Participants include the President of the VHP of America.
By Raif Karerat
WASHINGTON, DC: The Durga Temple of Fairfax Station, Virginia, is slated to host a Hindu-Catholic interfaith conference in conjunction with the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops on May 23, 2015.
The dialogue is designed to promote better understanding between the two religions, collaboration on social issues, and working together to achieve common goals.
The event will prominently feature comments by Cardinal Jean-Louis Tauran, President of the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue at the Vatican and Anantanand Rambachan, Professor of religion, philosophy, and Asian studies at St. Olaf College.
Other speakers include Abhaya Asthana, president of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad of America; Bishop Paul Loverde of the Catholic Diocese of Arlington, Va.; Anuttama Dasa, chairman of the ISKCON Governing Body Commission; and Francis X. Clooney, Parkman professor of divinity and director of the Center for the Study of World Religions at Harvard University.
Anti-Christian sentiment has gained traction in India, especially in the context of “Hindu nationalism,” which could arguably be translated to “Hindu jingoism.”
According to the Human Rights watch, violence against Christians is viewed by prominent national political factions as a tactical means to political ends. A separate report from September 1999 revealed the number of incidents involving anti-Christian violence rose in the months following the victory of the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in March 1998.
India’s current prime minister Narendra Modi, is the head of the BJP, and was previously implicated in the 2002 Gujarat riots.
However, in early 2015, Modi said his government would react strongly against any acts of religious violence. Speaking at an event celebrating the canonization of Father Kuriakose Elias Chavara and Sister Euphrasia as saints, Modi stated, “The tradition of welcoming all faiths in India is as old as India itself … We believe that there is truth in every religion. This is critical for peace and harmony in the nation.”
According to Vinay Lal of the UCLA College of Letters and Sciences, ongoing acts of violence against Christians include the arson of churches, re-conversion of Christians to Hinduism under the threat of physical violence, distribution of threatening literature, burning of Bibles, raping of nuns, murder of Christian priests, and destruction of Christian schools, colleges, and cemeteries.
2 Comments
I can only say that if Mr. Narendra Modiji BJP Prime Minister of India will not follow Secularism of our Indian constitution than it will be disaster for Hindus not in India but in whole world those believe all religions,
I am seeing from 1995 what is going on in India after demolition of Babri Masjid on 6.12.1992 by Senior BJP leader Mr. L.K.Advani who wanted to be BJP Prime minister from 2004 , 2009 and in 2014. He could not fulfilled his desired.
At least I can’t agree with Mr.L.K.Advani in 2009 after again UPA win that it is due to Gujarat riots of 2002 due to which Muslims are going against the NDA. It is wrong.
So the Hindutya hard Core agenda of Saffron Parivar of Gujarat will not work in comming years.
The Educated Muslim Youth converting from SIMI in 2001 to Indian Mujahdeens in 2008 and now Joining proudly ISIS.
Only Soft Hindutya of Mr. A.B.Vajpayeeji can only work in India and not the Hard Core Hindutya policy of Mr. L.K.Advani. It is my opinions and observation in Gujarat particularly in Vadodara.
North Indian Hindus are followers of Sanatan Dharma and not of Hindu Mahasabha of West India.i.e Gujarat and Maharastra.
The first four paragraphs of this article contain a simple report on the May 23 Hindu Catholic dialogue, but the rest of the article is nothing but plain Hindu bashing. This part is all about violence against Christians in India by Hindus, attacking Hindu nationalism, attacking Indian PM Narendra Modi for the 2002 Gujarat riots and so on.
What does all this anti-Indian Hindu trash have to do with a Hindu Catholic dialogue in Virginia? I am wondering why the Hindu speakers like Anant Rambachan and the representatives from ISKCON and VHP America are doing in such a dialogue. If they are going there to apologize to the Catholics for alleged Hindu violence against Christians in India, they will be putting themselves in serious trouble from people like me.
I see nothing in the article about the Christian missionaries in India converting Hindus and destroying the Hindu heritage of those converts. Are the Hindu speakers going to raise this matter and ask the good cardinal to apologize and cease such practices in India? Are they going to ask the cardinal to denounce the statement by a former pope that Catholics should reap a rich harvest of souls in India?
The more I hear about this dialogue the more convinced I am that this is just a setup by the Catholics on one side and Hindu sellouts like Rambachan and innocents like the ISKCON and VHP America speakers to hang Hindus out on yet another Inquisition torture chamber. And yes, to deliver a triumph to the visiting cardinal from Rome, the big man in charge of interreligious dialogue at the Vatican.
Already Hindus from all over the world are emailing Rambachan and telling him outright that they do not trust him to represent Hindus at this dialogue, because of his support for the nasty cancer of Neo Hinduism and the fact that he represents no Hindu group anywhere. They are also questioning the ISKCON and VHP speakers why they are associating with a sellout like Rambachan, and what they expect to gain for Hindus at this dialogue.
I look forward to some American based Hindus coming to this dialogue and raising such issues openly for all to hear. They should be prepared to see Hindus bashed on all sides and sold down the river, and be ready to oppose it.