Religious Freedom Should Be A Human Right

The media is a powerful platform that instills many important or irrelevant issues in each individuals mind. The media creates fear and hysteria in viewers’ minds, for example the recent outbreak of Coronavirus, the media blew it out of proportion and caused people to panic buy unnecessary amounts of food. So, what else has the media overexaggerated about? In this day and age, we are entitled to our own opinion and usually have control about what we do and say. But in some cases, we lack in our ability to have control over ourselves and what we want as a basic human right. In some instances, the media has shed light on many controversial cases and has brought to people’s attention the significance it may hold.

The definition of freedom can be different from one person to the next. Many will say being able to have an opinion and some may state having the ability to choose your own religion. Religion can be a very sensitive topic as some may discriminate against a particular religion. In China there are hundreds of “concentration” like camps, where Muslims are held against their will. The purpose of this practice is to brainwash them. Detainees are forced to pledge loyalty to the Chinese Communist Party and renounce Islam, they also are forced to sing praises for communism and are obliged to learn Mandarin.

The media hardly sheds light on the plight of Muslims who are held captive or discriminated against in other ways, due to the misrepresentation of their beliefs and the stereotyping of all Muslims as being extremists. The media convinces the us that all Muslims are terrorists which instills fear in many watchers’ eyes. Although this isn’t true, people seem to believe that a whole religion is based on the terrorism of some. The media chooses not to publicize about the captivity, due the majority of viewers not having compassion for Muslims. This misrepresentation affects many Muslims lives as they are constantly under scrutiny despite having different and moderate beliefs.

In recent years the embarrassment of rape allegations and court cases have become a more prominent topic, this is given rise to the #metoo movement and other people stepping forward. Cardinal George Pell shockingly molested two 13-year-old boys in the 1990’s. This came as a shock to the Catholic Church due to their high trust for a church official who was meant to represent such a respectable institution.

George Pell to date is the highest-ranking Vatican official to face such accusations. He denied all charges but has since been convicted and will be unbelievably eligible for parole in 2022. All of these charges have slightly decreased the reputation of the church and has embarrassed the entirety of the Catholic community. Many cases have been known about for years but only recently the authorities have acted on these charges. Being a high-ranking member in the church requires many moral ‘rules’ including abstaining from sex, especially with the same gender. So, when news broke about a Cardinal being accused for molesting young boys the world was shocked. But since that case, many more priests and high members of the church are being accused of rape. I also believe that the George Pell cases were only reported recently, due to the victim’s hesitation of being named as liars because of George Pell’s significance to the Catholic Church.

Although it shamed the entirety of the Catholic Community, it brought to people’s attention that you cannot trust anyone even the people you should. What needs to change is the institution, George Pell was moved all around Australia to hide his sinful crime’s, so the church wasn’t shamed on by the public. People must not shame the religion but instead the institution, that allowed this man into many parish’s and ruin innocent boys lives.

The media covered this story thoroughly and is still occasionally discussed on the news. The viewers mainly don’t associate with what George Pell did with the entirety of the Catholic religion due to the way the media portrays the religion.

Both religions are very diverse and are widespread all over the world, most Muslims are from Asia-Pacific and North Africa. So why does the media portray Middle Eastern people to be terrorists?

The majority of Middle East are highly Christian and have a strong faith with no association with extremists.

If you were to hop on a bus or in an Uber with a person from the Middle East would you feel scared and uncomfortable?

If yes, it is probably due to the media claiming that all Middle Eastern people are “Muslim extremists”, which is entirely not the case.

If you were to go to a Catholic church would you feel uncomfortable by the priest?

If no, this justifies the way media unfairly portrays and stereotypes the entirety of certain religions.

It is unknown why the Muslim religion is constantly interpreted as a dangerous and harmful religion. But we do know that the media does not assist in the way Muslims are treated in multiple countries. In some circumstances the media sheds light on some Muslim tragedy’s, for example when 51 Muslims where fatally shot dead whilst praying in their Mosque. The media was mainly talking about the thoughtless disgraceful human behind the massacre. If this happened to a more respected religion like a Christian or Catholic Church the media would stop talking about it. On the 15th of March 2020 was the one-year anniversary of the heinous crime and hardly any news outlets paid their respects. This occurs as the News and other outlets are only talking about the Coronavirus.

I’m not sure why the Muslims are constantly disrespected, people in this day and age only care about what associates with them and what personally affects their day to day life. If only the tables were turned around how would people feel, then.

Having religious freedom should be a human right, people shouldn’t be forced into a religion they don’t either don’t believe in or don’t respect. People shouldn’t be disrespected and bullied because they believe in something different from one person to the next, it shouldn’t matter. In the end we all bleed blood and we all have emotions. Discriminating a religion based on a group that aren’t even associated with them is disgraceful and shouldn’t be accepted. There is good and bad in every religion and institution, in Catholicism the rape cases from priests didn’t faze anyone. If it occurred in a not so respected religion like Islam, it would be shamed, and people would instantly associate the entirety of the religion to be bad. We shouldn’t be judged by what we believe in, who we love, our political views or our personal opinions. Freedom within religion is a basic human right and we shouldn’t be judged for believing in something different. Imagine having so much faith within your religion but are being constantly represented as a terrorist. As a Catholic I don’t get called a molester or a child predator because what one person or a group of people does shouldn’t represent an entire religion or country.