(RNS) — In its inaugural report released Wednesday (May 22), California’s year-old CA vs. Hate program found that anti-Hindu incidents were the second most common religion-related hate crime reported to a state-sponsored hotline in the past year.The non-emergency hate crime reporting hotline, administered by the California Civil Rights Department with support from organizations supporting minority groups in the state, saw 1,020 reports of hate in the past year. Of those reported as anti-religious incidents, 36.9% were anti-Jewish, and 14.6% were anti-Muslim. Anti-Hindu crimes fell in between the two, at 23.3%.
According to the California Department of Public Affairs, approximately 24 out of 103 crimes reported targeted Hindus, among cases where information on religious bias motivation was provided.
“It’s important to note that CA vs. Hate is new, and the data should not be treated as being representative of all acts of hate in California,” the department added in a statement to RNS.
The program, albeit new, has provided Hindu advocates with support for the claim that there has been a steady rise in anti-Hindu sentiment in the “workplace, academia and media” in recent years.
“Currently we live in a world where powerful groups and academics deny the very existence of religiously motivated violence against Hindus, even though they accept it happens to other faith communities,” said Pushpita Prasad of the Coalition of Hindus of North America. “As a California …
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According to the California Department of Public Affairs, approximately 24 out of 103 crimes reported targeted Hindus, among cases where information on religious bias motivation was provided.
“It’s important to note that CA vs. Hate is new, and the data should not be treated as being representative of all acts of hate in California,” the department added in a statement to RNS.
The program, albeit new, has provided Hindu advocates with support for the claim that there has been a steady rise in anti-Hindu sentiment in the “workplace, academia and media” in recent years.
“Currently we live in a world where powerful groups and academics deny the very existence of religiously motivated violence against Hindus, even though they accept it happens to other faith communities,” said Pushpita Prasad of the Coalition of Hindus of North America. “As a California …nnDiscussion:nn” ai_name=”RocketNews AI: ” start_sentence=”Can I tell you more about this article?” text_input_placeholder=”Type ‘Yes'”]