tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8693034406936573342024-03-14T11:00:27.215-07:00Sanal EdamarukuI like to see the new RATIONALIST magazine as a ship starting out to new horizons. As the captain, I am joined by an international crew of brilliant and committed rationalist thinkers and writers spanning over several continents. We are striving for a world without borders where reason, science and human rights come out on top and chase away the shadows that superstition, fundamentalism and intolerance that are still casting over human lives. Welcome to everyone sailing under the same wind. Rationalisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13409668202689639009noreply@blogger.comBlogger85125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-869303440693657334.post-15512502640116249662013-12-20T03:00:00.000-08:002013-12-20T03:00:11.310-08:00Rationalist journal announcement<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="color: yellow;"><span style="font-size: 18px;"><span style="font-family: tahoma, verdana, segoe, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: normal;">Sanal Edamaruku is launching the <u><strong>Rationalist </strong></u>magazine</span></span></span></span></h2>
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<span style="background-color: white;">Embarking on a great journey</span></h3>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px; text-align: left;">You are invited to join me and embark on this journey as a Founding Subscriber.</span></div>
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With 2014 just around the corner, it is time for an exciting announcement. One of the first things the New Year is going to bring will be a new magazine!</div>
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I am pleased to inform that we are launching - with great thrill and anticipation - an English language quarterly journal namely "Rationalist". It will come as Internet magazine as well as tactile and tangible object printed on good old paper. </div>
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I like to see this magazine as a ship starting out to new horizons. As the captain, I am joined by an international crew of brilliant and committed rationalist thinkers and writers spanning over several continents. We are striving for a world without borders where reason, science and human rights come out on top and chase away the shadows that superstition, fundamentalism and intolerance that are still casting over human lives. </div>
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Welcome to everyone sailing under the same wind. Let us forget about nomenclatures. We believe in openness and cooperation and in the power of dynamic individuals to change the world. </div>
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Join us now and help us setting sail.</div>
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<a href="http://rationalistinternational.net/subscription/" style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px; text-align: left;" target="_self"><span style="color: blue;">You are invited to embark on this journey as a Founding Subscriber.</span></a></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;">- Sanal Edamaruku</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #0b5394;">Exploring a wider base</span></span></h3>
<span style="background-color: white;">The idea behind Rationalist magazine is to create an open forum of intellectual honesty beyond different names that individual groups use for the broad movement - Rationalism, Freethought, Secularism, Humanism, Skepticism, Atheism, Scientific Temper and many others. These names are dear to us based on our history, tradition or culture, and our focus of activities. Rationalist magazine wishes to explore our common objectives and common lines. World-class articles, well known columnists, in-dept studies, reports from around the world, announcements and reports of conferences and activities of all major organizations. Representing every branch of our movement, the Rationalist magazine will have an inclusive and participative approach - beyond borders.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;">
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #0b5394;">How to join this historic venture?</span></span></h3>
<span style="background-color: white;">We invite you to join the Rationalist magazine as a Founding Subscriber. Your support will stabilize the foundation of this venture. All Founding Subscribers will be acknowledged in the journal. There are other levels of subscriptions also. <a href="http://rationalistinternational.net/subscription/" target="_self"><span style="color: blue;">Subscribe here.</span></a></span></div>
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Rationalisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13409668202689639009noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-869303440693657334.post-80741608113661988372012-11-20T22:06:00.001-08:002012-11-20T22:10:21.982-08:00<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Sanal Edamaruku will speak at London’s Free Word Centre<br />on Wednesday, 21 Nov 2012, 1:00 pm</span></h1>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The event is hosted by Index on Censorship, British Rationalist Association and New Humanist magazine. Sanal will be joined by a panel of experts, discussing the implication of his case for the future of blasphemy in India and beyond. The panel includes High Court Judge Sir Stephen Sedley, historian Professor Richard Sorabji, journalist and novelist Salil Tripathi and free speech campaigners.