Religious Hatred and Religion-Based Violence

Notwithstanding the fact that the world’s major religions espouse the principle of inter-religion tolerance, religion has, arguably, replaced ideology in the 21st century as the main destructive force in human affairs. This is because religion, more than a set of theological beliefs, is an outward signifier of group identity; underlying differences in religious beliefs and practices, are differences of race, ethnicity, culture, language, and nationality. Consequently, religious hatred represents more than simply an intellectual aversion to a rival set of beliefs. It transcends this aversion to embrace a hatred of everything that a person from a different religion represents. This chapter examines violence and restrictions in the context of religious tensions between Muslims and Hindus in India. Using a novel set of data this chapter analyses the geographical dispersion of these riots across India. It also looks at the effect of laws disadvantaging Muslims which have been passed by the majoritarian Hindu government in India. The enforcement of these laws has been carried out by Hindu vigilante groups who have seized the opportunity to attack Muslims suspected, rightly or wrongly, of transporting cattle for slaughter. The result is that that official policy has coalesced with anti-Muslim violence.