Christian Subversion And Missionary Activities - 6

[Bharatvarsh]

HC stays govt funds for church repairs
TNN 8 September 2009, 05:12am IST

A two-member bench of the AP High Court on Monday directed the authorities to maintain status quo on government funds for building or repairing churches. The bench of Chief Justice Anil R Dave and Justice C V Nagarjuna Reddy was hearing a writ petition filed by Tripuraneni Hanuman Chowdary complaining that the state government was engaging itself in the promotion of a religion contrary to court injunctions.

He listed 49 GOs, placing 150 Christian institutions as beneficiaries of state aid. The petitioner argued that there were no legislative sanction for the said expenditures and thus illegal. Listing various GOs between December 2001 and March 2009, he said the state was promoting Christian related activities in the guise of SC/ST welfare. He said the state was getting involved in a systematic manner for promoting church-related activities.

The petitioner had earlier filed a writ challenging the action of the government in granting funds for Christian pilgrimage. A two-member bench by an order dated July 22 had suspended the GO granting such allowances.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/news/ci...how/4984058.cms

[acharya]

Updates about sister Abhaya murder case. The murder took place in a convent in Kerala about 18 years ago, and church did everything to cover that up with full support of political parties.

The video tapes of narco analysis on the three prime accused- Father Thomas Kottur, Father Jose Puthrikayil and sister Sephi were telecast in Malayalam TVs couple of days back. They are now available in Youtube.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E_GRV0wg4uI
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lm0SznkecA8
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qdPMtWec5ew

It is obvious that the video has been edited. The nun admits that she hit sister Abhaya with an axe. The nun also admits illicit relationship she had with other two male priests.

[acharya]

The Nightmare of Christianity
by MAX BLUMENTHAL

September 9, 2009

The following is an excerpt from Max Blumenthal's new book, Republican Gommorah: Inside the Movement That Shattered the Party, published by Nation Books.
A few miles down the road from Colorado Springs [a home to James Dobson's Focus on the Family], in the quiet bedroom community of Eldredge, a deeply disturbed young man named Matthew Murray followed the unfolding debacle at New Life Church [once under the stewardship of Pastor Ted Haggard] with an interest that bordered on obsession. Murray, a sallow-faced, bespectacled 24-year-old, had been indelibly scarred by a lifetime of psychological abuse at the hands of his charismatic Pentecostal parents. Murray's mind became crowded with thoughts of death, destruction, and the killings he would soon carry out in the name of avenging what he called his "nightmare of Christianity."

On an online chat room for former Pentecostals, Murray heaped contempt on his mother, Loretta, a physical therapist who homeschooled him to ensure that his contact with the outside world was severely limited. "My 'mother,'" Murray wrote, "is just a brainswashed [sic] church agent cun,t [sic]. The only reason she had me was because she wanted a body/soul she could train into being the next Billy Graham..."
He went on:
...my mother was into all the charismatic "fanatical evangelical" insanity. Her and her church believed that Satan and demons were everywhere in everything. The rules were VERY strict all the time. We couldn't have ANY christian or non-christian music at all except for a few charismatic worship CDs. There was physical abuse in my home. My mother although used psychotropic drugs because she somehow thought it would make it easier to control me (I've never been diagnosed with any mental illness either). Pastors would always come and interrogate me over video games or TV watching or other things. There were NO FRIENDS outside the church and family and even then only family members who were in the church. You could not trust anyone at all because anyone might be a spy.
An authoritarian Christian-right self-help guru named Bill Gothard created the home-schooling regimen implemented by Murray's parents. Like his ally James Dobson, Gothard first grew popular during the 1960s by marketing his program to worried evangelical parents as anti-hippie insurance for adolescent children. Based on the theocratic teachings of R. J. Rushdoony, who devised Christian schools and home-schooling as the foundation of his Dominionist empire, Gothard's Basic Life Principles outlined an all-consuming environment that followers could embrace for the whole of their lives. According to Ron Henzel, a one-time Gothard follower who co-authored a devastating exposé about his former guru called A Matter of Basic Principles, under the rules, "large homeschooling families abstain from television, midwives are more important than doctors, traditional dating is forbidden, unmarried adults are 'under the authority of their parents' and live with them, divorced people can't remarry under any circumstance, and music has hardly changed at all since the late nineteenth century."