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It is a free event, but you have to <a href="http://sanalfreespeech.eventbrite.co.uk/" style="color: #0000a0; text-decoration: initial;" target="_blank">register here</a> in advance to secure your ticket.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Last week, Sanal Edamaruku spoke in the “Humanist Days”, organized by the Finnish Humanist Union at the Swedish Cultural Centre in Helsinki. In his lecture, he focused on the “Conflict between traditionalism and modernism in India” and discussed future perspectives.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The Humanist Days were dedicated to the memorial of Alan Turing, the British mathematician, cryptanalyst, and computer scientist who is considered to be the father of computer science and Artificial Intelligence. Sanal also attended a special event on occasion of Alan Turing’s birth centenary, hosted by the British ambassador to Finland at his home. On 15 November he delivered the key-note address at the UNESCO Philosophy day symposium held at the Helsinki university.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">After London, Sanal will visit Ireland. Speeches are scheduled in Dublin, Cork, Galway and Belfast.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">To sign the Petition against Sanal’s case, click <a href="https://www.change.org/en-GB/petitions/we-call-on-the-catholic-archdiocese-of-bombay-to-encourage-the-withdrawal-of-complaints-against-indian-rationalist-sanal-edamaruku" style="color: #0000a0; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: initial;" target="_blank">here</a>.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">To donate to the Sanal Edamaruku Defense Fund, click <a href="http://www.rationalistinternational.net/defence_fund" style="color: #0000a0; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: initial;">here</a>.</span></div>
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Rationalisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13409668202689639009noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-869303440693657334.post-49716687848275356582012-08-19T06:17:00.002-07:002012-08-26T20:45:03.329-07:00<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-size: x-large;">Delhi police attempt to arrest </span></h2>
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<span style="font-size: x-large;">Sanal Edamaruku</span></h2>
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By Ophelia Benson</h2>
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<a href="http://freethoughtblogs.com/butterfliesandwheels/2012/07/delhi-police-attempt-to-arrest-sanal-edamaruku/">http://freethoughtblogs.com/butterfliesandwheels/2012/07/delhi-police-attempt-to-arrest-sanal-edamaruku/</a>
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<strong style="background-color: white; font-style: inherit; line-height: 1.75;">July 4. </strong><strong style="background-color: white; font-style: inherit; line-height: 1.75;">This morning, officers of the Delhi Police reached Sanal Edamaruku’s house to arrest him. They came upon directions of a Delhi court to execute an arrest warrant issued by a Mumbai Metropolitan Magistrate Court (second highest Criminal Court). If Sanal had been at home, he would be in jail now….</strong></div>
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The officers were informed that Sanal is presently out of Delhi and traveling. They insisted on details of his whereabouts, addresses and contact numbers. Some hours later, they came again to press for information, to no avail.<span id="more-3696" style="border: 0px none; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"></span></div>
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What will happen next?</h3>
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With this dramatic turn of events, Sanal Edamaruku’s persecution has reached a dangerous new level. <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kUqhq9MuRG8" style="border: 0px none; color: #3366cc; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="youtube">Exposing the “miracle”</a> of the water-dripping crucifix at the Velankanni church in Mumbai as a plumber’s problem, he incurred Catholic fury beyond all trademark forgiveness. Highly alarming is the fact that the Catholic side has managed to secure considerable support from Indian government agencies. The Catholic Church is representing only a small minority of believers in India. But it is backed by a powerful worldwide apparatus, driven by great ambitions to conquer India and make up for its losses in the western world. I don’t want the Dark Ages to come to India! Sanal says in the <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TfJ6_ftih0s" style="border: 0px none; color: #3366cc; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="youtube">controversial TV program</a>, drawing the battle lines</div>
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In the ongoing conflict, Sanal has the evidence-based factual truth on his side – regarding capillary action as well as regarding church history. Moreover, he enjoys the full support of the Indian Constitution that explicitly obliges all citizens to develop “scientific temper, humanism and the spirit of inquiry and reform”. And then, of course, there is the right to Freedom of Expression (Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.) on his side of the balance tray.</div>
