Religious freedom and economic prosperity

RELIGIOUS FREEDOM AND ECONOMIC PROSPERITY

Open to Public, RSVP
Time 11:30 to 1:00 PM
Friday, July 19k 2019
Location:  100 Maryland Ave, NE, conference Room 3, Washington DC 20002
RSVP – https://www.eventbrite.com/e/religious-freedom-is-proportional-to-economic-prosperity-of-a-nation-tickets-64248754755

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Website: http://centerforpluralism.com/religious-freedom-and-prosperity/

Organization(s): Center for Pluralism

Preview: The economic prosperity of a nation is directly proportional to religious freedom. It frees people from the daily tensions of what to eat, drink, wear and believe, or loss of income. They become a productive employee and devoted members of their family and contributing to the prosperity of the nation.

PARKING
Union Station metro and Capitol South Metro are about 10 minutes’ walk from the United Methodist building, the building is in the corner of Maryland Ave, NE, and First Street NE – ring the doorbell. You might find parking north of 2nd street on the constitution avenue/

Preview: The economic prosperity of a nation is directly proportional to religious freedom. It frees people from the daily tensions of what to eat, drink, wear and believe, or loss of income. They become a productive employee and devoted members of their family and contributing to the prosperity of the nation.

The prosperity hinges on the prosperity of people around us and the success of nations around us. None of us will succeed if some of us are left behind. Moreover, our very survival as a society may be at stake.

We are committed to restoring justice to my fellow Americans   We will restore our glory days, and in the end, no human will be left out.

We will discuss the solutions … and what we can do about it.

Imagine a child raised with ill will towards Blacks, Whites, Latinos, Arabs, Chinese or Asians. I have closely monitored the results with Indian kids raised to hate Pakistani kids and vice-versa. The idiotic parents poison their kids.

When that child grows up to be an adult and has to work with the other who is not to be trusted, you can guess the anguish that person endures. There is an unwanted battle he/she encounters causing him non-stop distress. As an owner of the business, do you welcome these inner battles between employees, don’t they cut down the productiveness of your firm?

You want to get along with all and focuses on delivering quality products and services to your customers.  You also want to go home with no baggage from work and give 100% of himself or herself to the family. A happy person is productive for his/her family, your community and the nation.

Should employers look for employees who have no problem with others?
Dr. Swamy’s example

Questions to the audience – how many of you feel tense working with….

Disaster is waiting to happen in India.

This is an early warning signal to the Indian businesses and IT employees who do not want to see a disaster and lose all that they have gained in the last two decades. The course can be corrected, and PM Modi needs to be approached.

‘Let’s start with an ideal society that functions cohesively, where each member of the community feels secure about his/her faith, culture, language, ethnicity, and other uniqueness. Indeed, the prosperity of a nation and religious freedom is directly proportional to each other, the higher the freedom, the greater the economic prosperity.

That’s the central lesson of the “2008 Index of Economic Freedom,” released by The Heritage Foundation and The Wall Street Journal. “A country-by-country survey of how free people are worldwide to direct their economic fortunes; the Index repeatedly demonstrates the vital link between freedom and prosperity. In simple words, the freer the people are, the more an economy grows — and the more everyone benefits.”

Gill and Owen in a paper “Religious Liberty and Economic prosperity,” write in a Cato Publication, ” A casual glance suggests nations that have developed strong legal guarantees of religious freedom are also ones that have had long-term sustained economic growth (Grim and Finke 2011).”

One should be free to eat, drink, wear, think, speak, and believe whatever the individual wants in the pursuit of his/her happiness. The greater the security, the higher the productivity, and one starts contributing more than his share to the growth of the company and the nation’s GDP as a whole.

Right now, most minorities, but particularly the American Jews, Muslims, Sikhs, and Latinos are the worried, concerned and are tense. African Americans have been tensing all through history. I live in a predominantly Black community; in fact, I am the only non-black there.

         Let the audience take a minute to share it.

When a black man sits behind the wheel to go to work, he is apprehensive, never knowing when he will be stopped….and even shot.

