Durban - A PRIVATE Hindu Facebook group appearing to be against religions such as Islam and Christianity has caused an uproar on social media.
The group, “SA Hindu’s AGAINST CONversion (sic)”, was created in October 2018 and apparently recruited Hindus vocal against people of their religion converting to Islam and Christianity.
Durban community activist Rivaaj Ramdas said he had first observed the group’s activities before speaking out.
Ramdas said at first he thought the group was about preserving Hindu dharma and educating Hindus.
“It’s a front. It’s a group that has nothing to do with Hinduism, which is a religion which respects all religions. In this group, it’s about hating other religions. These people are creating the wrong impression about Hinduism and the things they are saying are highly offensive,” he said.
Ramdas said the group had caused hurt to the Muslim and Christian communities. He began posting screen grabs of comments and discussions on the group in February, including one where it was suggested that a fake Facebook account be created with which to goad Muslims.
SA Hindu Dharma Sabha president Ram Maharaj said it was unnecessary to undermine another religion to uplift Hinduism. Maharaj said it was divisive and disingenuous of followers of one religion to denigrate facets of another religion.
“Sometimes, some practitioners of religions say and do things that are unacceptable but it does not mean that the religion is bad. Religious baiting or bashing will not enhance essential mutual respect, inter-religious harmony, social cohesion, unity in diversity and nation-building,” he said.
“The South African Hindu Dharma Sabha stands firmly against conversion because this is based on a flawed sense of superiority and seeks imposition, exploitation and domination of one group over another and is therefore socially unjust, scientifically false and morally condemnable,” said Maharaj.
SA Muslim Network (Samnet) chairperson Dr Faisal Suliman said there would always be people or groups who post hurtful messages.
“People who are posting hate messages and insults are a very small minority. The vast majority of people of other faith groups, whether Hindu or Christian, do not subscribe to this hate mentality and do not support these hateful messages,” said Suliman.
ChristianView Network director Philip Rosenthal said the Bill of Rights protects free speech and religious debate, but “it does not protect the advocacy of hatred”.
“Social media memes are not a good forum for religious debate as they don’t allow space to defend and refute arguments,” Rosenthal said.
“These people have a right to have such a group on Facebook, but the ‘genocidal gods’ meme is slanderous and can lead to hatred. The question is whether the admin is allowing/encouraging such, or if it’s just the work of an angry individual.”
However, none of these religious bodies planned to report the hate speech.
The Daily News sent messages to the administrator of the page, but no response was received.