India has an impeccable history of welcoming the stranger and giving refuge to the oppressed, rejected and the evicted. She has welcomed Jews, Christians, Zoroastrians, and the Baha’is. Indeed the very first mosque built outside of Arabia was in India by a Hindu King in the state of Malabar. The Tibetan Buddhist refugees found a home in India; the Ahmadiyya Muslims felt secure, so were the displaced Bangladeshi and Afghan refugees.
This beautiful pluralistic 5000-year-old tradition of India is in peril now. BJP and its affiliates (The SanghParivar) that govern India “currently” are hell-bent on destroying that heritage. They want to force non-Hindus into obedience and tell them what they can eat or believe, and whom they can marry or live as 2nd class citizens. They want to free India from Christians and Muslims and plan to convert them by 2025 to Hinduism. Indeed, the ISIS had given similar options to the Christians and Yazidis.
Make no mistake about it; Hinduism is a religion of peace like all other religions. The problem is not between people of faith, but the radicals.
A few Indian American organizations linked to the SanghParivar want to whitewash the situation. They want to portray that everything is hunky dory in India.
Hunky dory it is not, the Congressmen and Senators are fully conversant of the harassment, lynching, raping and killing of Christians, Dalits, Muslims, Sikhs, Atheists and others in India.
It is time for the Indian Americans to save the honor of India and restore her pluralistic heritage that got derailed in the last four years.
The prosperity of a nation stands on her two firm legs; economic growth and social cohesion, one will not sustain without the other.
If the minorities continue to live in apprehension and fear, the whole nation gets engaged in useless battles and the prosperity will come to a grinding halt, and the country will limp until it reaches a new life or loses all that was achieved.
The confidence of foreign investments in a nation spurs the growth, India’s IT industry, call centers, and businesses have raised the standard of living for many. As long as the investors feel secure about their investments they will pump in more funds. However, when they see chaos emerging with the nations discriminative practices, harassment, lynching, rapes and killing of the minorities, they will pull out and everyone stands to lose.
It was embarrassing to note the missing presence of India at the religious freedom conference held by the Department of State in July 2018. If the violations continue, India may get stamped as a “Country of Particular Concern” for violations of religious freedom. It will hurt India, particularly the business community and the information technology sector.
The whitewash report produced by the Hindu America Foundation is understandable. No Indian wants India to lose, but neither should we compromise on the truth to look good. We hope to produce an accurate state of the union; after all, India’s emblem includes the phrase, SatyamevaJayate – Truth triumphs.
The majority of Indians of all faiths believe in Pluralism, i.e., respecting the otherness of other. It is not Hindus either, but the radicals among Hindus that are causing the problems with the subtle encouragement from the BJP government. “The Indian government provides “unprecedented” religious accommodations to its religious minority population, says a report by a US-based Hindu advocacy group.” The truth is far from it. It sounds like the majority is doing a favor to the minorities in ‘accommodating’ them. It is like saying “we give equal rights to women” who the hell are we to give them their rights, to begin with, the rights were theirs. Indeed, every Indian is guaranteed those rights; we are all equal citizens. No one has more privileges than the other.
“To bring greater stability to the region and prevent the growth of radical Islamist and Communist/Maoist terrorism.” This statement is too hypocritical and divisive to exclude radical Hindutva terrorism from the list. The issue is not with Hindus or Muslims; it is with radicals among them.
“Overall, it seeks to show the broader story of religious freedom and pluralism in India, which is often not, reflected in the media or US policy circles.” Indeed, India was a pluralist nation until the Hindutva brigade took over the country four years ago.
We need to come together and appeal to the Government of India, to issue visas to the commissioners of the USCIRF to investigate the Sikh Genocide, Massacre of Muslims in Gujarat, killing of Christians, Rapes, and lynching of Dalits, and harassment of Sikhs. If the commission gives a clean certificate, it will help boost the investor confidence in India; on the other hand, if India’s record is of particular concern, then it is time to fix it than pretending to be holier than thou.
I would appeal to the Hindu America Foundation to issue press releases condemning the lynching of Muslims, killing of Christians, harassment of Dalits and Atheists, by condemning each event, it will give them the credibility to be a legitimate pluralist organization for Human rights.
We will also write a letter urging Prime Minister Modi to speak out forcefully against harassment of any Indian and pledge that no Indian has more privileges than the other. Ambassador Sam Brownback says, if evil acts get condemned as they occur, they will be choked and will not see the light of the day.