Former Arkansas governor and Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee is among the 2.5 million Americans who have attended Gothard's Basic Seminar. According to Huckabee, who once earmarked state funds to distribute Gothard's literature in Arkansas prisons, Gothard was responsible for "some of the best programs for instilling character into people." But to the deeply alienated Murray, Gothard was the original source of his pathology. "I believe that the truth needs to be exposed," Murray wrote in a September 2006 discussion forum of recovering Gothard followers. "People need to see through errornious [sic] and destructive doctrines and teachings including Bill Gothard's."
After graduating from Gothard's home-schooling seminars, which constituted the bulk of his education (Colorado has no educational records for Murray after third grade), he was presented by his parents with two options for higher education. The first choice was Haggard's alma mater, Oral Roberts University. ORU at the time was beginning to unravel under the weight of scandalous revelations that its new president, Richard Roberts--the scion of its beloved founder--had allegedly looted university coffers to pay for his daughter's junkets to the Bahamas and bankroll his wife's shopping sprees. (Oral Roberts's other son, Ronnie, was a cocaine-addicted closet homosexual who committed suicide in 1982). Murray's second option was the "Discipleship Training School" of Youth with a Mission (YWAM), a Christian Reconstructionist-inspired missionary group that trained bright-eyed youngsters to spread the gospel of Colorado Springs to under-evangelized Third World nations. Desperate to escape his parents' rigid order, Murray joined YWAM.

[Husky]

1. Old book, for those who missed it:
http://rajeev2004.blogspot.com/2009/09/aro...exposing-m.html
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->Tuesday, September 15, 2009
<b>aroup chatterjee's book exposing m teresa's lies, and dubious life</b>
sep 15th, 2009

we have discussed this book about the 'ghoul of calcutta' here before. as well as hitchens' book 'the missionary position' about the Great Hypocrite godwoman

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: senthil

http://www.meteorbooks.com/introduction.html

Posted by nizhal yoddha at 9/15/2009 12:54:00 PM 3 comments <!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->Get it off archive.org if the link fails.


2. http://rajeev2004.blogspot.com/2009/09/ind...ad-side-of.html
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin--><b>Indian Express: Revealed, the 'bad side' of Bible</b>
sep 21st, 2009

oh, there is a 'good side' to the christists' idol? that's news to me.

read the 'skeptics annotated bible' on the net: practically every verse is violent, crazy, sexist, racist, or otherwise abhorrent.

no wonder that when founding father thomas jefferson of the us decided to tear out every page of his copy of the bible that was offensive, he found out that he only had the covers left.

and below, i like the limey backpedaling furiously at the end. what, the godmen threatened you or something?

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: sri

<b>Revealed, the 'bad side' of Bible</b>

Sep 1, 2009
http://www.indianexpress.com/news/revealed...-bible/510158/0

Readers of a Christian website have identified biblical verses
purportedly backing sexism, genocide and the slaughter of sorceresses
as the holy book's least endearing parts.

...

Simon Jenkins, editor of shipoffools.com, said: "It doesn't have to be
a textbook of infallible information and unbreakable laws to be God's
book. And it doesn't have to be one big pile of lies because of its
dodgy bits. In 'Chapter and Worse' we are attempting to rescue it from
rival takeover bids."

Posted by nizhal yoddha at 9/21/2009 07:58:00 AM 0 comments <!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->

3. Cont from #113:

http://rajeev2004.blogspot.com/2009/09/chr...-al-taqiya.html
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin--><b>christist al-taqiya</b>
sep 15th, 2009

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: ~a~


And Jesus said to Simon, "Do not fear, from now on you will be catching men." (I think Luke 5:10) (Note:and women, more so)

-----------------

http://www.expressbuzz.com/edition/story.a...%20Indian%20Res

In her nine-page complaint to the City Police Commissioner T Rajendran on Monday, Sharmila said she was a Hindu Yadav by caste, and married Samuel, a Christian Yadav, in a self-respect marriage ceremony on February 2 only after she was entirely convinced by the man himself, his parents and friends that he had "reconverted to Hinduism and was a staunch Hindu and a vegetarian." Even during the lavish marriage ceremony, conducted in the presence of Minister for Slum Clearance Subha Thangavelu, the bridegroom acted like a Hindu, wearing vibhuthi and kungumam on his forehead, she said.

