New York, NY -- (SBWire) -- 06/16/2014 --During his visit to Livorno, Italy the Dalai Lama faced protests about his religious ban of Dorje Shugden when Tibetans accused him of lying, persecution and human rights abuses despite him being a Nobel Peace Prize winner and spiritual leader.

The Tibetan government officially banned on the practice of Dorje Shugden in 1996 when it passed a resolution preventing its employees from practising the Buddhist prayer. By the Tibetan government’s own estimates up to 30% of its citizens used to practice Dorje Shugden but since 1996 they have been forced to either stop the practice or lose their jobs.

In March 2014 the Tibetan government passed another resolution labelling practitioners of Dorje Shugden as ‘criminals’ as well as publishing a name and shame list of people who have protested against the ban on its official website. It has been claimed this is an incitement to violence against the people named on the list.

Unlike most democracies the Tibetan government has no separation of state and church, so they don’t believe it is discrimination to exclude people from working for it on the basis of their religious beliefs. In the exiled Tibetan community you cannot work as a doctor, teacher, politician or even as an administrator in any post that is paid for by the government if you practice Dorje Shugden.

The Dalai Lama is famous for travelling the world to teach people about love, compassion, tolerance and religious harmony. He often criticises human rights abuses by the Chinese government whilst privately supporting the human rights abuses of his own government. The protesters have become so frustrated with his hypocrisy and double standards they have taken to demonstrating outside his public appearances chanting “Stop lying” and “Give religious freedom”.

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About Are Buddhists Racist
Are Buddhists Racist is an independent UK based publication examining the political turmoil caused when governments do not seperate out their religious function from their legislative arm. It focusses on a range of topics within the current Indian and Tibetan communities and their inter-relation with Chinese cultures and politics. Drawing from over 4 years of research the first publication examines the controversy surrounding the religious ban of Dorje Shugden worship in the Tibetan exile community and the Dalai Lama's role in the controversy.

The figure of 30% was given by Thubten Wangchen of the Tibetan Government in an interview in Frankfurt, Germany on May 15th 2014.

The Tibetan government is known officially as the Central Tibetan Administration or CTA and is based in Dharamsala, India.

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