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UK to take up Russian Hindu cause
HindustanTimes.com ^ | December 29, 2005 | Nabanita Sircar

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".


TOPICS: Foreign Affairs; News/Current Events; Russia; United Kingdom
KEYWORDS: greatbritain; hindus; india; luzhkov; russia; uk; unitedkingdom
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To: Cronos

"but nearly ALL Hindus condemn that ideology."

Well, there are other evil elements, too.


301 posted on 01/01/2006 9:02:22 PM PST by Hill of Tara
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To: Cronos

"Hindus should be allowed to worship -- they allow Christians to worship in India -- all 25 million Christians there."

Do they now?

I seem to recall hearing that Christians are persecuted in India, in many cases violently.


302 posted on 01/01/2006 9:04:00 PM PST by Hill of Tara
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To: Cronos

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

Um, no it's true.


303 posted on 01/01/2006 9:04:35 PM PST by Hill of Tara
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To: Cronos

Unfortunately, secretasianman won't be answering your post. He was bounced. Where's my hanky? Snifle, Sniffle,I'm tearing up.


304 posted on 01/01/2006 9:06:21 PM PST by Hill of Tara
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To: Cronos

I actually think that post (232) is probably what got secretasianman his early checkout.


305 posted on 01/01/2006 9:09:01 PM PST by Hill of Tara
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To: Cronos

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

You have no right to tell us we're not acting Christian. WE aren't the ones insulting people.

Please see post 232.


306 posted on 01/01/2006 9:11:11 PM PST by Hill of Tara
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To: Hill of Tara

like what?


307 posted on 01/01/2006 9:14:24 PM PST by Cronos (Never forget 9/11. Restore Hagia Sophia!)
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To: Hill of Tara; Kolokotronis
Well, there are other evil elements, too.

Name them and I'll point out that most are confined to small groups: remember Hinduism is not a monolithic, one-definition faith

I seem to recall hearing that Christians are persecuted in India, in many cases violently.

true -- isolated incidents --which doesn't make it less gruesome, but you need to ask yourself: are all Christians all over India mis-treated? Are they not allowed to practise their faith? The answer to both is NO. Isolated cases happened (note the past tense) and they were universally condemned by all Hindus in India.

Contrast that with what happens in Pakiland or Saudi A or Indonesia, where the majority support such actions against a minority.

HillOT: Forced marriages are institutionalized in the hindu faith.
Cronos :That statement is a LIE.

Yes, it is a lie -- it is not an institutionalised thing, it is not forced on every person as per religious rules, rather it is a cultural phenomenon, that was also prevelent in the West uptil the early 1900s. Your statement is a lie.

Cronos to SAM: the KKK aren't Christian either -- you can't believe in inequality among men and still be Christian.
HillOT: Unfortunately, secretasianman won't be answering your post. He was bounced. Where's my hanky? Snifle, Sniffle,I'm tearing up.

ok, so do YOU think the KKK are paragons of Christianity? I don't and I stand by that statement.

Cronos: "Tex and HiOT aren't acting Christian at all, more like Mohammedans in their zeal to attack everyone. That's shameful."
HillOT: You have no right to tell us we're not acting Christian. WE aren't the ones insulting people.

Yes, you are -- you are insulting our Hindu friends by calling them demon-worshippers. I repeat what I said earlier: you can call them pagans (Pagan = follower of a non-Christian belief system), you can call their gods false gods, but you should NOT use insulting terms like demon-worshippers and call Krishna a demon -- I don't believe in Krishna but the teachings of the ISKON guys tells you that Krishna is not a demon.

Maybe we can consider them misguided but if you want people to become Christians, you do not condemn them and raise their heckles. Explain your point, explain WHY you consider Christ the one and only way to God. If he/she wants to believe that, then great, if not, we as Christians will NOT force a person to our religion, that would be against God's will -- he who gave us the freedom to choose. You and I believe that God has given us the freedom to choose, to think, he's given it to Hindus as well. He wants us all to choose Him of our free will. I'm afraid that insulting words would drive people AWAY from Christ, hence the term "d-worshipper" to a Hindu IS anti-Christian as it stops people from hearing the message of Christ

Remember Christ said to spread His word. If people choose to follow Him or not is their OWN choice, granted by God's will.
308 posted on 01/01/2006 9:27:05 PM PST by Cronos (Never forget 9/11. Restore Hagia Sophia!)
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To: 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."

Hmmmm, you are probably right. Maybe I was talking about an average Hindu.


309 posted on 01/01/2006 10:14:03 PM PST by Gengis Khan
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To: Cronos; Hill of Tara

Cronos: "like what?"

HiOT: "Like....like....I dunno.... but still they are all evil, demon worshipping pagans! Thats what I have been indoctrinated ! Hinduism is evil! False Gods! Pack of lies!...evil! evil!...evil!"


