The Hindu American Foundation, led and founded by Fremont physician Mihir Meghani, is following the lead of organizations that seek to rid the world of religious and racial intolerance by monitoring Web sites they consider hateful.
The result is the group’s 52-page report titled “Hyperlink to Hinduphobia: Online Hatred, Extremism and Bigotry Against Hindus.”
Exposing hate speech online is a crucial front in the fight against stereotypes about the Hindu religion, the report says.
Hinduism is most closely associated with India but has followers around the world. Many Hindus follow concepts such as karma, reincarnation and practices including yoga, meditation and a vegetarian diet. The religion also encompasses beliefs ranging from monotheism – the belief there is just one god – to polytheism – the belief in more than one god, according to the report.
These notable differences from Judeo-Christian beliefs sometimes make Hindus an unfair target of ridicule, Meghani said.
The report lists 37 Web sites that allegedly use hate speech toward Hinduism, Meghani said. Words such as “demonic, dirty and filthy” are used on the Web sites to describe the religion, the report states.
Meghani founded the Maryland-based Hindu American Foundation, which has about 5,000 members nationwide.
Contact Chris De Benedetti at cdebenedetti@
angnewspapers.com or (510)353-7002.
