UK to take up Russian Hindu cause

HindustanTimes.com ^ | December 29, 2005 | Nabanita Sircar

[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".

[Cronos]

I would suggest that the problems in India's North-East is more due to ethnic diffences between them and the rest of India (note that they even look different from most Indians) and due to the fact that they are isolated from the main part of India -- almost separated by Bangaldesh. Hence they were linguistically, racially, ethnically and economically different from the main group of Indians. Since the previous governments didn't bother to integrate them, they felt different and looked for Independent nations. However, if you notice, since India has liberalised and concentrated more on making the North-East feel at home with the rest of India, these movements have died out. The Baptists DID exacerbate it, I agree, but they weren't the cause.

[Cronos]

A significant amount of Hindus come here (Austin, TX) to go to school. Overwhelmingly they have been some of the smartest, most decent people I've met. Anyway, you know most Christian Americans don't think the way a few Bible-thumpers on this thread do.

Bears repeating BJC

[Cronos]

There is no Christian God or Hindu God. There is but one God and he has no religion. Religion is for us mortals, just a means to get closer to God.

Note that that is a Hindu belief. Christianity will state that there is only one God, but the path is through Christ alone. Bearing that in mind, one can still respect other's belief systems on the policy of "you live your life, I'll live mine, let's not step on each other's toes" --> you can (and should) explain your philosophy to me and I'll do likewise to you and we listen to each other. We may not agree but we can agree to disagree.

[Cronos]

There is one God, and other 'gods' are demons and idols pagans worship. One without faith looking to maintain ties politically can confess other Gods, and it's sinful.

There is ONE God. One can believe that other 'gods' are false, but to call them demons is ignorant and insulting. By their actions and ritual requirements, Krishna devotees are NOT demon worshippers (GK -- sorry, but I have doubts about Kali worshipping, but not about the other deities: Ganpati, Ram etc.)

You can be a true Christian and RESPECT the rights of others to their religions

[Cronos]

There is no way that a practicing Russian Orthodox Bishop could see Hinduism as anything other than a Pagan faith.

Yes, pagan, (non-Christian), but demon-worshipping? The archBishop could use more Christian words: he can say that they're not Christian, that they are pagan, that they are false gods, but to call Krishna a demon? silly.

[Cronos]

well, quite frankly, there's no definition of a "true Hindu" -- at one level, everyone of Indian origin is a Hindu, by culture and thinking -- Hinduism doesn't confine itself to a bottle, you can have near athiests (arya samaj) as Hindus right up to near Christians who would believe everything that's Christian and may occasionally worship other deities.

[Cronos]

I'd say you were displaying Mohammedan tendencies of forceful conversion.

[Cronos]

There are evil elements to the hindu religion. In addition to being idolalters, which Christianity considers a sin, they engage in other practices that would be deemed morally unscrupulous by Christianity.

Aren't you painting with a broad brush there? Thuggees were evil, but nearly ALL Hindus condemn that ideology.

[Cronos]

As long as you keep your idol worshipping religion in India, you can do whatever you want

And one can return to SaudiHell whenever the Hill of T wants. Hindus should be allowed to worship -- they allow Christians to worship in India -- all 25 million Christians there.

[Cronos]

You needn't be so paranoid. No ones forcing you to worship idols.

Quite right -- and some Hindu groups don't even worship idols.

[Cronos]

"and what about forcing women to marry men they don't like? sounds awful muslim to me."

Get real -- that was the norm in the West until women's emancipation in the early part of the last century. It's not a Muslime thing. Furthermore, a Muslime thing would be to ban the woman from studying or doing anything out of the house: Hinduism does NOT do that.

[Cronos]

True, but not all over the world is it sanctioned by religion, as is the case with hinduism.

Surprising how little a person can know and yet yap. It's NOT sanctioned by religion. Pretty much nothing is "sanctioned" by Hinduism as it's not a centralised religion, it's a grouping of religions.

[Cronos]

Forced marriages are institutionalized in the hindu faith.

You really do not know what you talk about do you? That statement is a LIE.

[Cronos]

I suppose that includes quotes like "Marriages are institutionalized in the hindu faith. Not forced marriages."

[Cronos]

believe he has as a religious leader every right to say it.

well, I believe he has the right to ask for no construction, but using the term "demon-worshippers" helps no one and is not really Christian. We don't believe what they believe and we think their gods aren't the true, but we can respect their right to worship -- they do the same for us and don't force their religion on us.

[Cronos]

Let them have it in Holy Mother Russia, perhaps outside the city confines to keep the ArchBishop happy, but they have a right to a place to worship. Just as Christians have churches in India, so too, do Hindus have a right to their temples.

[Cronos]

I would say the gentleman is MUCH more welcome on this forum than a pagan Indian!

Tex and HiOT aren't acting Christian at all, more like Mohammedans in their zeal to attack everyone. That's shameful.

[Cronos]

QUite right SAM -- these are un-Christian and un-American words.

[Cronos]

the KKK aren't Christian either -- you can't believe in inequality among men and still be Christian.

[Cronos]

Any non-Apostolic entity with no Apostolic succession would, by definition, be heretical