Something To Think About - 01

Criticizing the Catholic Church is "Terrorism" says Vatican.

A Reuters News Agency report of May 2, 2007, says, "The Vatican's official newspaper accused an Italian comedian on Wednesday of "terrorism" for criticizing the pope and warned his rhetoric could fuel a return to 1970s-style political violence."
(http://www.unknownnews.org/070502-papalcomplaint.html)

It seems a presenter of a televised May Day rock concert, which is sponsored by Italy's labor unions, had launched "vile attacks" on Pope Benedict in front of an "excitable crowd." An editorial in the newspaper says, "This, too, is terrorism. It's terrorism to launch attacks on the Church. It's terrorism to stoke blind and irrational rage against someone who always speaks in the name of love, love for life and love for man."

What a tall claim that the Vatican and the pope always speak "in the name of love, love for life and love for man"!! More than anything else, the primary thing missing in this is the Love For Truth.

In 1999, just before the visit of the late Pope John Paul II to India, Rediff On The Net carried an interview with Dr David Frawley, director of the American Institute of Vedic Studies. Here are some excerpts from that interview which shows how much the Vatican, the Christian Churches, the popes and all other Christian religious leaders speak and behave in the name of love, love for life and love for man.

--- "The bloody history of the Church in America, Africa and Asia is an open book and well known. The Native Americans where I live in the United States still tell stories about how the feet of their people were cut off for refusing to walk to church or their tongues cut off for refusing to recite prayers. The church has claimed that its intolerance is a thing of the past. Yet even if one accepts that it has stopped today, which is debatable, it certainly went on well into this century. That the church was prominent in Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy, and never really opposed Hitler or Mussolini, should not be forgotten."

--- "The Church has harmed many Hindu families and Communities and is still willing to do so, by turning people against their native beliefs and customs....... The Goa Inquisition was probably the worst (crime) and involved torture and murder of thousands of Hindus and the destruction of many Hindu temples over a period of several decades. It was done by the same groups that promoted the genocide of Native Americans."

Pope Benedict XVI's Love For Truth shows up in full splendour when he insists that Latin American Indians wanted to become Christian even before European conquerors arrived centuries ago. Addressing a regional conference of bishops in Sao Paulo, Brazil, the pope is reported to have said that pre-Columbian people of Latin America and the Caribbean were seeking Christ without realizing it. "Christ is the savior for whom they were silently longing." (http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/custom/religion/sns-ap-pope-indians,1,2129852.story?coll=chi-religion-topheadlines)

The report by VIVIAN SEQUERA, Associated Press Writer, in the Chicago Tribune of May 16, 2007, goes on to add:

-- But Paulo Suess, an adviser to Brazil's Indian Missionary Council, said Monday that the comments fail to account for the fact that Indians were enslaved and killed by the Portuguese and Spanish settlers who forced them to become Catholic. Benedict "is a good theologian, but it seems he missed some history classes," said Suess, whose council is supported by the Roman Catholic Church.

-- Marcio Meira, who is in charge of Brazil's federal Indian Bureau, said Indians were forced to convert to Catholicism as the result of a "colonial process." "As an anthropologist and a historian I feel obliged to say that, yes, in the past 500 years there was an imposition of the Catholic religion on the indigenous people," Meira said.

One has to wonder whether Benedict XVI is capable of understanding the simple TRUTH contained in these comments, or the cutting sarcasm expressed in them.

The Vatican newspaper charges that the Italian presenter in that rock concert had launched "vile attacks" on Pope Benedict, and says, "This, too, is terrorism." My goodness!! What about the "Terrorism" indulged in by all Christian missionaries in India engaged in "vile attacks" against Hindu culture and traditions in their vile venture of converting Hindus to Christianity?

Isn't it the Christians of all hues who have indulged in atrocious terrorist activities all over the world down the centuries since Jesus Christ? Christ, the apostle of love and peace, must be not just turning in His grave but spinning furiously in His grave at the shenanigans indulged in, in His name, by the people carrying His name. And this pope says any criticism of the church or the pope is "terrorism".

GOD LOVES FUN

The FIFA Soccer World Cup (in 2006) gave rise to some interesting exchanges between me and my relatives. It all started with my receiving a mail forwarded by one of them.

The Subject Line said: Who will win the 2006 FIFA world cup?
and the message ran as follows:

Brazil won the world cup in 1994. Before that, she had won this title for the last time in 1970. If you add up: 1970 + 1994 = 3964

Argentina won the world cup for the last time in 1986. Before that only in 1978. And 1978 + 1986 = 3964

Germany won the world cup in 1990. Before that, Germany won in 1974. Look: 1990 + 1974 = 3964

This could lead us to guess the winner of the World Cup in 2002, since it should be the winner of the 1962 World Cup (3964 - 2002 = 1962). Brazil had won the world cup in 1962!
And, voila, Brazil indeed won the 2002 WC

This numerology seems to work..... And now, who would be the winner of the 2006 world cup? Let's see, 3964 - 2006 = 1958. And who won in 1958?.... BRAZIL..!!! So, it should be Brazil indeed. (PS. For the record, it failed this time)

It is so uncanny and interesting, I forwarded it to a big group of my relatives.