(The writer is president of the Center for Pluralism and is committed to fostering cohesive societies where no human has to live in apprehension or fear of the other)
A tribute to Gandhi | www.TheGhousediary.com | www.InterfaithSpeaker.com
Mahatma Gandhi was shot dead 68 years ago on this day, January 31, 1948.
Mahatma Gandhi is one of my nine favorite personalities. I call them my mentors, meaning I think about them regularly and that they are; Jesus Christ, Prophet Muhammad, Mahatma Gandhi, Mother Teresa, Martin Luther King, Pope Frances, and President Barack Obama. Of course, my father and mother top the list, I am who I am today because of them opening the windows of knowledge to me.
These are the men and women I have come to adore; their passion was to create cohesive societies where everyone can live without fear of the other.
By the time I croak my list may grow to be 10, as there is one more individual I am studying and he may become the 10th favorite Pluralists, i.e., those who respect the otherness of others and accept the God given uniqueness of each one of us.
Every year, for the last 25 years, I have been writing a note about him on his death and birth anniversaries, this is my way of paying tribute and expressing the gratitude to a man who gave so much to India and the world.
By the way, I have seen Gandhi in my dream twice, way back in early 70’s and in the early 2000 – both the times he pats on my back and says, Son you have a lot of work to do, and that has remained my inspiration to do the work I do.
Gandhi’s Clothing
Why did he wear the loin cloth and not the suits? Indeed, he was a Law graduate of University College of London, a successful Lawyer in South Africa and he wore the three piece suits like all the Englishmen did during the period.
Do you remember one of his thousands of quotes – “Be the change you wish to see in the world.” What does it mean? One of the major social reforms he brought to India was ‘acceptability’ of the ‘untouchables’, it is a shameful part of history of civilizations where humans were dehumanized, including here in the United States. He wanted the downtrodden and the poor masses to relate with him and he wanted to be one of them and not the elites who look down upon them. Prophet Muhammad did similar thing – he gave Bilal, the slave whom he freed, the highest spiritual status among his followers, it was a jolt to the society, but it knocked their prejudices down. My father did the same, which I have written separately, you see the same trend with Jesus, Mother Teresa, Pope Frances and others – they had zero prejudice towards fellow beings. God bless them all.
Given what Gandhi stood for, two things are going severely wrong in India, a handful of extremists have taken over and mistreating the Dalits (Untouchables) and the shameful celebration of the man who shot Gandhi. They are building temples to Godify this man Godse who killed Gandhi. I hope the Indian Government on this day makes a commitment to follow the law, to treat all humans equally and to value the freedom of speech. It is a shame, if we don’t speak up against injustice and let the seeds of discrimination grow in a nation that is beacon of hope to many nations.
Season of Non-Violence
Season of Non-Violence begins today, January 30th, on the day of Mahatma Gandhi was assassinated and concludes on April 4th the day Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated. It is a “64 Days of Daily Messages for Social Media The site http://www.agnt.org/season-for-nonviolence has beautiful graphics and daily messages in web format to inspire, create discussion, and hold in our thoughts each day during the 64 Days of the Season. Consider having your SNV campaign be to share these on Facebook or Twitter. Then, be sure tocheck back in with usto let us know how your social network is growing by sharing these graphics.” I cannot forget my friend Len Ellis of Dallas for his dedication to this season and the messages he shares.
This year like the last few years, we talk about the peace makers of the world, in the beginning it was Gandhi and MLK, now Dalai Lama, Nelson Mandela are added, and I have added Prophet Muhammad to the season.
Watch out for the day, I will be giving a talk about what these men did to build a cohesive society, where humanity can live in peace and harmony.
This is not complete, I will be adding more to this at TheGhouseDiary.com
Mike Mohamed Ghouse: A Pluralist, and an Outstanding Interfaith and Peace Activist
C
ohesive mankind, cohesive Ummah and cohesive America are what Mike Ghouse stands for. Irrespective of what people think about him, he is marching ahead on his peace mission with messages of love and respect for all individuals, all races and all communities irrespective of their identities – personal, religious, social, cultural or national. His fame has taken him to all the corners of the earth. He is a regular fighter against Islamophobia in America, and is specially active in building relationships in various religious groups, especially Muslims and Christians of America. His work assumed huge significance in the wake of 9/11, which witnessed massive pluralisation in American society. He has been on thr forefront of leading the confrontation against hate-mongers and mischief makers. He is often criticized by Islamic scholars for taking a rather liberal view of Islamic teachings and for trying to conform Islam to the demands of Western societies, but unfazed by the opposition, he has kept his mission going with increasing support from all groups. Those who know him well understand his strategy, which is primarily aimed at generating good will and initiating dialogue for the purpose of mutual understanding and tolerance. He has been a vocal critical of America’s war in Iraq and also played a prominent role in the campaign against those who were against the building of a mosque in the Manhattan.
