Posted on 12/29/2005 4:24:45 PM PST by Tailgunner Joe
The campaign against the alleged harassment of Hindus in Russia by the Orthodox Church and the Mayor of Moscow is getting more intense in Britain.
Ashok Kumar, MP is launching the "Defend Russian Hindus Campaign" at the House of Commons in January.
There was umbrage here when it was learnt that Archbishop Nikon wrote a letter to the Mayor of Moscow urging him not to allow the construction of a Hindu temple in Moscow because according to him, Lord Krishna who is worshipped by the Hindu community was an "evil demon".
"Such untenable words in an age where interfaith harmony is the need of the day are nothing but an attempt to malign and persecute a faith community that teaches respect and freedom for every other faith community, " commented Ramesh Kallidai, Secretary General Hindu Forum of Britain, an umbrella organisation of most community groups in Britain.
The Defend Russian Hindus Campaign, launched by the Hindu Forum of Britain, Hindu Council UK, National Council of Hindu Temples UK, International Society for Krishna Consciousness, Vishwa Hindu Parishad UK, Hindu Council of Australia, Hindu American Foundation and many other worldwide Hindu organisations, aims to build awareness about the alleged persecution and discrimination against Russian Hindus by a corpus of the Russian Orthodox Church and the Mayor of Moscow, despite support from the Central Government.
There are over 100,000 Hindus in Russia. In Moscow alone, there are 5,000 Hindus of Indian origin and over 10,000 Hindus of Russian origin.
Two years ago the Mayor of Russia asked Hindus to vacate their temple in exchange for a piece of land on which they could build a bigger temple. After land was allocated to the Hindu temple, the original temple was demolished. The Russian Orthodox Church orchestrated mass protests against the allocation of land and started a misinformation campaign against Hindus in the media.
On October 30, 2005, after bowing down to pressure from the Orthodox Church, the Mayor of Moscow cancelled the land order and took away the piece of land given for the construction of the Hindu temple. Now, the 15,000 Hindus in Moscow have no place to worship. The consecrated Deities of Radha and Krishna will have no home, say the Hindu leaders.
Kallidai said around the time of India Prime Minister's state visit to Moscow to meet Russian President Putin, Archbishop Nikon, a leader of the Russian Orthodox Church, called the Hindu God, Lord Krishna an "evil demon, the personified power of hell opposing God", and "a livid lascivious youth".
":)"
Yeah, I mean I dont hate you or anything, even though we disagree. You should look into it :)
wow, you compiled that list pretty quickly. Could they be quotes that people sent you over the years, perhaps?
Many people have theological and historical reasons to believe that prayers to Mary, saints and/or Jesus are idolatry. How far do you want to go with that? ...all the way back to Ancient Iran, maybe, or only back to the Hellenist heirs of that?
The real issue is the Brits nosing into another country's business. Funny how India didn't push this but the Third Way Socialists in Britian did.
Unfortunetly, the lot of you are falling right for it.
Remember one thing about this article: it's not the Hindus in Russia raising the stink. Its not the Hindus in India raising the stink. It's a bunch of Third Way British Socialists raising a stink over an issue that doesn't even affect them.
So stop this stupid and childish infighting. And as for Christians, remember, while we consider Hindus pagans and not followers of the True Christ, insulting them will not bring anyone closer to Christ and will only drive ourselves further from his graces.
With all due respect, those who are in total ignorance should read and learn before they speak/write.
You really know nothing at all about Hinduism. I say this as someone who has studied the Vedic literature which is the spiritual foundation of what is called Hinduism for many years, alongside with studying the teachings of Jesus Christ.
And guess what! The essence is the same.
It's easy to throw around labels and insults, but it not only adds nothing to the discourse, it reveals your own lack of knowledge.
Just got back - rivers are very big, some flooding around. We'll be all right unless there's a major devastation!
Thanks, and Happy New Year to you as well.
Actually, the stories of many of the Christian Martyrs of that time tell us that the Roman officials didn't really care what the Christians professed so long as they made offerings to the Roman Gods as required by law.
I'm just trying to help him out.
I have no interest in insulting hindus but I will defend Christian bishops for speaking from a Christian standpoint and not a seculat political one.
As a Christian I’m truly ashamed to read this kind of BS. About Russian Orthodox church behavior I’m not surprised, don’t expect much from former KGB agents. They use aggressive rhetoric towards Roman Catholic church as well.
Oh lets see what the Supreme Court had to say for a good reason....oh I know: Imminent Domain. Temples, Churches, etc don't bring in a tax value so the land can be confiscated and given to someone who will.
Yeah, for example USA, I’m curious what some of Russian Orthodox smartasses who post here would say then.
How is that even remotely related?
The Orthodox (and ture Catholic stance) is that the church alone is the teaching for Salvation; ergo anything outside the church isn't.
As opposed to facists who feel that repressing anything Russian is great.
No true Christian beleives there is validity to Hindu religion, no true Christian beleives there are other dieties than God.
There are however secularists who lack faith and thus the conviction of faith who rally for anything that bandy's the word religion to be equal with the church.
Like x5452, it seems to me that those Russian Hindus ought to be able to build a temple in some convenient location. But GK, as an Orthodox Christian I do agree with what the bishop said and believe he has as a religious leader every right to say it.
On the other hand, I have a number of Hindu friends and they are just wonderful, hardworking, upstanding additions and contributors to our community. I wish we had more of them and fewer Mohammedans (actually, no Mohammedans would be just fine with me). One of my nephews runs with a bunch of Indian kids. They told him his name (Nicholas, of course) was "too white" so they call him "Nickander"! I am often surprised at the religious customs we Greeks have which bear at least surface similarities to yours...and I especially like what you guys can do with a piece of lamb!
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