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The revengeful local Catholic leaders, on the other side, have the tacit support of another heavy weight: the powerful Catholic Church. The Pope is keeping mum, ignoring thousands of contemporaries from various parts of the world who are calling upon the Vatican via an <a href="http://www.change.org/en-GB/petitions/we-call-on-the-catholic-archdiocese-of-bombay-to-encourage-the-withdrawal-of-complaints-against-indian-rationalist-sanal-edamaruku" style="border: 0px none; color: #3366cc; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">Online Petition of the Rationalist Association (UK)</a> to take a stand in this case. But his Mumbai representative, Bishop Agnelo Gracias (whom Sanal encountered in the TV-9 program), does all the talking. Unstinting in his public praise for Sanal’s prosecutors, Gracias “rejoices” about their courage!</div>
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It is obvious that the Catholic Church is trying to pull the strings to silence its most vocal and courageous opponent in India. If there is one person who could cross their ambitious plans, it is Sanal Edamaruku. So there is much at stake, for both sides. How far will they be able to go? That cannot be foreseen. We have to be prepared for the worst.</div>
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Please help us to spread the information about this case! Forward this Bulletin, translate it, put in into blogs and discussion sites and write articles about it in the media. Sanal is available for interviews also (though maybe not always in person).</div>
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Rationalisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13409668202689639009noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-869303440693657334.post-5944038640617978122012-08-19T03:57:00.000-07:002012-08-26T20:43:52.218-07:00<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-weight: normal;">The Star, Malaysia reports about Sanal Edamaruku</span></h2>
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Sunday August 19, 2012</h3>
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<span style="color: #38761d; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-large;">The rationalist’s Olympic quest</span></div>
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By Dr ALBERT LIM KOK HOOI</h2>
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<a href="http://thestar.com.my/health/story.asp?file=%2F2012%2F8%2F19%2Fhealth%2F11869757&sec=health">http://thestar.com.my/health/story.asp?file=%2F2012%2F8%2F19%2Fhealth%2F11869757&sec=health</a> </div>
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<b>If there were a ‘clear thinking and myth debunking’ game, one man would stand out as an obvious winner.</b></div>
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OUR dive darling (as dubbed by one newspaper), Pandelela Rinong, has captured the imagination and hearts of Malaysians. I am one of those who followed her sporting path to Olympic glory, not least because of the musicality of her name, Pandelela Rinong, which has fascinated me since I first heard it.</div>
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It is like this, isn’t it? Some names resonate with us more than others.</div>
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Another name that I roll off my tongue with delight and admiration is Sanal Edamaruku. If you don’t believe me, say Sanal Edamaruku aloud. Say it as if you read it. There are no tricks. Say it as if you were speaking Bahasa Baku, the world’s simplest and most logical language. Phonetically speaking that is.</div>
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In my books, Sanal Edamaruku is also a medal winner of the highest calibre. If ever there is a prize for publicly defending science, reason and rationality, I would nominate him for it.</div>
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<img alt="Rationalist Edamaruku has written many books and articles, and made numerous television appearances, which deal mainly with rationalist thought and anti-superstition." height="253" src="http://starstorage.blob.core.windows.net/archives/2012/8/19/health/sf_p7Edamaruku.jpg" style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 5px; padding: 0px;" width="400" /><span class="caption" style="clear: both; color: #333333; display: block; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10px; font-weight: bold;">Rationalist Edamaruku has written many books and articles, and made numerous television appearances, which deal mainly with rationalist thought and anti-superstition.</span></div>
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Edamaruku is the founder-president of Rationalist International, president of the Indian Rationalist Association, and honorary associate of the UK Rationalist Association.</div>
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Edamaruku obtained a Master’s degree in Political Science from the University of Kerala, and a Master of Philosophy degree in International Studies from the Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi.</div>
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The eponym is fitting as, Nehru, the first prime minister of India, was as secular and scientific as they come. I cannot think of any other prime minister in modern times who is as committed to modern science, reason and technology as Nehru was. And this was 65 years ago!</div>
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Thirty years ago, Edamaruku went to work full-time for all the “reason” NGOs, and my, what a rollicking, fruitful and exciting 30 years it has been. He has written many books and articles, and made numerous television appearances that deal mainly with rationalist thought and anti-superstition.</div>