She was soon in for a nasty surprise. The most shocking discovery was on the wedding night itself, when she found that he was "bald and wore a wig". Weeks of ill-treatment followed - at his house in his native town, Paramakudi, his close friend's house in Madurai and later at Leh, she alleged.

But she got the greatest shock when she heard him confess on April 13 that he had married her at the insistence of his parents and that he had not converted to Hinduism and had opted for a self-respect ceremony because it was only legally valid between Hindus. Since he remained a Christian, she was not his legally wedded wife and the child she was carrying was also illegitimate. "A self-respect marriage is legally valid only if it is between Hindus," Sharmila's lawyer and civil rights activist Sudha Ramalingam told Express.

"Samuel told her that he was a Hindu and, hence, Sharmila thought she was his legally married wife. But he cheated her," she said. "Samuel was already married and divorced. He was bald and was probably not getting any marriage proposals. Hence, his parents could have come up with this idea of getting him married to Sharmila," she added. <b>Sharmila alleged that her husband, his family and friend claimed they were close to ministers, MPs and a top police official and threatened to implicate her and her family in grave offences</b>

Posted by nizhal yoddha at 9/15/2009 12:50:00 PM 2 comments <!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->

[HareKrishna]

http://www.unholylegacy.woerlee.org/cult.php

The Koran and Bible
are
Evil Cult Manifesto's
© G.M. Woerlee

[acharya]

<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->

Mislead by Jesus!
© G.M. Woerlee



Have we been mislead by Jesus?

Can we trust what Jesus told us in the New Testament of the Bible?

These are serious questions, and have a sound basis of scriptural truth. Their answers lie in the book of Matthew, the first book of the New Testament. This book tells us that during the initial period of his ministry, Jesus wandered the provinces of Judea, Samaria, and Galilee, preaching, teaching, performing miracles, and training his twelve apostles to continue and further his ministry. During this time he commanded them to only spread his teachings among Jewish peoples.

    And when he had called unto him his twelve disciples, he gave them power against unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal all manner of sickness and all manner of disease.
    Now the names of the twelve apostles are these; The first, Simon, who is called Peter, and Andrew his brother; James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother;
    Philip, and Bartholomew; Thomas, and Matthew the publican; James the son of Alphaeus, and Lebbaeus, whose surname was Thaddaeus;
    Simon the Canaanite, and Judas Iscariot, who also betrayed him.
    These twelve Jesus sent forth, and commanded them, saying, Go not into the way of the Gentiles, and into any city of the Samaritans enter ye not:
    But go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.
    And as ye go, preach, saying, The kingdom of heaven is at hand. (KJV Bible, Matthew 10:1-7)

This is strange, here is Jesus telling his disciples not to spread his message among the Samaritans or Gentiles. Samaritans were a race of half-breed Jews living in a region to the north of Judea. Aside from being half-breeds, they also committed the unpardonable crime of heresy, because although they practiced Judaism, it was a different form of Judaism to that practiced by the pureblood Jews in Judea. And Jesus was a pureblood Jew, born and raised in Judea. Gentiles were not descended from the twelve tribes of Israel, nor did they practice any form of Judaism at all. Accordingly they were not deemed worthy of the same consideration as Jews, which is why the message of Jesus was not intended for them either. That is probably the background to this command of Jesus of Nazareth to his apostles.

Some undetermined time after giving this command, Jesus was crucified for being a rabble-rouser and general troublemaker. The Bible tells us he rose from the dead three days afterwards, and told the women visiting his empty tomb that he wanted to meet his apostles on a specific hill in Galilee. Jesus appeared to his apostles there, and made a really surprising statement before ascending to heaven.

    Then the eleven disciples went away into Galilee, into a mountain where Jesus had appointed them.
    And when they saw him, they worshipped him: but some doubted.
    And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth.
    Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost:
    Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world. Amen.(KJV Bible, Matthew 28:16-20)

Astounding is the only word capable of fitting such a change of instruction. So while he was still alive and physically present on this world, Jesus told his apostles specifically not to spread his teachings among Samaritans and Gentiles. Yet when appearing to his apostles after his resurrection, these prejudices were all gone, and he told them to spread his teachings to all peoples. A truly dramatic change of attitude, and one with profound consequences! And, it is unlikely that this is merely a difference of emphasis between two different books of the Bible - this is a profound change of message reported by the same writer who reported what he saw and remembered in the book of Matthew. So what we have here is a true change of message - and as I said before - a change with profound and obvious consequences.

