Religious segregation is the separation of
people according to their religion.
The term has been applied to cases of religious-based
segregation occurring as a social phenomenon,
as well as to segregation arising from laws,
whether explicit or implicit.The similar term
religious apartheid has also been used for
situations where people are separated based
on religion, including sociological phenomena.
== Northern Ireland ==
In Northern Ireland religious segregation
has been a voluntary phenomenon which increased
in many areas, particularly in the capital
city of Belfast and Derry.
This trend inceased since the Troubles, a
protracted series of conflicts and tensions
between Roman Catholics and Protestants from
the 1960s to the late 1990s.
Segregation does not occur everywhere.
State schools are non-denominational, but
many Roman Catholics send their children to
Roman Catholic Maintained Schools.
In government housing, most people will choose
to be housed within their own communities.
This segregation is most common with lower
income people in larger towns and cities,
and where there has been heightened levels
of violence.
In 2012 Foreign Policy reported: The number
of "peace walls," physical barriers separating
Catholic and Protestant communities, has increased
sharply since the first ceasefires in 1994.
Most people in the region cannot envisage
the barriers being removed, according to a
recent survey conducted by the University
of Ulster.
In housing and education, Northern Ireland
remains one of the most segregated tracts
of land anywhere on the planet -- less than
one in 10 children attends a school that is
integrated between Catholics and Protestant.
This figure has remained stubbornly low despite
the cessation of violence.
== Iran ==
Shi'a Islam has been the state religion of
Iran since the Iranian Revolution in 1979.
While Judaism, Christianity, and Zoroastrianism
are officially recognized and legally protected
religious minorities, they are not allowed
to evangelize or allow Muslim Iranians to
convert to their faiths.
The U.S. State Department has claimed that
religious minorities have been subject to
harassment and religious persecution.Other
religious minorities like the Bahá'í are
not recognized by the government and thus
do not have any legal protections nor the
constitutional right to practice their religion.
The Muslim Network for Bahá'í Rights has
reported cases of Bahá'í students being
expelled from university due to their religion.
According to the Times Higher Education, Bahá'í
educators are required to renounce their faith
in order to teach in Iranian universities.
Due to its heterodox beliefs, the Bahá'í
faith is officially considered a heretical
movement
because of the Bahá'í belief that Bahá'u'lláh
is a divinely ordained prophet in contradiction
of the Qur'an, which asserts that Muhammad
is the last and final messenger sent to mankind
.
== Pakistan ==
Pakistan is officially an Islamic country
and defines who and who is not a Muslim.
Under these conditions, Ahmadi Muslims are
declared non-Muslim by law of the land and
cannot practice their faith freely.
They are not permitted to call their mosques
as mosques, or meet with people with the Islamic
greeting of Peace.
Ahmadi Muslims are excluded from government
and any other high-profile positions within
Pakistan.
There have been cases when the Ahmadi Muslims
have been expelled from schools, colleges
and universities, for being Ahmadi Muslim.
Once the entire population of Rabwah, the
Pakistani headquarters of Ahmadi Muslims was
charged under Anti-Ahmadiyya laws.
== Bangladesh ==
== Saudi Arabia ==
Prior to March 1, 2004, the official Saudi
government website stated that Jews were forbidden
from entering the country, however, it was
not enforced into practice.In the City of
Mecca, only Muslims are allowed.
Non-Muslims may not enter or travel through
Mecca; attempting to enter Mecca as a non-Muslim
can result in penalties such as a fine; being
in Mecca as a non-Muslim can result in deportation.In
the City of Medina, both Muslims and Non-Muslims
are allowed in.
The exception are non-Muslims entering the
Nabawi Square, where the Al-Masjid Al-Nabawi
is located.
== Nepal ==
On the banks of the Bagmati River in Kathmandu,
Nepal is a Pashupatinath Temple dedicated
to Pashupatinath.
This temple complex which is on the UNESCO
World Heritage Sites's list since 1979 was
erected anew in the 15th century by King kirat
Yalamber.
Entry into the inner courtyard is strictly
monitored by the temple security, which is
selective of who is allowed inside.
Practicing Hindus and Buddhists of Indian
and Tibetan descendant are only allowed into
temple courtyard.
Practicing Hindus of western descent are not
allowed into the temple complex along with
other non Hindu visitors.
Others can look at the main temple from adjacent
side of the river.
== India ==
The debate over the ban on non-Hindus entering
Hindu temples began around 30 years ago when
singer Yesudas, who planned to take part in
a music programme, was stopped at the Guruvayur
temple gate.
He finally had to sing bhajans outside the
temple wall.
Though several temples in Kerala have signs
saying that non-Hindus are denied entry, few
of them enforce it as strictly as the Guruvayur
temple, which insists on following its distinct
traditions.'Only Orthodox Hindus are allowed’,
reads a signboard hanging from the Lion's
Gate of the Sri Jagannath Temple in Puri.