The first response was from my son who said: "It fails for 1998, right? France had never won the World Cup before that".

All I could offer was a weak "Every rule is supposed to have some exception. THAT is the supreme rule.

However a cousin of mine took up the refrain and said: "After a bout of numerology, it is now time for a bit of Chinese astrology!

"The Chinese zodiac moves in a 12-year cycle, named after animals, starting from the Year of the Rat and ending with the Year of the Pig. The FIFA World Cup is held once in four years and therefore, all world championships are held in the years of the Dog, Horse or Tiger only. This year (2006) corresponds to the year of the dog. In previous Years of the Dog, Brazil has won it three times - 1958, 1970 and 1994; Italy has won it twice - 1934 and 1982. The odds hence favour a Samba encore!"

One of my brothers added (in response to my son's comment):
"So far as I can see, one has to find two years which add up to 3964. The complementary number to 1998 is 1966 - when England won the cup. Perhaps one should see France and England as complementary (definitely not COMPLIMENTARY) to each other. Alternatively one could say that France and England do not obey the laws of God, man or numerology."

I responded to that with: "Yes, that's a good one. If you look at my signature at the bottom, it has a quote from Guruji Sri Sri (Ravi Shankar) which says, "To me God is very mischievous; God loves Fun." He does love fun, doesn't He, to pair England and France in this calculation."

And he replied: "I appreciate your remark about God loving fun. To my mind, that is the great difference between Hinduism and other major religions, the concept of fun. There is so much in common between our religion and quantum physics. It may be sacrilege to criticise Einstein, but when he said "God does not play dice," I think he was patently wrong. Randomness is the basis of life and fun."


Yes, isn't it the element of uncertainty, unpredictability that provides quite a bit of spice and fun in life. If everything goes on in an orderly, routine, planned fashion, life becomes too boring to enjoy.


Take, for example, the simple predictions like weather reports. We, in India, have our daily dose of entertainment with the forecasts put out by the Indian Meteorology Department (IMD), which usually reads like, "Light showers or thunder showers are likely over the northern or central or southern Tamil Nadu some time in the morning or afternoon or evening." The IMD may be handicapped by having only a million dollar worth of equipment with which they cannot make more accurate forecasts. The Americans have billions of dollars worth of equipment in their numerous weather centers, and they fill the TV screens with moving images of how a hurricane is expected to move. The picture looks like a Chinese (or Japanese) fan, with one fringe pointing to Arizona with a 5 per cent chance, the opposite fringe pointing to Florida with again a 5 per cent chance, and the rest anywhere in between. That is probably why George W. Bush and Cheney and Rumsfeld and their Neocons did not know where exactly Katrina was headed for, while almost all others thought it was New Orleans. It is quite likely that George W., with his Born Again Christian faith, was hoping or praying, or even for that matter knew for sure that Katrina will move away from the American coast and hit Iraq instead. Dubya and his Neocon friends are still recovering from the shock and awe of what Katrina dished out.

One may feel offended that a tragedy like Katrina's is taken as a subject for light-hearted comments and as a matter of fun. But just look at the way a child plays. He/she builds a structure using building blocks with absolute concentration etched on his/her face, but then knocks it down, and claps his/her hands and laughs and laughs and rolls on the floor laughing. That's the way God is.

God puts up patiently with people getting bloated with their own sense of supermanship and strutting about on the world's stage as if they are Gods, and periodically comes up with a Tsunami or Katrina or earthquakes to show where these guys and gals really fit in. But does anybody care to learn. They do provide the stage for God to have His fun.

Talking of Iraq, George W. Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld, Wolfowitz and all other Neocons rushed into Iraq with glee (like children with their building blocks), announcing that Saddam Hussain and the Iraqis are in for Shock and Awe. That was in March 2003. Now, four years later, Dubya and his bunch still do not know what hit them, and when and how they themselves will get out of the shock and awe they have gotten themselves into. Dubya had a golden opportunity to get out of this mess and enjoy it all from outside, if only he had allowed a Democrat to become the President in 2005. But it was not to be. God probably wants to enjoy some more fun out of him.

Then Tony Blair. Should we talk about him? Maybe later.

God certainly loves His fun and enjoys it.

The Cat's Out Of The Bag

"President Bush marked the 400th anniversary of Jamestown's founding Sunday by praising colonists' indomitable spirit in the face of disaster and holding up the English settlement as a milestone on the path toward building American democracy," says a Washington Post report datelined Jamestown, Va, May 13 (2007). (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/05/13/AR2007051300412.html)

President Bush is reported to have said further that there are "parallels between the nearly hopeless condition of the settlement's first days and current conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan." The report goes on to say,"Jamestown's adventurers set out imagining gold and paradise in the New World, he said. The reality was far more grim................. As the first permanent English settlement, Jamestown planted the seeds of free enterprise, rule by law and representative government, he said. But Bush noted that its legacy has a dark side in the displacement of Native Americans and the enslavement of African Americans."

Doesn't this well and truly reveal the design with which President Bush and the neocons embarked on this Iraq Adventure? To make it their own colony in the image of the United States of America, and effectively lord over the world's oil supply. And if, in this process, the native Iraqis are enslaved or driven out into the neighbouring countries, it is just collateral damage.