How could this inconsistency arise? God interacts with human prophets by inspiring them to communicate the teachings of God to other humans. This single basic fact means these divine inspirations and teachings must first undergo translation within the brains of these prophets to something understandable to the prophets themselves. Human prophets are made of material flesh, which means they can only make their divine inspirations and teachings known to others by means of the mechanisms of their material brains and material bodies - by means of speech, writings, and deeds. The mechanisms of the material human body are wondrous, but sometimes function imperfectly. This means errors of interpretation, as well as in the communication of the teachings of God by human prophets are possible. Jesus, whom many Christians say is the Son of God, recognized the basic fact of the fallibility of the mechanisms of the material human body (Bible, Matthew 26:41). Saint Paul even emphasized that the erratic and sinful character of human nature is a natural consequence of the functioning of the material body.

Now, even though Jesus was the Son of God, and presumably had a rather more direct communication with God than other humans, he still had a material human body with resulting human nature. Jesus was raised as a material child made of flesh and blood in an environment surrounded by the normal prejudices current in Judea at that time. So his first command issued to his apostles, while he was still incarnated in a physical body before his crucifixion, was presumably a misinterpretation of the wishes of God made while under the influence of his human nature, which is why he told them his teachings were not intended for Samaritans and Gentiles. After he rose from the dead, his body was no longer physical, and accordingly no longer subject to errors of interpretation due to the imperfect functioning of his material body, so he was able to give the correct and true message of God to his disciples when they met on the hill in Galilee. This is why he then told his apostles to spread his teachings to the peoples of all the nations of the world.

But if Jesus misinterpreted the messages of God while in his physical body of flesh in this one situation, what then of all the other statements of Jesus? Here we have here one very glaring example of misinterpretation of the true message God, so can we actually trust the meanings of the other statements and deeds of Jesus while he was on this world as a physical being of flesh and blood? After all, they too may have been influenced by the functioning of his material body and his upbringing on this world. This means we cannot really trust the message of Jesus in the New Testament, nor can we trust the messages revealed to us by all other physical prophets, because they too were certainly prone to just the same errors of interpretation of God's message to humankind as those made by Jesus. In short, humankind has been mislead by Jesus for more than 2000 years, and mislead by the prophets of Jesus for the same length of time. Likewise, the messages of all the other prophets in the Bible are also prone to these same errors of interpretation.

All these things mean we cannot trust many of the revelations of any of the prophets in the Bible. But which revelations can be trusted? Can we even trust the Bible? This is food for thought for all thinking persons ... Read more about the inconsistencies in Christianity in The Unholy Legacy of Abraham.




<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
http://www.unholylegacy.woerlee.org/jesus-message.php

[dhu]

It's not inconsistent. There is a 'narrative collapse' which resolves the supposed inconsistencies. Theology is the attempt to forge a unified narrative and to delineate the 'plan'.

Operating at Definition level is the consequence of Theology, for example: "There is no such thing as Hindu until we came along and defined it for you and systematized it within our array." This is deemed as their 'trump card'!!!

Evolutionary input is lethal to the theological Enterprise.

[acharya]

"The Christ of the New Age Movement"
Part One in a Two-Part Series on New Age Christology

by Ron Rhodes

http://home.earthlink.net/~ronrhodes/ChristNAM.html

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2FvA6BbMeb0

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9JihYJhfAs4

[G.Subramaniam]

The VHP-USA is actually doing something to help theses bhutanese hindu refugees in the USA

--

http://www.floridabaptistwitness.com/10818.article

GLEN ELLYN, Ill. (BP)—Cody Lorance doesn’t knock. He just pushes the door open and ambles into the apartment. A little girl runs to hug him and the rest of her family filters into the room to greet their guest.

They give each other a traditional South Asian greeting—the palms of their hands pressed together in front of them—but what they say in Nepali is anything but traditional: “Jay Masih,” which means “Victory to the Messiah.”