Mike Ghouse is mostly known as a believer and a proponent of Pluralism, i.e., respecting the otherness of others and accepting the God given uniqueness of each one of us. He offers pluralistic solutions on issues of the day on TV, Radio, Print and Internet.
An American of Indian origin, Mike is a man of action. The action emanates from his dream, “a dream that one day in our life time; we all will wake up to a cohesive world, where no human lives in tension, apprehension or fear of the other. Indeed, that was the dream of all the spiritual masters of the world, and that is what the creator wants; all pieces of his creation to function coherently.”
Explaining his position as an activist, he says:
“Nothing in the universe will happen by itself, all of us have to do our share of the work to restore the harmony within our self, with our bodies and with people around us. Don’t you think God knows this? Yet through every religion, we are told to ask for it.
Our founding fathers believed, “That all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness.” And that dream was refreshed by Martin Luther King, Jr.”
Mike is always on the move. He is always available to speak to all groups, conduct workshops on building cohesive work places and living a meaningful life, and move towards living in harmony. A powerful speaker, his fame has shot with his appearances in Fox News, Syndicated Radio shows, Dallas Morning News, Huffington Post, and a variety of News Papers in America and abroad for giving him. This has given him a strong National and local presence. Mike has appeared in over 100 shows on Fox News and over 50 times on nationally syndicated radio shows.
He has written nearly 3000 articles, and bulk of them are published in Dallas Morning News, Huffington Post, New Age Islam, Op-ed News , Arab Daily News, Arab News, Saudi Gazette, and several other News papers and periodicals around the world. Of the 2800, 1000+ were on Islam, 1000+ on Pluralism and the rest were on politics, India, Pakistan, Israel-Palestine, Motivational and other topics.
Currently Mike is working on making a film based on a compelling true story of building a cohesive America, and writing a book on human rights - "Standing up for others"- standing up from Atheists to Zoroastrians and every one in between.
God has blessed him with an aptitude for mitigating conflicts and nurturing goodwill in everything he does, that is think, talk and act, and he has been a life time volunteer, and it is a joy to maintain a healthy balance between earning a living and serving the public.
He has spoken at international forums including the Council for a Parliament of the World’s Religions, in Melbourne, Australia, Middle East Peace Initiative, in Jerusalem, the International Leadership conference, in Hawaii, and in Washington, Many Universities including SMU, Rice and others, World's Philanthropy organization's annual conference in Washington and elsewhere.
He is a member of the Texas Faith panel at Dallas Morning News and writes on issues facing the nation every week and offers pluralistic solutions. He writes regularly at Huffington post, Op-ed News, Arab Daily News and several other papers worldwide.
Mike was a commissioner at City of Carrollton, and president of many a organizations including North Texas Cricket Association, Indian Creek Home owners Association, and Dallas Fashions for Charity etc. A founding member of the board at Memnosyne Foundation, and board of director at Dallas Peace Center, Dallas Home Builders Association and several other organizations.
God has made him an instrument in establishing several annual public events to bring Americans of different religions, ethnicities and races together on common grounds of building a safe, secure and a cohesive America, among them are Unity Day USA, Holocaust and Genocides, Thanksgiving Celebrations. We have and plan to hold workshops and conferences on issues like religion, racism, Anti-Semitism, Islamophobia, LGBT, gender pluralism and other issues.
Concerned by the political, civil, religious, racial, sexual orientation and economic divisiveness, Mike has initiated and formed the America Together Foundation (ATF), a non-profit entity committed to building a cohesive America, where no American has to live with anxiety, apprehension, or fear of the other. The focus of the foundation is that ‘one must be free to live his or her life to the fullest’.
He firmly believes in our immortal declaration of independence. “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights that among these are Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness. That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.”
