06-05-2009, 08:49 PM
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin--><b>Crimes Against India: and the Need to Protect its Ancient Vedic Tradition
1000 Years of Attacks Against Hinduism and What to do About It.
by Stephen Knapp</b>
_www.stephen- knapp.com_ (http://www.stephen- knapp.com/)
<b>Review by David Frawley (Vamadeva Shastri)
_www.vedanet. com_ (http://www.vedanet. com/)</b>
Hinduism remains the most attacked and under siege of all the major world
religions. This is in spite of the fact that Hinduism is the most tolerant,
pluralistic and synthetic of the world's major religions. Hindu gurus have
more than any other religious teachers in the world tried to find an
underlying unity of religion to create peace in humanity. Yet though Hindu gurus
have called for respect for all religions, leaders of other religions have
not responded in kind by offering any respect for Hinduism. Instead they
have continued to promote their missionary agendas and plan the conversion
of India to their beliefs.
Why is Hinduism still so much a target of missionaries and the media? It
is really very simple. Hinduism is the largest of the non-conversion,
non-proselytizing religions and so offers the greatest possibilities for
conversion. It is the vulnerability of Hinduism that makes it a target, not the
fact that Hindus are trying to convert or conquer the world for some hostile
belief.
After Christianity and Islam, Hinduism is the world's largest religion and
the largest of the non-Biblical traditions. India, where most Hindus
reside, has the most open laws allowing in foreign religious groups. While
missionaries are virtually banned in China and in Islamic countries, in India
they are often tolerated, respected and given a wide scope of activity. Since
Christianity is in decline, particularly in Europe, it has a need to find
new converts for which India is one of main potential locations,
particularly as a comparatively high percentage of Hindu converts are willing to
become priests and nuns. Pope John Paul II in a trip to India some ten years
ago spoke directly of looking for a "rich harvest of souls in the third
millennium in Asia", specifically India.
Yet most Hindus and groups sympathetic to them are not aware of this
"siege on Hinduism" that continues unrelenting as part of the multi-national
missionary business. In this context, the book of Stephen Knapp, Crimes
Against India: and the Need to Protect its Ancient Vedic Tradition, is very
timely, well written and well documented. The siege on Hinduism has been going
on since the first Islamic armies and Christian missionaries entered India
as he clearly delineates and has continued in various forms, violent,
subversive or even charitably based.
While people know the history of the genocide of the Jews by the Nazis, the
greater and longer genocide of Hindus by Islamic invaders is hardly
noticed. Even the genocide in the Bangladesh War of 1971, in which most of the
several million killed were Hindus, is not acknowledged as a religious
genocide. While people know the history of the Inquisition and the burning of
witches in Europe and the genocide of Native Americans by Christian invaders,
they don't realize that India has a similar history in parts of the country
like Goa. Knapp fills in these gaps and makes these connections.
More importantly, people don't realize that questionable conversion
tactics are still being used in India today, where in the South, the rate offered
for conversion is around twenty thousand rupies, going up and down with
the economy! They also don't realize that it is now American Evangelicals of
the Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson line -- the religious right that
brought George Bush to power -- that is spearheading conversion activity and
church building in South India, pouring billions into the country.
Yet Knapp's book is not just written to make us aware of this assault on
Hinduism and its many dangers. He also provides a way forward, showing how
Hindu Dharma can be revived, better taught, better communicated and more
widely shared with the global audience, which is becoming progressively more
receptive to Hindu teachings of Yoga, Vedanta and respect for nature. He
documents the Hindu renaissance and the modern Hindu movement, which though
small is growing rapidly as a Hindu response to this denigration of its
venerable traditions. He shows that Hindus are not responding in terms of
becoming another intolerant, exclusivist missionary cult. They are organizing
themselves in terms of teaching, service and spiritual practices.
The book is well worth reading and will show any open minded
person the Hindu side of a millennial debate on religion that has so far
largely excluded the Hindu point of view. That Knapp is a western born Hindu
adds to his credibility and conviction. He is not simply defending a
tradition handed down by his family or his culture, but one that he has embraced
from deep spiritual conviction and profound inner experience.
One hopes that readers in India will listen to his voice and that those
outside of the country will recognize the Hindu plight along with the other
forms of oppression going on in the world. Religious minorities at a global
level are still under the assault of religious majorities, which have long
been armed with petrodollars, high technology and control of the media. Yet
as the book demonstrates, the tide is beginning to turn.
Crimes Against India: and The Need to Protect its Ancient Vedic Traditions
Available from iUniverse.com:
_http://www.iunivers e.com/Bookstore/ BookDetail. aspx?BookId= SKU-000115147_
(http://www.iunivers e.com/Bookstore/ BookDetail. aspx?BookId= SKU-000115147) .