The issue has triggered many a controversy
in the past and continues to arouse strong
feelings even today.
The temple is an important pilgrimage destination
for many Hindu traditions and part of the
Char Dham pilgrimages that a Hindu is expected
to make in one's lifetime.
In the past a number of dignitaries, including
former prime minister Indira Gandhi, had not
been allowed to enter the 12th century shrine
because she had married a Parsi, Feroze Gandhi.
In 2005, the Queen of Thailand Mahachakri
Siridharan was not allowed inside the temple
as she was a follower of Buddhism.
In 2006, the shrine did not allow a citizen
of Switzerland named Elizabeth Jigler, who
had donated 17.8 million Indian Rupees to
the temple because she was a Christian.
Kashi Vishvanath In Varanasi
Located in Varanasi, the temple stands on
the western bank of the holy river Ganga,
and is one of the twelve Jyotirlingas, the
holiest of Shiva temples.
The most famous of the many temples in Varanasi
is the one dedicated to Vishveswara -- Shiva
as lord of the universe.
Non-Hindus are not allowed inside the temple,
although this is not always enforced.
On the northern side of Vishwanath Temple
is the Gyan Kupor well.
Non-Hindus are strictly not allowed to enter
here.
== Bahrain ==
== Myanmar ==
The 2012 Rakhine State riots are a series
of ongoing conflicts between Rohingya Muslims
and ethnic Rakhine in northern Rakhine State,
Myanmar.
The riots came after weeks of sectarian disputes
and have been condemned by most people on
both sides of the conflict.
The immediate cause of the riots is unclear,
with many commentators citing the killing
of ten Burmese Muslims by ethnic Rakhine after
the rape and murder of a Rakhine woman as
the main cause.Whole villages have been "decimated".
Over three hundred houses and a number of
public buildings have been razed.
According to Tun Khin, the President of the
Burmese Rohingya Organisation UK (BROUK),
as of 28 June 650 Rohingyas have been killed,
1,200 are missing, and more than 80,000 have
been displaced.
According to the Myanmar authorities, the
violence, between ethnic Rakhine Buddhists
and Rohingya Muslims, left 78 people dead,
87 injured, and thousands of homes destroyed.
It also displaced more than 52,000 people.The
government has responded by imposing curfews
and by deploying troops in the region.
On 10 June 2012, a state of emergency was
declared in Rakhine, allowing the military
to participate in the administration of the
region.
The Burmese army and police have been accused
of targeting Rohingya Muslims through mass
arrests and arbitrary violence.
A number of monks' organisations that played
a vital role in Burma's struggle for democracy
have taken measures to block any humanitarian
assistance to the Rohingya community.
In July 2012, the Myanmar Government did not
include the Rohingya minority group–-classified
as stateless Bengali Muslims from Bangladesh
since 1982—on the government's list of more
than 130 ethnic races and therefore the government
says that they have no claim to Myanmar citizenship.According
to Amnesty International, the Muslim Rohingya
people have continued to suffer from human
rights violations under the Burmese junta
since 1978, and many have fled to neighbouring
Bangladesh as a result.As of 2005, the UNHCR
(United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees)
had been assisting with the repatriation of
Rohingya from Bangladesh, but allegations
of human rights abuses in the refugee camps
have threatened this effort.Despite earlier
efforts by the UN, the vast majority of Rohingya
refugees have remained in Bangladesh, unable
to return because of the regime in Myanmar.
Now they face problems in Bangladesh where
they do not receive support from the government.
In February 2009, many Rohingya refugees were
helped by Acehnese sailors in the Strait of
Malacca, after 21 days at sea.Over the years
thousands of Rohingya also have fled to Thailand.
There are roughly 111,000 refugees housed
in nine camps along the Thai-Myanmar border.
There have been charges that groups of them
have been shipped and towed out to open sea
from Thailand, and left there.
In February 2009, there was evidence of the
Thai army towing a boatload of 190 Rohingya
refugees out to sea.
A group of refugees rescued by Indonesian
authorities also in February 2009 told harrowing
stories of being captured and beaten by the
Thai military, and then abandoned at open
sea.
By the end of February, there were reports
that of a group of five boats were towed out
to open sea, of which four boats sank in a
storm, and one washed up on the shore.
February 12, 2009 Thailand's prime minister
Abhisit Vejjajiva said there were "some instances"
in which Rohingya people were pushed out to
sea.
"There are attempts, I think, to let these
people drift to other shores.
[...] when these practices do occur, it is
done on the understanding that there is enough
food and water supplied.
[...] It's not clear whose work it is [...] but
if I have the evidence who exactly did this
I will bring them to account."
[5]
== See also ==
== References ==