He believes in Conflict mitigation and goodwill nurturance that Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) chose in dealing with issues of the day, and he has successfully employed that ideal in dealing with Pastor Robert Jeffress of Dallas who denigrated Quran, which led to a Quran conference in creating goodwill among non-Muslim clergy. The conference details are at www.QuraanConference.com
When Pastor Terry Jones announced burning 3000 copies of Quran, Mike was out there in Florida and gathered up the civil, political and religious leaders to peacefully offer prayer as an alternative instead of burning Qurans to avenge the 9/11 Victims. A message was sent to the world that freedom of speech is an important American value and respecting what is sacred to others is an important value as well. A movie is being considered that will change the perceptions about Muslims and change within Muslims in dealing with the conflicts. Full story is at:
Mike was further involved with the conflicts at the Ground Zero Mosque, Peter King Hearings and other conflicts, and had offered pluralistic solutions. There is a blog for each one of these conflicts.
As much work as he has done with interfaith communities, he has a strong presence in the intra-faith dialogue as well. Having moderated two major intra-faith conferences at Rice University and in Dallas, and two Sharia conferences were held to allay the Sharia Phobia. He has prayed in all mosques, and wrote a blog on Ramadan sharing the practices in each tradition. There is a blog for it – www.RamadanExclusive.com
Mike started the Radio for Desi community in Dallas in 1996 with three hours on Saturdays, and passed it on to others, and now we have three 24/7 Radio Stations in Dallas. It was always loaded with interfaith programs. Mike ran a program called wisdom of religion, all religions for two years – where 520 Hours of Radio talk was done
100 hours + for Islam, Hinduism and Christianity each, and 50 hours each for Baha’i, Buddhism, Jainism, Sikhism, Zoroastrianism, Atheism, interfaith and other traditions. The idea was to education and to learn about others, as God has willed in Quran 49:13 and other verses. Similarly 26 workshops were also conducted.
Mike is a human rights activist, and his book standing up for others will be out soon. He is also producing a feature film “Sacred" to be released and a documentary "Americans together" to be released in the next few years.
All about him is listed in 63 links at www.MikeGhouse.net and his writings are at www.TheGhousediary.com - Mike is committed to building cohesive societies and offers pluralistic solutions on issues of the day.
Mike has a comprehensive experience in business management, turning ailing operations around, home building, remodeling, real estate mortgages and investments.
He was the deputy finance controller for Fluor Corporation in Saudi Arabia (1977-1981). Fluor was the largest Petro Chemical Engineering firms in the world then.
He was vice president of Lewis Fire Equipment, one of the largest fire protection companies in Texas.
He was successful in turning around the company to profitability (1981-1983).
Since 1984, Mike has been in home building and management consulting business. He was recognized for his outstanding contributions from some of the best in home building business.
Americans together are committed to building a cohesive America, where no American has to live with anxieties, discomfort of fear of the other. We have the systems and programs in place to work towards building cohesive societies.www.AmericaTogetherFoundation.com
Key programs to bring Americans together and build bridges
Our mission is to encourage individuals to develop an open mind and an open heart towards fellow beings. If we can learn to respect the otherness of others and accept the uniqueness of each one of us, then conflicts fade and solutions emerge. It’s 20 years of work on religious, social, cultural and political pluralism involving 26 workshops in understanding religion, every beautiful religion; 520 hours of radio talk shows learning about the wisdom of every faith; writing and sharing the essence of the festivals of the world and nearly 750 Articles on Pluralism, and over 150 of them published at Dallas Morning News and nearly 100 at Huffington post and several TV and Radio appearances.
We are committed to nurturing the pluralistic ideals embedded in Islam. To be a Muslim is to be a peace maker, one who consistently seeks to mitigate conflicts and nurtures goodwill for peaceful coexistence of humanity. God wants us to live in harmony with his creation; Life and Matter
Standing up for others, Mike lives what he preaches. In the blog standing up for others, he has set an example of standing up for almost every representation of Americans. Standing up for others is the right thing to do, every human goes through a period of invincibility to vulnerability, if we don't stand up for those who are susceptible, then who will stand up for us when we are unguarded?
Texas Faith Panel, Dallas Morning News. Mr. Ghouse is a member of the Panel and writes about interfaith issues facing the nation every week. He has written close to 150 pieces over the last four years and almost every column he writes, weaves through the essence of many religions.
The Huffington Post; Mike has written nearly 100 articles in the last two years. Occasionally his articles have been published at Washington Post and several national and international periodicals including Arab News, Tehran Times, Jakarta post, Times of India, Daily Times and several others.
TV/Radio - Mike is a frequent guest on Fox News, “The Hannity Show”, and on nationally syndicated radio shows including Dallas TV, print and radio networks. He also had his own Half hour show in 1996 on TV52.
Google: Mike has consistently remained on the first page when you search for Pluralism Speaker, Interfaith speaker and Muslim Speaker, whether it is the search or the images.