Lorance is a church planter in Chicago. Since 2005, he and a five-member team have been working among immigrants in the city. Since they start­ed meeting as a house church four years ago, they have seen the Lord pull to­gether congregations among Nepali, Ethio­pi­an and Karen people who live in rundown little apart­ment buildings scattered around Chi­cago’s western suburbs.

Lorance makes himself at home, dropping casually onto the couch and peppering family members with questions in their heart language. He asks how jobs are going, talks about plans for a block party, and learns a family member has bought a car that may not have had all the appropriate paperwork to go with it. A young woman brings him a steaming glass of tea that gives off an aroma of cardamom, and Lorance sips it appreciatively. He will sit and chat with the family for hours.

He may be a pastor making a ministry visit, but he’s also part of the family.
PREPARATION Women from TriEak Parmeshwar Mandali, a Nepali congregation that meets at Glenfield Baptist Church in Glen Ellyn, Ill., prepare ingredients for “Momo,” a meat dumpling native to the Himalayas of Nepal, for a fellowship meal preceding the bapti

BP photo

PREPARATION Women from TriEak Parmeshwar Mandali, a Nepali congregation that meets at Glenfield Baptist Church in Glen Ellyn, Ill., prepare ingredients for “Momo,” a meat dumpling native to the Himalayas of Nepal, for a fellowship meal preceding the baptism of several new Nepali believers.

Back on the street outside, Lorance gestures at the nearby businesses and homes.

“This is a white, upper-middle-class neighborhood, but these little apartment buildings are chock-full of refugees,” he points out. “So many church people pass by every day and have no idea what’s going on here.”

The refugees come from all over the world, and some churches are reaching out to them in ministry. Most of the visitors, however, don’t spend the time necessary to develop a real relationship with the refugees.

“This is not a superficial, drive-by ministry. You’ve got to be willing to move beyond the American 30-minute visit,” Lorance said. “You’ve got to get past the first cup of tea and eat a couple of meals with them. It takes three-hour, six-hour visits. You have to get to the point where you run out of the Nepali phrases you know and they run out of English—and you still stay with them. You become more a part of their lives—a fixture, a part of the family.”

‘GATEWAY TO THE ENDS OF THE EARTH’

“Chicagoland” is a gateway to the ends of the earth, Lorance said. Its 9.6 million residents speak a couple of hundred languages—147 officially documented by the public schools—and many of those are the heart languages of overseas people groups that have never heard the Good News of salvation in Jesus Christ.

The work Lorance and his team are doing is helping forge a new path for North American missions—a path that leads directly into unreached people groups overseas, said Keith Draper, executive director of the Chicago Metropolitan Baptist Association.

“When the International Mission Board tells us the first church among an unreached people of the world could begin in Chicago, we are overjoyed and looking for partners,” Draper said. “Cody is doing that kind of groundbreaking work.”

What began as a house church in 2005 was followed by an Ethiopian congregation in 2006 and an English as a Second Language ministry and Karen congregation in 2007. The Ethiopian group spun off a daughter church back in Ethiopia and the Karen from a daughter church in Rockford, Ill.

The Nepali congregation began meeting earlier in 2009. They have baptized 18 so far this year, including 12 reflecting rare instances of high-caste Hindus publicly declaring their faith in Jesus alone as Savior.

UNEXPECTED OPEN DOORS

Lorance sees the Lord opening doors with refugees in the most unexpected ways.

He was working in partnership with Exodus World Service, a refugee ministry based in Bloomingdale, Ill., to help refugees from Burma’s Karen people group. The first family he met had been commissioned by their refugee-camp church to start a church in the United States when they arrived.

“We have prayed a lot and ... started a home Bible study two years ago and have gone from house to house as others arrived,” Lorance recounted. “We had the first worship service here in December 2007 and a few months later helped start a church among Karen refugees in Rockford that had 300 in attendance for their first anniversary service.”

One Wednesday evening, Lorance walked into a Karen home to lead a Bible study and found four people waiting who were definitely not Karen. Two Karen teenage girls had met some new neighbors and invited them to the Bible study. The neighbors, who were Nepalis from Bhutan, came even though they wouldn’t understand what was being said.

Lorance, however, had focused on Hinduism during his graduate studies and was working at the time with the South Asia Friendship Center in Chicago’s Little India. He was able to greet the visitors in Hindi.

