Ghandi believed very much in the Hinduism because he grew up as a Hindu. Ghandi had lived abroad for most of his life and thus, he had very different views than traditional Hindus. At the time, India was faced with the caste system which was law to the Indians. However after Ghandi had witnessed the equality in London, he found the caste system useless and he opposed it quite strongly as seen in the scene where he tells his wife that she will clean the bathroom if it is her turn. Ghandi’s religious views were very much influenced by those around him. He had Muslim friends, studied in a predominantly Christian country, and yet was technically Hindu himself. Ghandi believed in a very open form of Hinduism. In South Africa when the group of white workers confronts him for walking on the sidewalk with a white man he simply states, “We are all children of God.” He does not believe in boundaries between religions and believes that everybody is equal, a view quite contrary to the Hindu belief in the caste system.
Ghandi stated in the movie that one should “’Love they neighbor as thyself’ is not something we Hindus prescribe to, but it is something we could learn from.” As stated in the previous paragraph Ghandi clearly opposed the idea of the caste system because he believed in equality. The quote says that Hindu’s don’t prescribe to the idea of loving their neighbor as themselves. The caste system prevents Hindus from loving their neighbors as themselves because of the separation between castes and ideas that castes lower than you are bad and sometimes considered as “untouchables.” Ghandi believes that the Hindus could learn from the Christian belief of loving thy neighbor as thyself because he believes it would help abolish the caste system and unify India as a whole so they can fight (non-violently of course) for their independence.
