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

How are we racist? I dont get it - because some of us assuming religion based on skin colour? Or what?

But the OP expects Danes to know about all other cultures? Listen to yourself

Are you normally this racist? I simply asked closer to what, closeness geographically, in time, in culture? And to closeness do whom? It’s not difficult, it is not my fault that you immediately whip out inaccurate racist comments about the English when someone asks you to explain your very vague statement.

All 'brown' people are exactly the same = racism.

Its not much to expect people not to be racist in this day and age.

No she expects not to be accused of or called out on stuff based on simply her skin colour.

Shes not asking them to host Sikh holidays and change anything they do in day to day life except to stop telling her she is muslim when shes not.

Why would the Danes have to research & understand OPs culture to make it easier for her to visit if she's not willing to learn about Denmark s history & its peoples culture.

I don't think the op has indicated she expects danes to do the former , or that she's not willing to do the latter.

Exactly

I doubt Danes are inherently more racist than any other nationality or culture, though my guess is that more homogeneous societies will tend to be moreso.
I'm sure the instances the OP mentions aren't malicious or nationalistic, but sure, how on earth is assuming someone's religion based soley on their colour not 'casual racism'?

The thing about racism etc is that while the intent of the person doing it matters a lot, so does the potential effect on the person on the receiving end.

My European country didn't have colonies so I'll continue to comment on the horrors of the British empire, which by the way dwarfed any other European colonies.

She simply expects them not to assume all brown people are Muslim.

I suspect those complaining on this thread have similar idiotic assumptions.

Countries that were not big enough to colonise other countries often treated their own people abysmally instead. Eg. Irish unmarried mothers and their children.

How did the Irish treat their unmarried mother's any different to the British treated theirs? And btw, the laundries all started under British rule.

When you colonise a country for 800 years, literally everything is your fault 🤷‍♀️

Deluded if you are trying to blame the British for how unmarried mothers and babies were treated in Ireland in recent history. Eg. Tuam

More colonised countries were not colonised by Britain than were

Why would people only know about religions of people in their own country? It's just ignorance about the world at large.

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.
It's nice for someone to say something positive about Brits for a change. The xenophobes hate it of course. 😁

You don't know the first thing about it. Colonisation and the ruin of a culture has very long reaching repercussions.

Anyway, your defending of the British empire is derailing the thread. The point at hand is people assuming anyone brown is a Muslim. I can't see any controversy in saying that is obviously not ok.

The people trying to make excuses for people thinking all brown people are Muslim are showing their true colours

Anyone who thinks Denmark does not have a colonial history should try asking Greenland (which is still waiting for full independence).

Your religion is your concern. Why do other people need to know about it or agree with it, as long as they don't try to stop you practising?

They never said all brown people were the same. They asked if the beer was halal. That is not the same thing. Not even remotely. And yes, I can already hear your extrapolation and justification, blah, blah. You are not in their heads, you can't possibly know that they think all brown people are the same.

They don't need to know about it, it's them bringing it up!

To be fair they're not being rude, just confused about different religious dietary requirements. A simple 'Sikhs don't eat halal' would make the message fairy clear. It doesn't sound like they're being nasty.

And I'd agree with them. So arrogant going to another country and telling them how to live and speak. If people don't like other cultures, DON'T TRAVEL. It's pretty simple.

I'm not defending the British Empire. 🙄 I'm saying that those who think their own nationality has always been a model of perfection throughout history are usually wrong. It was another poster who used colonisation to defend people thinking all brown people are Muslim.