Blogs: Mike has written an average of 175 articles a year over a dozen years. Most of the columns were on interfaith/pluralism, in a given set of 10 articles, almost every religion would have been mentioned including Atheism, paganism and Native traditions.
Interfaith workshops: 26 live workshops were conducted between 2005 and 2007; Understanding Atheism to Zoroastrianism and every religion in between
Radio shows: Mike hosted 520 Hours of radio talk shows on “Understanding the essence of religions, each beautiful religion” with a representative of the respective faith 5 days a week on AM Radio 1150 in Dallas between 2003 and 2005.
Festivals of the World – The essence of major festivals of all religions were written up since 1993 in Asian American Journal, followed by Asian News Radio and the blogs, websites and the newspapers.
Pluralism flows in Mike’s veins. Even the tribute he wrote about his late wife, father, and mother were soaked with the essence of many religions.
The book “Americans together, building a cohesive America” will be out this years, and the next book, Muslims in America is poised to make it this year as well.
A documentary “Americans Together” is in the making; and it will present the full spectrum of American diversity, laden with programs and ideas on building a cohesive America, where no American has to live in discomfort, apprehension or fear of the other. It is expected to be out in 2016 prior to the General Elections.
Blogger: Mike passionately writes on topics including but not limited to; Pluralism, Holocaust and Genocides, International conflicts, Israel-Palestine, India, Sharia Laws, Quraan, Blasphemy, Apostasy, Hijab, Ground Zero Mosque, Peter King Hearings, Quraan, Terrorism , Ramadan, Islam, Media, local affairs etc.
International speaker: Mike has spoken at international forums including the Council for a Parliament of the World’s Religions in Melbourne, Australia; the Middle East Peace Initiative in Jerusalem; and the International Leadership Conference in Hawaii, Chicago and Washington.
Mike has initiated, organized and established the following events. In each one of the events, we the people ofthe United States of America of every faith, race, ethnicity, culture and background come together to express our commitment to co-existence, unity, safety and well being of our nation.
Annual Unity Day USA is a main stream event commemorating 9/11 for ten years. The UNITY DAY USA has become a symbol of unity among Americans. It is an initiative to come together to stand up for the safety, security and cohesiveness of America. Every year we recognize five individuals who have made a difference in their communities, the trophy calls them pluralists in their field.
9/11 – Mike was on Radio from 10:00 AM till 4:30 on Tuesday, September 11, 2001 trying to make sense out of the chaos, he reached out to Mayors and community leaders to forge a common voice. Mike was a catalyst in commencing interfaith prayers, fund raising and blood donations that day. He pledged to serve the nation every year on that day, and Unity Day USA is the product of that commitment. http://911unitydayusa.blogspot.com/2011/09/911-story-interfaithmoments.html
Annual Holocaust and Genocides event has continued for the last seven years. Education is the purpose, we have learn to acknowledge and reflect upon the terrible things we have inflicted upon each other and have committed ourselves to resist the temptations to be prejudiced and stereotype others. We cannot demand peace unless we are peaceful ourselves. Our safety hinges on the safety of others around us, and it behooves us to work for the safety and security of others on this little planet. We have to be continuously aware of the Holocaust and Genocides and prepare to say never again. Website:www.HolocaustandGenocides.com
Annual Thanksgiving Celebrations & Awards night was carried out for over ten years and due to overlapping of Unity Day, it is done on a small scale now. The purpose of celebrating this event is to thank God for helping us learn to accept, respect and appreciate each other’s cultural uniqueness. Website: www.Thanksgivingcelebrations.org
Qur’an Conference was held on December 5, 2010 in Dallas to demystify the myths about “troubled passages” from Qur’an with 10 Non-Muslim clergy panelists and 5 Muslim Imams. It was one of the most powerful educational programs to read Quraan first hand and share that understanding with the audience. Website: www.Quraanconference.com
Quran Burning event on 9/11/2013. When Pastor Jones announced burning 2998 copies of Qur'an on Wednesday, September 11, 2013, one for each American life lost on September 11, 2001, we decided to bring a closure to the sacrifice of our men and women in the most honored way and not by burning the Qurans. We wanted to assert to Muslims around the world, that our God given right to freedom of speech is a value we treasure and hold it dear to us, ultimately it is the freedom that uplifts the whole humanity. On the other hand, offered an alternate Muslim behavior model to become the standard, indeed we can call it a genuine Islamic response based on Quran and examples of Prophet Muhammad (pbuh).
