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Transcription:
Bailey: Hi Everyone! My name is Bailey and today I am here with Ally talking about Religious Oppression!
Ally: Hi everyone, I’m Ally! I’m very excited for today’s podcast and the crucial information we will be sharing with all of you today!
Bailey: Me, too! To get today started, we first wanted to mention a book we have recently been reading in one of our classes, which helped us discover today’s topic, and a novel that we highly recommend to you all. This amazing autobiographical series written by Marjane Strapi, named Persepolis, tells the story of a young girl living in Iran during the Islamic Revolution which led to religious oppression. While Ally and I got to talking this week about the recent graphic novel we have enjoyed reading, and the oppression Marji and her family experienced, we were really interested and intrigued by her story. We began doing further research on this topic, and found that although the text is set between the years 1976 and 1994, this religious oppression is still deeply affecting people today. Can you believe that? Several decades later and nothing has changed!
Ally: I know! It is ridiculous. As Bailey had mentioned, sitting here discovering this information really made our stomachs turn. We were shocked nothing had changed since the Islamic Revolution and people were still suffering from religious oppression. This is when we knew we needed to share this information with the public. When thinking about this issue, I think that there’s a number of stories that we could discuss and see how it is still a really big issue today.
Bailey: I agree! Did you ever hear about the bombing in Sri Lanka in 2019?
Ally: No, I haven’t! What happened?
Bailey: In 2019, there were bombings to churches and hotels in Sri Lanka during religious services. 250 people were killed and 500 people were left injured! It was very sad. Many people gathered in the streets near the Saint Anthony’s Shrine to pay their respects at the memorial. The images of the family’s mourning were heartbreaking. Sri Lanka’s government says the attacks were carried out by a radical Islamist group.
Ally: That is horrible! Though, I’m glad the government of Sri Lanka has pinpointed the people behind the attacks.
Bailey: I agree! Though, it seems these attacks haven’t stopped and seem to be occurring all around the world every day.
Ally: I know, I agree. It’s sad and horrifying for these people in these countries.
Bailey: I agree. I couldn’t imagine.
Ally: You know, I think religious discrimination is also a big problem when it comes to our education system in certain Universities. For example, did you ever see what happened at Boston University last year when a group of students were trying to pray in a way that the University didn’t think was “normal” to them?
Bailey: No I didn’t hear of this, that’s crazy! Why would they punish them for practicing their religion in their own way?
Ally: Right! Basically, these students were smudging while they were praying, which is like praying using special herbs that acts as a more powerful way of gaining blessings or some type of protection. Eventually these students were kicked out of the church on campus that they prayed on for using the practices that they grew up doing. I think it’s so wrong that these groups of students were discriminated against for practicing what they believe in, regardless if it was considered “normal” or not.
Bailey: Wow, that is awful! I couldn’t imagine being kicked out of a church for practicing what I believe, but sadly this is what a lot of these different groups have to go through, and it’s quite sad in my opinion.
Ally: It is pretty sad and I wish there was something that could change such cruelty to these groups. But, now I want to lead into discussing how the story we read in class, Persepolis, highlights a lot of the situations that we just touched upon. Like Bailey said earlier, this is a story about a girl living in Iran during the Islamic Revolution. I want to specifically talk about how the government was forcing specific religious practices, for example when these women were forced to wear a veil. Marjane always saw herself as religious, however her parents were not, but now religion was being forced upon them. In the story she mentions that they didn’t really like wearing the veils and really did not understand why they had to.
Bailey: Yes, I remember this part of the story and it was pretty eye opening. To add to that, as time went on the veil ended up being more naturally essential to religious oppression that the new government was forcing upon these people.
Ally: Exactly! I also remember reading the part in the story when Marjane’s mother had a very scary incident of being insulted when she decided she was going to stick up for herself and not wear the veil. These men ended up severely insulting her and pretty much told her she was garbage and that if she chooses not to wear the veil then she deserves to be treated like that. Which I know if I believed in not doing something and was forced to do the opposite I would be very upset. I wouldn’t know how to handle that if I was in her situation.
Bailey: Right! I totally agree with you, I wouldn’t know what to do either. And sadly, situations like these are still happening even today and I think we really wanted to discuss with you all the importance of understanding what they still have to go through.
