A couple, a young Turkish man and woman, is here in SoCal from my Anatolian City. They are studying at the local university. I saw them at a party recently and they were ecstatic about buying a car. Socal is expensive in all things except autos. They had been getting around by bus and train for four months. Believe me, it’s hard to do here.
They told me a horror story:
Traveling home one day, their driver stopped the bus on the side of the road and harangued them… about being Muslims. He told them Christianity is the only way to salvation. He also asserted Muslim men sleep with their daughters. The only other person on the bus joined in with the driver. The Turks didn’t get off because they didn’t have another way to get home. I told them this was completely illegal, and that they could sue this guy’s butt off, not to mention the City. Of course they would never consider this. Any lawyers out there interested???
2 comments:
I doubt the bus driver's actions were illegal. It's not against the law to proselytize, however rudely or ignorantly. On the other hand, it's certainly against the city transit authority's policy for employees to do it while on the job. Your friends should report the incident. The driver can and should be fired.
That said, I know of worse horror stories: the kind that happen to you if you're a Christian in a Muslim country. Like Turkey, for example.
I don't know, but if a bus driver stopped the bus to talk to me about anything I would be freaked out.
Yes, bad things happen in other countries, but I cannot judge. I can only hope our own country respects every religion. To bully young foreigners just trying to fit in seems unfair.
And in my experience, Turkish Muslims never proselytize.
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