Sick of ignorant people re my religion

[Loisep]

I’m married to a Dane. We met in London at university. We have a great relationship but the ignorance from his friends, family and acquaintances is almost too much to handle.

I am half Indian and was loosely raised Sikh. I think the UK does quite well in comparison to other countries re education on religion. Most Brits do not naturally assume I am Muslim.

That is not the case when I am in Denmark. God forbid I have a beer with new people. “Oh is that not halal?” Blah blah. I end up feeling guilty saying no I’m not Muslim all the time. Like I am distancing myself. I knew there would cultural differences but I never expected such ignorance. So many people think brown people = Arab (in Europe).

Dh wants to move back home and I would if it wasn’t for this extreme ignorance. I worry for future kids.

Am I the one with a chip on my shoulder? Should I just accept that people from other countries have been exposed to different cultural groups? Ie not had an Indian diaspora

Some people will take offense at anything. As a white non Christian I would not take offensive at all. I celebrate Christmas despite not being Christian.

The thing is, there are multiple Irish accents.

And many different looking 'brown people'.

Telling an RC from a protestant in NI isn't really anything to do with accent either.

And telling whether a person believes in a particular religion, or none, has very little to do with their skin colour.

The OP expects Danes to do something that the vast majority of British people (outside of NI) wouldn't be able to do wrt people in their own country.*

No, the only thing she wishes they'd do is something anyone is capable of. Simply, not making an assumption based purely on her colour. She doesn't expect them to know she's a Sikh.

We're telling Danes not to assume all brown people are Muslim. That's something anyone can do. It's actually really really easy. You just don't do it.

I’m not sure what I’m missing here.

The OP is pissed off, that, due to the colour of her skin / ethnicity, She was assumed to be a certain religion. A perfectly valid reason to be annoyed about, if it’s a regular occurrence.

Irrespective of the Danish culture being direct and forward, can you not see how this pisses the OP off?

I fully agree, we should adopt to the ways and culture of another country if we are visitors or reside there, but how does this excuse this assumption that skin colour equates to a certain religion, smacks of Ignorance to me.

No she’s not asking Danish people to correctly identify what religion she is, she simply
does not appreciate the assumption they her skin colour means she is Muslim.

It’s very interesting that you picked up on this. And there is actually a reason why Sikhs tend to have more almond shaped eyes. As well as some other characteristics.

Many Sikhs belong to the Jatt ethnic group. And jatts have very significant genetic contributions from Central Asia/steppe (the highest in South Asia in fact) a result of the Indo-European migrations that took place around 1500 BCE. Jatts typically have around 25-35% steppe DNA. Much higher than anyone expected. There’s numerous theories as to why this may be - did they just mix less with other populations? Are jatts a product of a subsequent Indo European migration into India? The Scythians perhaps? Very possible due to the fact that Jatts’ homeland is in the very North of India. There have been many migrations/invasions into this part of the world

Fascinating!

(My phd touched on Central Asian migrations)