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He has carried out many investigations to expose frauds, mystics and “godmen”. Last year, he was elected as a fellow of the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry.</div>
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However, to me, the greatest accolade ever bestowed on Edamaruku is honorary associate of the Rationalist Association of UK (formerly Rationalist Press Association). Among the good and the great to have been honorary associates were Bertrand Russel, HG Wells, Albert Einstein, Sigmund Freud and Francis Crick.</div>
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This, to me, is like winning the gold medal of the “clear thinking and scientific inquiry” event.</div>
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In March 2008, while appearing on a TV show panel, Edamaruku challenged a tantric to demonstrate his powers by killing him using only magic. The tantric chanted mantras and performed a ceremony to kill Edamaruku on live TV.</div>
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India TV received a large boost in ratings while this was going on.</div>
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After his attempts failed, the tantric said that Edamaruku must be under the protection of a powerful god, to which Edamaruku responded that he is an atheist.</div>
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Pandelela’s path to fame, honour and glory was paved with hard work, discipline and perseverance. It was the same with Edamaruku.</div>
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Fortunately in Pandelela’s case, there was no threat of a criminal or civil suit.</div>
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A house of worship in Mumbai was promoting the idea that water dripping from the feet of the deity’s statue could cure all ailments. This is in some way like the rhinoceros horn myth, which is touted to cure all diseases, including cancer, and has led to the indiscriminate killing of the endangered and protected rhinos for their horn. (Trying to debunk the myth of rhinoceros horn as a cure-all has taken up a good bit of my time and resources.)</div>
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Edamaruku was recently invited by a television station in Delhi to comment on and investigate this phenomenon in Mumbai. The authorities agreed. Our intrepid and industrious sceptic had a close look at a nearby washroom and found that the drainage system was blocked. Sewage water from the clogged drainage pipes had been transmitted via capillary action into the adjacent walls at the base of the statue.</div>
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As a result of this expose, charges were filed against Edamaruku by two lay religious organisations under Section 295A of the Indian penal code. This charges a person with “deliberately hurting religious feelings and attempting malicious acts intended to outrage the religious sentiments of any class or community”.</div>
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That is, of course, truly absurd. If anything, Edamaruku should be thanked for preventing diarrhoeal diseases and septicaemia that may have been caused by drinking bacteria-laden sewage water.</div>
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If it comes to a trial, I hope the ghost of Nehru will be there to exert a steadying and rational influence on the court proceedings.</div>
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We have the summer and winter Olympics where participants who excel in sports and games are rewarded with medals, cash, sponsorships and endorsements.</div>
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There soon will be medals awarded at the “clear thinking and myth debunking” games.</div>
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Do you think we can then bag that elusive gold medal?<br />
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Rationalisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13409668202689639009noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-869303440693657334.post-75052106906115749932012-07-23T14:35:00.002-07:002012-07-23T14:35:24.955-07:00Sanal Edamaruku on the rain puja in Karnataka state in india<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<b style="font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-left;">Sanal Edamaruku, the president of the Indian Rationalist Association today condemned the Karnataka government’s pledge to support prayers for rain, which could cost Rs 18 crore of public funds. The report appeared on The Telegraph. </b></h2>
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<b style="font-size: 12px; text-align: -webkit-left;">On 23 July evening news show on NDTV 24x7 channel, Sanal Edamaruku participated over skype and condemned the rain puja.</b></h2>
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<span style="font-size: x-large;"><span style="background-color: white; text-align: left;">Rain puj</span><span style="background-color: white; text-align: left;">a that was passed off as weather test</span></span></h2>
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<tr><td class="articleauthor" style="font-size: 8pt;">G.S. MUDUR<br /><br /><a href="http://www.telegraphindia.com/1120722/jsp/nation/story_15758012.jsp#.UA3BSWEjG1V">http://www.telegraphindia.com/1120722/jsp/nation/story_15758012.jsp#.UA3BSWEjG1V</a><br /><br />
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<b>New Delhi, July 21: </b>Scientists have decried the Karnataka government’s decision to spend public funds for rain-invoking prayers that comes 24 years after the Union science and technology department had supported a similar effort in Mathura during a hot and dry summer.</div>
