We moved a group of Indian employees to Munich to work on a project. The moment landlords realised they had foreign names, they refused to rent to them. Some landlords outright said it's because they didn't want foreigners staying in their properties. I was absolutely gobsmacked.
Not sure if I have mentioned it before, but my background is South Indian catholic. The name I usually use is Indian, John is my baptismal name. Now on with the story.
Back in the late 80s I got a job in Lichfield, Staffordshire, I couldn't find anywhere to live so the company put an ad in the paper.
Got plenty of responses, and arranged to move in as a lodger with a bloke. He said it's going to be great to go clubbing, drinking etc.
A week before I move in, I realised I haven't told him that I am not white, I honestly didn't think I had to because it's not something you normally do.
Anyway I phone him and tell him I am not white (at that time I had a strong Yorkshire accent), he says that he is not racist and it's not a problem.
Yippee.
A couple of hours later he phones up and says, he is going thru a divorce and his solicitor told him he can't have lodgers.
Obviously I believed him.
The worst place in the world for intolerance, racial, sexual and religious is the Middle East. And it ain’t even close. You can be arrested for being gay, executed for changing religion, and the extent of the hospitality you receive depends squarely on the amount of money you have to spend. But hey “cultural differences”.
Anyone who thinks the UK is a hotbed of naked racism is deluded.
The Middle East is intolerant to an extent, but how long has it been since the laws changed in Britain, it is still within living memory.
As for executions for changing relegion, I don't think it is the law of the land, it's just some extremists.
In many cases they are very tolerant, you see many cases about some slut having sex on the beach or being drunk in public and they don't get the same punishment a local would.