LOPSIDED VIEW
Published in The Times of India (Bangalore Ed., dt. 11 March 2006)
With reference to “They cannot Decide on History (March 9), Romila Thapar and Michael Wetzel are correct only in saying that religions should be taught by parents, pastors and priests. But, that is not true in the US. Here, world cultures within which religions do play a major role are discussed in classrooms. Hindu legends are always referred to as myths whereas stories from the Bible or Quran are not. Despite Sundays in the US being the most segregated day of the week, where whites and blacks continue to worship separately in their churches, the history of US racism is taught as an aberration of the past remedied by its laws and regulations. However, such concessions of interpretaions are not accorded to India’s own legal and social attempts to eradicate its caste system. It is indeed unfair to have Thapar and Witzel present such a lopsided view of the issue.
C. Alex Alexander, USA