“I had been preaching to the Karen church about missions. They have neighbors from all over the world and I had been locating people for them on a map,” Lorance said. “The two girls invited their new neighbors and from that simple act of reaching out we now have a congregation of 70 Nepalis, many of them new believers. It started with a simple invitation.”

That Nepali congregation is the only organization in the city for Bhutanese Nepalis, Lorance added. When a new family arrives at the airport, the Nepali congregation picks them up and takes them to a home where they enjoy a Nepali meal. They help them get moved into an apartment, work with them on getting the necessities of life in America, and the next Sunday members of that new family usually are in the congregation’s service.

“It’s amazing,” Lorance said. “Eighty percent of the Bhutanese Nepalis in our county are in church with us on Sunday, even if they are Hindu.”

In a city the size of Chicago, with its millions of lost souls, the opportunities are boundless to see God replicate the kind of Kingdom advance Lorance and his team are experiencing, said Charles Campbell, who directs church planting initiatives for the Illinois Baptist State Association.

“We need more Codys to come to Chicago,” Campbell said. “My prayer is that as people see what he is doing, they will catch a vision for coming to Chicago and joining Illinois Baptists in the work there.”

[acharya]

Americans have fascination with Bhutanese people/

Regular visit to Bhutan and make freinds with Bhutan is the real plan.

They did this with Nepali people in the 1990 and early years.

after 10-15 years Nepali became Maoists and became anti-India. This is the plan of the RIM - Revolutionary international movement.
Liberation theology of the evangelist is used here

[G.Subramaniam]

Dailypioneer

In Rome, Durga is not welcome

Kanchan Gupta

What does it mean to celebrate Durga Puja in Rome? It means to be humiliated, harassed and hounded by city officials who happen to be pious Christians. Alright, I could be utterly wrong in presuming they are pious since I have no independent confirmation of their piety or otherwise. But let’s get back to the question with which I began. Late Thursday night I was at the park near my house where the local Bengalis organise Durga Puja every year. It’s a raucous celebration of faith and culture. The food stalls are invariably hugely popular and there I was with my nine-year-old daughter, standing in a queue for kathi rolls. After what seemed like an interminable wait, it was our turn to be served. Just then my BlackBerry beeped. Balancing the piping hot rolls, dripping oil, tomato ketchup, green chilli sauce and lemon juice, in one hand, I tried to read the e-mail on my handset.

No luck. I got shoved around, nearly dropped both rolls and my phone, and decided to let the e-mail wait. Later, away from the crowd, I checked the e-mail and it was a fascinating story. Since the identity of the person who had sent the mail is not really relevant, let me reproduce the text: “The Municipal Police authorities of Rome have today withdrawn permission, granted three weeks ago, to celebrate Durga Puja in Rome. The cancellation came a few hours before the Ambassador of India was scheduled to inaugurate the Puja at 8 pm local time. No acceptable explanation has been given. This has caused the local Indian community the loss of thousands of Euros spent in preparatory arrangements. The same thing was done in the same manner in 2008 also. Please monitor developments.”

Now that’s awful, I told myself, here I am having kathi rolls and there they can’t even celebrate their own festival. On Friday, I called a friend in Rome who provided me with the latest details. Our Ambassador, Mr Arif Shahid Khan, a feisty man who has in the past taken up the issue of Sikhs being forced to take off their turbans at Italian airports, campaigned throughout the day, calling up officials, including the Mayor of Rome, and contacting members of the ‘Friends of India’ group in the Italian Parliament, arguing with them why permission for the Puja should be restored. By evening, the authorities had reversed their order and permission was granted to celebrate Durga Puja, which will now begin on Saturday, Ashtami — a full 48 hours behind schedule. Provided, of course, there is no last minute cancellation, as it happened on Thursday. Mr Khan will inaugurate the Puja, an honour he richly deserves.

The story behind the cancellation needs to be told, if only to point out that Christian countries in the West, whose Governments so blithely criticise the ‘lack’ of ‘religious freedom’ in India, have no compunctions about trampling on Hindu sentiments at home. After last year’s experience, when permission for celebrating Durga Puja in Rome was abruptly withdrawn by officials who cited specious reasons to justify their grossly unfair decision, the organisers, led by Mr Rajesh Sahani, a Sindhi from Kolkata who speaks flawless Bengali, took ample precautions this year. They were given permission to organise the Puja at Parko Centocelle, a public park on Via Cailina, Torpignattara. Three weeks ago, permission was granted for the Puja at the park and necessary formalities were completed.