(/sarc)


310 posted on 01/01/2006 11:13:26 PM PST by Gengis Khan
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To: Cronos

"I can explain to a Hindu friend that I don't believe in his gods and goddesses but I believe in only ONE God. My Hindu friend would say that he believes that all paths lead to God and that he/she worships Christ as one of the manifestations of God."

Hindus also believe in only one God, just that we believe there are many paths to reach Him.


311 posted on 01/01/2006 11:37:12 PM PST by Gengis Khan
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To: Gengis Khan; Hill of Tara; Kolokotronis
Hindus also believe in only one God, just that we believe there are many paths to reach Him.

Sorry, should have reworded that: Christianity believes in an exclusive one path, Hinduism doesn't. Do I have a problem with someone else believing in there being multiple paths? No. I don't believe in it, but I'll respect another person's right to do so. Most Hindus are open minded enough to listen to a Christian's point of view (as long as the Christian doesn't act abysmally stupid, ignorant and insulting) and choose to make up their minds on their own. The least a Christian can do is reciprocate. Everyone has the free will to choose what he/she wishes to believe in --> that's God's gift to mankind or else He'd make us mindless slaves.

GK -- do ignore the shrill shills (I'm not including the Archbishop among these, I'd consider that he mouthed off a bit), they're no more representative of Christianity as a whole than the few Hindu idiots like the Bajrang Dal are representative of Hindus.
312 posted on 01/02/2006 12:20:33 AM PST by Cronos (Never forget 9/11. Restore Hagia Sophia!)
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To: Tailgunner Joe; x5452; Gengis Khan; CarrotAndStick; Hill of Tara; Lion in Winter; A. Pole
"Several sites report that at least 2 Dalit women are raped per day in India."

Even if that statistic is true(it should be higher, because of India's sheer population), what evidence is that those dalit women are raped by non-dalit men? Dalits are literally "outcasts" and live in their own communities. It sounds more like a maoist cooking up a story to make upper-castes rapists and murderers. At least in Nepal that is the case(and ironically, Maoist leadership is made up of 60% upper castes).

Also, regarding demons, it is interesting that Krishna was the one who declared this age(known as Kali Yuga) is the age of demons and there will be new religions and prophets who are nothing but devil incarnate, and Krishna will reincarnate himself to kill these demons.

Bhagavad Gita 4:8 http://vedabase.net/bg/4/8/

"To deliver the pious and to annihilate the miscreants, as well as to reestablish the principles of religion, I Myself appear, millennium after millennium."

I have read some fundamentalist hindus nuts who take that literally and, since Christianity and Islam started in the Kali Yuga, they are evil and that Krishna will someday reincarnate as Kalki and cleanse earth of evil(Christians and Muslims).

Religious nuts on both sides.

313 posted on 01/02/2006 4:23:15 AM PST by sagar
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To: TexConfederate1861
I am a Texan...born and bred in Texas. Can you say the same?

Yup. First family settled in Austin Colony in 1820s, the rest came in the German migrations in the 1850s. My kid's generation are the 6th generation born here.

By the way, LOVE your moniker....I can't imagine why you haven't been zotted by now.....?!

You're clueless.

In other news, the Confederacy is still dead
314 posted on 01/02/2006 5:25:20 AM PST by BJClinton (Mommas don't let your babies grow up to be sheepherders...)
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To: Cronos

Russia doesn't play by our rules....maybe they don't....


315 posted on 01/02/2006 5:57:05 AM PST by TexConfederate1861
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To: Cronos

Maybe you should be willing to stand UP for the Cross instead of becoming an ecumenical......


316 posted on 01/02/2006 5:58:48 AM PST by TexConfederate1861
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To: Cronos

I was refering to the schism, and the heresies the Latins still retain.....


317 posted on 01/02/2006 6:00:52 AM PST by TexConfederate1861
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To: Gengis Khan

Gengis:
You have EXACTLY spelled out the problem: Jesus said "I am the way, the truth, and the life, NO man cometh to the Father except thru ME"

He didn't say there were many paths, ONLY ONE!


318 posted on 01/02/2006 6:06:10 AM PST by TexConfederate1861
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To: BJClinton

Well BJ..my family has been here as long as yours. I also had two ancestors that fought for the Confederacy for this state, along with 60,000 other loyal Texans that fought for their constitutional rights during that war.

You are the one that seems to be clueless, MY moniker refers to my belief in States-Rights, not a wish for a re-birth of the Confederacy.


319 posted on 01/02/2006 6:11:50 AM PST by TexConfederate1861
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To: sagar

The point is there should not be outcast communities nor religious tenant that permit visiting any sin you wish on a group of outcasts.


320 posted on 01/02/2006 7:03:53 AM PST by x5452
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