Ally: Have you ever thought of how we deal with religious opression and discrimination in society? Because if you haven’t it can be pretty eye opening if I’m being honest.
Bailey: Yes, I have also thought the same thing, and honestly what are we even doing to fix this? How do we deal with such an important topic as a society as a whole?
Ally: Personally, I think no matter what, people are always going to judge and discriminate. Which is the sad truth. Honestly, I don’t think we can fix what’s already broken, especially in our country with just the physical contributions, we almost need a spiritual revolution and change how we treat and think about one another especially when it comes to religion and what we view as “right.”
Bailey: Absolutely Ally, I agree. I love the point you made about changing the way we treat one another. Adding on to that, did you know that our society actually has certain religions that are considered “privileged” and ones that are not.
Ally: No, I know that some get better rights per say but I didn’t know we considered these groups to be privileged.
Bailey: Yeah it’s crazy, but being christian is considered to be a privilege in our society based off the fact that the languages and the traditions that they practice don’t need to be explained, whereas many other religions do which is why I believe we have so much discrimination against other religions.
Ally: Wow, that is pretty sad if you really think about it. How can one determine what is normal and acceptable and what is not? I believe everyone should be able to express what they believe equally especially when it comes to their own religious beliefs without feeling they will be punished or discriminated against for it.
Bailey: Have you ever seen a situation in person where someone or group of people were being discriminated against?
Ally: Personally, no I have not. I grew up in a very small community and there was not much diversity but ever since moving to Columbus I 100% can see the injustices that these groups face. If I ever do see it in person, I hope I am one of those that try to make a change and not just walk by and go on about my day. What about you, have you witnessed any discrimination that you can think of or even been discriminated against yourself?
Bailey: I agree, since I have moved to Columbus, I have seen many more instances of Injustices. I also grew up in a small community. Though, my community was very diverse. The only discrimination I was exposed to was in my school system to the students who came from lower income class. Growing up, I went to a small public school within my city. My community was very split between the middle class and then very low income families. There seemed to be inbetween. The students who came from these low income families sometimes struggled with buying school supplies, or basic necessities like deodorant or clothing. It was very sad to watch, though my school tried to do a lot of food or clothing drives and food services over the weekends for these students. Though, when it came to the classroom, many teachers treated these students as less and gave other kids more attention over them because of the stigma that surrounded them with their future goals. The teachers had less patience with these kids, spoke to them in a different tone, and were sometimes very rude to them. It was honestly very upsetting and sad to watch.
Ally: That is so sad! I feel like situations like these unfortunately happen too often, especially in communities like ours that we grew up in. I actually went to a catholic school from 1st to 6th grade and there was also a public school right down the road from us and the only time all of us from both schools were in the same place was for sporting events and whenever that happened we would get made fun of. They would say things like we’re privileged or don’t know what it’s like to be at a public school and it’s so much harder. They would also make fun of us for being required to go to church every Thursday. Which I get growing up that young they didn’t really understand, but still I feel like this happens in other communities as well.
Bailey: That’s funny you mention that, because when I was in high school, that was also something that went on in our community. During rivalry games, my school which was public would always chant at the private schools the phrase, “God loves us for free.” As they would always chant stuff back at us as well. I never really realized the issues with this until now. Obviously then, it felt like a silly rivalry, but I honestly think this can be classified by religious oppression as well.
Ally: That is crazy and I think similar situations just like ours still happen at so many other schools as well.
Bailey: It’s crazy to think of the little things we never realize can be oppression of some sort, especially religious oppression.
Ally: I know. I agree.
Bailey: Well, to wrap up today Ally and I wanted to thank you all for listening. We hope you enjoyed our topic for today and learned about religious oppression in our current world, and Marjane Strapi’s book, Persepolis. We wanted to mention again how much we recommend this book to all and both believe it gives a great insight into religious oppression during the Islamic Revolution. To end today, Ally and I wanted to leave you with a question to consider.
Ally: Yes, thank you all for joining us today. We have really loved exploring this topic and hope you all learned something new today. Leaving today, we wanted you to consider instances you have experienced with religious oppression and what you did to address the issue. Did you stand up for the oppressed or ignore it?
Bailey: Thank you all for listening!
Ally: Have a great day!