Early this past week, the Puja organisers were told they could not use the park as a crime had been committed there and the location posed security-related problems. The organisers agreed to change the venue. Another park was selected, permission was given to celebrate Durga Puja there, and the preparations began all over again in right earnest. Then, like a bolt from the blue, at 4 pm on Thursday came the withdrawal of permission by the Municipal Police. The organisers were bluntly told to pack up and leave hours before Durga Puja was scheduled to begin with Akal Bodhon in the evening. Why? No reason was proffered.

Some officials are believed to have told the organisers that the cancellation of permission at the eleventh hour, both last year and this year, was meant to be “retaliatory action against the persecution of Christians in India”. It may be recalled that the President of Italy, Mr Giorgio Napoletano, has been vociferous in demanding that Europe should do more in support of Christians in India and to help them ‘affirm their right to religious freedom’. The Government of Italy has in the past summoned the Ambassador of India to convey to him that it has “deep concern and sensitivity for the ongoing inter-religious violence... that has caused the death of many Christians.” The Pope has been no less harsh in denouncing India.

There could be another reason, apart from its “deep concern” about the welfare of Christians in India, for Italy’s callous disregard of the sentiments of Hindus in that country. Although the Italian Constitution guarantees religious freedom, under the Lateran Treaty with the Vatican, Italy recognises only the three religions of Semitic origin — Christianity, Judaism and Islam. All other religions are no more than paganism and are to be shamed and shunned. The Vatican would not countenance any open breach of the Lateran Treaty; Italy would not want to be seen as recognising Hinduism.

“It’s only natural that Italy should have a surfeit of churches. But it’s the rejection of any other faith than Christianity, Judaism and Islam that explains why there are so many mosques but virtually no temples in Italy although this country has a large Hindu expatriate population,” my friend told me while regretting the attitude of the Government and the local authorities. According to him, there are only three temples in Italy: One in a garage in Venice; another at Frescolo and the third at Reggio Emilia. These survive at the mercy of local zoning officials.

But for Mr Arif Shahid Khan’s pro-active involvement — most Ambassadors tend to stay aloof from community affairs — this year too there would have been no Durga Puja in Rome. Indians in Italy owe him a debt of gratitude. So do Bangladeshis who are equal participants in this annual celebration of dharma’s victory over adharma, of the triumph of good over evil. Cultural and linguistic affinities unite Bengalis, irrespective of whether they are from the west or east of Padma, during this autumnal festival celebrated around the world.

Meanwhile, let’s not get carried away by the West’s bilious and bogus criticism of religious freedom in India and indulge in self-flagellation. Let the West look at its own ugly, septic warts. If Christians can celebrate Christmas in New Delhi, Hindus have the right to celebrate Durga Puja in Rome. This is non-negotiable.

[Guest]

Let them cancel Durga Puja, Good opportunity to kick out every Italian from India. <!--emo&--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/biggrin.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='biggrin.gif' /><!--endemo-->

[dhu]

Kanchan Gupta gets hate mail. His essay was not even published in intl media, afaik.

<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->ZoomIndianMedia: Congratulations. hate mails from pedo***e, b*****d followers add to your credibility. Rogues beheaded TeghB, shot Laxmananda
   
Kanchan Gupta: Another Uncle Tom is hugely upset: "You losers in India just crib. See how well we have done in West..." He refers to Amrika as "my country"
   
Kanchan Gupta: One Uncle Tom says I am a "bloody Hindu" who should learn from Christian West. Another says but for $ from West "Hindus would starve"

Kanchan Gupta: Interesting. Hate mail from Uncle Toms in Amrika and Europe, berating me for a) pointing finger at Rome, b)criticising West, c)being Yindoo<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->

[Guest]

<b>Religious life won't be the same after downturn</b>
<i>Congregations, religious schools fall victim to recession; leaders say more losses ahead</i><!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->NEW YORK (AP) -- Organized religion was already in trouble before the fall of 2008. Denominations were stagnating or shrinking, and congregations across faith groups were fretting about their finances.