The Jewish Community, 119 Cemeteries

Muslims Mosques, declarations by a few stupid presidential candidates that they will not hire Muslims in their administration – Harmon had said, Gingrich had said, Romney had said. all of them did the damage

the Indian Christians, Muslims, and Dalits are not feeling secure in their neighborhoods. Every day is laden with tensions, and everyone is apprehensive about walking alone on the street lest he/she be beaten, harassed, raped, or even lynched. Lynching is not only on beef pretext but clearly demanding to renounce one’s religion.

Let this be clear; the innocent majorities believe that everyone around them is treated fairly and equitably. However, the moderate white majority does not understand the fear a black man feels when he sits behind the wheel to go to work, nor does the moderate Hindu majority understands the concern a Muslim, Christian or a Dalit man or a woman feels walking alone on a given street in Modi’s India.

Since ‘Modi’s re-election on May 23, 2019, in less than a month, seven cases of brutal lynching have occurred. Muslims, in particular, are afraid to get out on the street, lest someone lynches them for the suspicion of carrying beef. Just this week, a woman was hung to a tree and beaten non-stop while a huge crowd gathered around and watched the shameless act. An individual was hacked to death with bare stones and ax in public, and they videotaped the gory murder for the world to watch.

Does Modi recognize the ruthless, mindless, and violent new generation he is fostering? What kind of Next generation are we raising?

Modi needs to get out of the mode of giving three days for the violent men to clean up before he takes action as happened in Gujarat Massacre where nearly 2000 men, women, and children were killed and burnt alive.   Last year, the men who gang-raped and brutally murdered a six-year-old girl in a Hindu temple were greeted with garlands by Modi’s men as if they were heroes. Two years ago, the Chief Minister (Governor equivalent) Yogi stood on the podium next to a man who announced to the extremists to dig out dead Muslim women from the graves and rape them, and it happened as well. There is a whole list out there, but the question is what kind of Indians are we looking forward to being in the new generation.

On the other hand, can a nation afford to undermine and underutilize the productivity of her 300 million Dalits, 200 million Muslims, and 30 million Christians? Can it afford to keep the people under eternal tensions?

India may get the certificate of country of Particular Concern by the Department of State? Would Google, Facebook, Twitter, and other mega-corporations see a future in ‘India’s growth, would they continue to partner or hold back for lack stability?

Indian Muslim must be appreciated; they have shown extraordinary resilience and patience. Despite the lynching’s and injustices, they have not resorted to violence, unlike their counterparts in other nations. Presidents Bush, and then Obama, as well as Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, have appreciated Indian Muslims. It is time for Modi to do the same and stop the growing discord.

Prime Minister Modi and his party is living in the past and want to get even with the Muslims for the acts committed by some kings three hundred years ago, who happened to be Muslims. Indeed, almost all the kings of yesteryears, be it Hindu, Muslim, Christian or otherwise expanded their territories by killing the neighbors and robbing their wealth.  The Muslim of independent India has nothing to do with anyone beyond his/her grandfather; in fact, no one should be responsible for the acts he did not commit. Should one be jailed for the actions of his father?

If Modi cannot change the mindset of the mobs, no one can. All he has to do is to speak up and boldly announce that anyone who harasses another Indian will be taken to the court and appropriate punishment will be met. That is all it takes.

There is a limit to pushing, harassing, and lynching people and that limit is approaching a breaking point, it needs to be stopped before it blows up.

What if Indian Muslims, Christians, and Dalits cannot take it anymore and resort to violence? What will happen to the economy, investments from overseas, and the political stability of the nation? Every Indian will live in hell should that happen. I hope Modi brings law and order and restores the cohesiveness of India. No Indian wants a chaotic India.

If India goes through serious social upheaval and terrorism, How does it affect American Interests?

Geopolitical
Economic
Freedom

References:

Heritage – https://www.heritage.org/commentary/the-link-between-freedom-prosperity

Cato: https://object.cato.org/sites/cato.org/files/serials/files/cato-journal/2017/2/cj-v37n1-9.pdf