[Updated 1 Feb 2020] Religion is arguably one of the most egregious ‘othering’ forces that has ever existed. All through recorded history people have been marginalized -and in countless cases murdered- because they were of the ‘wrong’ religion.” “The normal and the stigmatized are not persons, but perspectives.” -E. Goffman, Stigma, 1963 Prologue As I write this, Myanmar’s Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and her team are preparing to respond to formal charges of genocide against the Muslim Rohingya at the International Court of Justice at the Hague. The world will be watching these proceedings, and we as a global community must continue demanding justice be served and the dignity of all humans is defended. Review and context In a previous post I talked about both ascribed and achieved statuses, how these are tied to the process of othering, and the inevitability that this process leads to the rise of various ‘privileging forces’, … Continue reading The gaping hole in the Hydra model: religious persecution