The Great Recession made things worse.

It's further drained the financial resources of many congregations, seminaries and religious day schools. Some congregations have disappeared and schools have been closed. In areas hit hardest by the recession, worshippers have moved away to find jobs, leaving those who remain to minister to communities struggling with rising home foreclosures, unemployment and uncertainty.

Religion has a long history of drawing hope out of suffering, but there's little good news emerging from the recession. Long after the economy improves, the changes made today will have a profound effect on how people practice their faith, where they turn for help in times of stress and how they pass their beliefs to their children.

<b>"In 2010, I think we're going to see 10 or 15 percent of congregations saying they're in serious financial trouble,"</b> says David Roozen, a lead researcher for the Faith Communities Today multi-faith survey, which measures congregational health annually. "With around 320,000 or 350,000 congregations, that's a hell of a lot of them."
......<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->

well, sheeps will look for new Pasteur.

[dhu]

<b>Chinese babies stolen by officials for foreign adoption</b>

[Guest]

<b>Sex abuse rife in other religions, says Vatican</b><!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->The Vatican has lashed out at criticism over its handling of its paedophilia crisis by saying the Catholic church was "busy cleaning its own house" and that the problems with clerical sex abuse in other churches were as big, if not bigger.
....

"Of all priests involved in the abuses, 80 to 90% belong to this sexual orientation minority which is sexually engaged with adolescent boys between the ages of 11 and 17."
....

Of all the world religions, Roman Catholicism has been hardest hit by sex abuse scandals. In the US, churches have paid more than $2bn (£1.25bn) in compensation to victims. In Ireland, reports into clerical sexual abuse have rocked both the Catholic hierarchy and the state.<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->

These idiots from Vatican should know, single rape is too much and this is from people of so-called God house.

[Husky]

Almost forgot. Pic from a German site:
<img src='http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v130/indiaforum/DarthSidiousAndTheSheep.jpg' border='0' alt='user posted image' />

"Darth Ratzinger and The Holy Sheep"
Now playing at Nightmares Near You.

[G.Subramaniam]

<!--QuoteBegin-Mudy+Sep 29 2009, 09:31 AM-->QUOTE(Mudy @ Sep 29 2009, 09:31 AM)<!--QuoteEBegin--><b>Religious life won't be the same after downturn</b>
<i>Congregations, religious schools fall victim to recession; leaders say more losses ahead</i><!--QuoteBegin--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->NEW YORK (AP) -- Organized religion was already in trouble before the fall of 2008. Denominations were stagnating or shrinking, and congregations across faith groups were fretting about their finances.

The Great Recession made things worse.

It's further drained the financial resources of many congregations, seminaries and religious day schools. Some congregations have disappeared and schools have been closed. In areas hit hardest by the recession, worshippers have moved away to find jobs, leaving those who remain to minister to communities struggling with rising home foreclosures, unemployment and uncertainty.

Religion has a long history of drawing hope out of suffering, but there's little good news emerging from the recession. Long after the economy improves, the changes made today will have a profound effect on how people practice their faith, where they turn for help in times of stress and how they pass their beliefs to their children.

<b>"In 2010, I think we're going to see 10 or 15 percent of congregations saying they're in serious financial trouble,"</b> says David Roozen, a lead researcher for the Faith Communities Today multi-faith survey, which measures congregational health annually. "With around 320,000 or 350,000 congregations, that's a hell of a lot of them."
......<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->

well, sheeps will look for new Pasteur.
[right][snapback]101610[/snapback][/right]
<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->

I hope that most of them go under
Less money for EJ activities

Hooray for the recession

[agnivayu]

I was thinking about this. Has the recession in the U.S./West greatly reduced the funds going into Christo terrorism in India?



<!--QuoteBegin-G.Subramaniam+Oct 2 2009, 05:10 AM-->QUOTE(G.Subramaniam @ Oct 2 2009, 05:10 AM)<!--QuoteEBegin-->
I hope that most of them go under
Less money for EJ activities

Hooray for the recession
[right][snapback]101687[/snapback][/right]
<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->

[shamu]

Looks like Tamils songs for small kids on internet and CDs have the same tune as Tamil gospel musics. Here is an example.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rwM-F5bGqwU