Or Amazon.com: _
http://www.amazon. com/Crimes- Against-India- Tradition- Hinduism/ dp/1440111588/ ref=sr_1_ 2?ie=UTF8& s=books&qid= 1232214548& sr=1-2_
(http://www.amazon. com/Crimes- Against-India- Tradition- Hinduism/ dp/1440111588/ ref=sr_
1_2?ie=UTF8& s=books&qid= 1232214548& sr=1-2) <!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
1000 Years of Attacks Against Hinduism and What to do About It.
by Stephen Knapp</b>
_www.stephen- knapp.com_ (http://www.stephen- knapp.com/)
<b>Review by David Frawley (Vamadeva Shastri)
_www.vedanet. com_ (http://www.vedanet. com/)</b>
Hinduism remains the most attacked and under siege of all the major world
religions. This is in spite of the fact that Hinduism is the most tolerant,
pluralistic and synthetic of the world's major religions. Hindu gurus have
more than any other religious teachers in the world tried to find an
underlying unity of religion to create peace in humanity. Yet though Hindu gurus
have called for respect for all religions, leaders of other religions have
not responded in kind by offering any respect for Hinduism. Instead they
have continued to promote their missionary agendas and plan the conversion
of India to their beliefs.
Why is Hinduism still so much a target of missionaries and the media? It
is really very simple. Hinduism is the largest of the non-conversion,
non-proselytizing religions and so offers the greatest possibilities for
conversion. It is the vulnerability of Hinduism that makes it a target, not the
fact that Hindus are trying to convert or conquer the world for some hostile
belief.
After Christianity and Islam, Hinduism is the world's largest religion and
the largest of the non-Biblical traditions. India, where most Hindus
reside, has the most open laws allowing in foreign religious groups. While
missionaries are virtually banned in China and in Islamic countries, in India
they are often tolerated, respected and given a wide scope of activity. Since
Christianity is in decline, particularly in Europe, it has a need to find
new converts for which India is one of main potential locations,
particularly as a comparatively high percentage of Hindu converts are willing to
become priests and nuns. Pope John Paul II in a trip to India some ten years
ago spoke directly of looking for a "rich harvest of souls in the third
millennium in Asia", specifically India.
Yet most Hindus and groups sympathetic to them are not aware of this
"siege on Hinduism" that continues unrelenting as part of the multi-national
missionary business. In this context, the book of Stephen Knapp, Crimes
Against India: and the Need to Protect its Ancient Vedic Tradition, is very
timely, well written and well documented. The siege on Hinduism has been going
on since the first Islamic armies and Christian missionaries entered India
as he clearly delineates and has continued in various forms, violent,
subversive or even charitably based.
While people know the history of the genocide of the Jews by the Nazis, the
greater and longer genocide of Hindus by Islamic invaders is hardly
noticed. Even the genocide in the Bangladesh War of 1971, in which most of the
several million killed were Hindus, is not acknowledged as a religious
genocide. While people know the history of the Inquisition and the burning of
witches in Europe and the genocide of Native Americans by Christian invaders,
they don't realize that India has a similar history in parts of the country
like Goa. Knapp fills in these gaps and makes these connections.
More importantly, people don't realize that questionable conversion
tactics are still being used in India today, where in the South, the rate offered
for conversion is around twenty thousand rupies, going up and down with
the economy! They also don't realize that it is now American Evangelicals of
the Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson line -- the religious right that
brought George Bush to power -- that is spearheading conversion activity and
church building in South India, pouring billions into the country.
Yet Knapp's book is not just written to make us aware of this assault on
Hinduism and its many dangers. He also provides a way forward, showing how
Hindu Dharma can be revived, better taught, better communicated and more
widely shared with the global audience, which is becoming progressively more
receptive to Hindu teachings of Yoga, Vedanta and respect for nature. He
documents the Hindu renaissance and the modern Hindu movement, which though
small is growing rapidly as a Hindu response to this denigration of its
venerable traditions. He shows that Hindus are not responding in terms of
becoming another intolerant, exclusivist missionary cult. They are organizing
themselves in terms of teaching, service and spiritual practices.
The book is well worth reading and will show any open minded
person the Hindu side of a millennial debate on religion that has so far
largely excluded the Hindu point of view. That Knapp is a western born Hindu
adds to his credibility and conviction. He is not simply defending a
tradition handed down by his family or his culture, but one that he has embraced
from deep spiritual conviction and profound inner experience.
One hopes that readers in India will listen to his voice and that those
outside of the country will recognize the Hindu plight along with the other
forms of oppression going on in the world. Religious minorities at a global
level are still under the assault of religious majorities, which have long
been armed with petrodollars, high technology and control of the media. Yet
as the book demonstrates, the tide is beginning to turn.
Crimes Against India: and The Need to Protect its Ancient Vedic Traditions
Available from iUniverse.com:
_http://www.iunivers e.com/Bookstore/ BookDetail. aspx?BookId= SKU-000115147_
(http://www.iunivers e.com/Bookstore/ BookDetail. aspx?BookId= SKU-000115147) .
Or Amazon.com: _
http://www.amazon. com/Crimes- Against-India- Tradition- Hinduism/ dp/1440111588/ ref=sr_1_ 2?ie=UTF8& s=books&qid= 1232214548& sr=1-2_
(http://www.amazon. com/Crimes- Against-India- Tradition- Hinduism/ dp/1440111588/ ref=sr_
1_2?ie=UTF8& s=books&qid= 1232214548& sr=1-2) <!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->