A new form of racism exists in contemporary society which deems all religious beliefs, teachings and practices as “nonsensical”, according to a university chaplain.
Speaking to The Irish Catholic, Fr Alan Hilliard, chaplain of TU Dublin Bolton Street Campus, says a new era of people being condemned for their faith is emerging.
“Today we are entering into a new form of religious racism,” he says.
“People maybe aren’t really respected or understood for their religious viewpoints and that’s a very new era in racism in that people who prioritise the rationalisation of the mind, as a result of the Enlightenment, and anything that is religious is nonsensical, and that is a new form of racism.”
Fr Hilliard was addressing the issue of racism for ‘International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination’ on March 21.
The annual occasion, he says, is there to remind us that the whole history of the world has been an evolution of racist episodes between people, family, religions, gender and nationalities.
He points to past Irish struggles, where we were initially subjected to racism as immigrants in America and the UK, and how at times Irish people could be racist towards other groups.
“In order to climb up the ladder,” says Fr Hilliard, “sometimes people have to stand on the backs of others, which is a form of racism.”
On being asked why he felt people would be racist towards others, he responds: “I think when you hear people being racist, you have always got to ask ‘why?’
“And it is usually because some people want to step up the ladder by standing on backs of others and that’s not really the way Christians are asked to be in today’s world.”