe some people, this takes religion and religious fanatics to the extreme. And I thought they were the ones that wanted religious tolerance? It's a 2 way street, not 1. Idiots.

My point exactly.

[bside]

Re: Religion Issue....

Like many of you mentioned, that really sucks. And like Theyaden said, you can sue the cab company if you're willing to go that far.


However, whether religious, racial, or otherwise, discrimination is something we must live w/ throughout our lives if we happen to be a part of minority in places you go/reside. I'm not saying discrimination is OK in anyway; I'm totally against it. But the fact of the world is, it does exist in many parts of the world, if not most.

I'm a Japanese, of East Asian race (not half, quarter, anything), and I lived in New England for 7 years (1 yr in Connecticut and 6 yrs in Massachusetts). I'd say I was lucky enough not to experience as much discriminations as others might have, but there were things like denied to use a bathroom at a gas station when it was run by an elderly person, in other words person of those ages who remeber the WWII, or maybe children of them who lost their precious ones in it.

I've also experienced other unfair "judgements" due to my handicap, not just in US but also here in Japan, largely due to the fact that this particular handicap is not widely known. (Sorry, I opt not to talk in detail about the nature or degree of the handicap, but it's something not widely known and people often misundestand me.) It's rather a prejudice, that people judge me based on the handicap, not my skills (I'm a Japanese native and English is my second language, and without any self-praise, not many Japanese people, if not most, can write as well as I do).


The thing is, they do exist, so we sometimes have to "let it go." If we get outraged everytime they come across, it's possible that we're outraged all the time, and that's obviously something we don't want. I hear you, that really sucks. But remember, they are the ones not doing the right things, not you. It's just not right that you get mad in your room while they're laughing drinking beers after work. Instead, though I know it's probably hard for you, if you could start laughing them out, there will be an easier and happier life.

I know I'm being optimistic, but that's what I'm really hoping for.