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The Karnataka government, responding to the state’s worst drought in 42 years with rains in its southern interior 50 per cent below normal, has pledged Rs 5,000 to each of 37,000 temples across the state to support prayers for rains between July 27 and August 2.</div>
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“This has absolutely no basis in science,” said Ajay Sood, president of the Indian Academy of Sciences, and professor of physics at the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore. “Such decisions are usually driven by faith, but an elected government has taken this decision.”</div>
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Another senior scientist said the decision merely highlights the unfinished task of promoting scientific thinking across the public arena. “Science can never support something like this but then we live in a land of contradictions,” said Krishan Lal, a senior physicist at the National Physical Laboratory, New Delhi, and president of the Indian National Science Academy.</div>
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“Somehow, such things continue to catch the public’s imagination,” Lal said.</div>
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In the summer of 1988, the Union department of science and technology (DST) had supported a <i>yagna</i> for rain conducted during a weekend by an 86-year-old priest at a temple in Mathura.</div>
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The priest, Har Prasad Sharma, poured herbs and ghee into a giant fire, chanting hymns from the Vedas while scientists from the India Meteorological Department stood on a terrace trying to determine whether the soots from the flames would in any way change the ambient atmosphere.</div>
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Senior DST officials had at that time declined to share details of the proposal for the yagna that it had agreed to support and observe but explained that such an experiment could be “viewed” as an attempt to seed clouds through the particles from the fire rising into the air.</div>
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Sections of the scientific community had criticised the DST decision.</div>
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The IMD team in Mathura did not record any fire-related changes in the atmosphere, and the DST quietly pulled out support, never discussing the episode in public.</div>
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<b>The president of the Indian Rationalist Association today condemned the Karnataka government’s pledge to support prayers for rain, which could cost Rs 18 crore of public funds.</b></div>
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<b>“The government should not even spend Rs 18 on something like this,” said Sanal Edamaruku, the association’s president. “This is abuse of public funds. Under the constitution, all citizens need to promote scientific temper.”</b></div>
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<b>Rain kills nine</b></h4>
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Nine persons, including two women and three children, were killed in rain-induced accidents in Hyderabad this morning.</div>
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All the deaths occurred because of wall collapse. The Andhra Pradesh capital received over 15cm of rainfall in four hours, which threw normal life out of gear as all low-lying areas got water-logged, disrupting traffic.</div>
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Rationalisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13409668202689639009noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-869303440693657334.post-50679141584655968722012-07-23T14:24:00.001-07:002012-07-23T14:24:33.601-07:00New Humanist update on Sanal Edamaruku<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="http://blog.newhumanist.org.uk/2012/07/sanal-edamaruku-update-indian-catholics.html" style="background-color: white; color: #644856; text-decoration: none;"><span style="font-size: x-large;">Sanal Edamaruku update: Indian Catholics demand apology over miracle debunking</span></a></h2>
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<a href="http://blog.newhumanist.org.uk/2012/07/sanal-edamaruku-update-indian-catholics.html">http://blog.newhumanist.org.uk/2012/07/sanal-edamaruku-update-indian-catholics.html</a></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-size: 13px; line-height: 1.3em;">As regular readers will be well aware, we have been campaigning in support of Sanal Edamaruku, the head of the Indian Rationalist Association who is facing jail over his debunking of a purported miracle at a Catholic Church in Mumbai. For a summary of the how the case came about,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 13px; line-height: 1.3em;"> </span><a href="https://www.change.org/en-GB/petitions/we-call-on-the-catholic-archdiocese-of-bombay-to-encourage-the-withdrawal-of-complaints-against-indian-rationalist-sanal-edamaruku" style="background-color: white; color: #003300; font-size: 13px; line-height: 1.3em;">read our petition</a><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 13px; line-height: 1.3em;">, which you can also add your name to if you haven't already.</span></h2>
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Last time we <a href="http://blog.newhumanist.org.uk/2012/07/sanal-edamarukus-situation-worsens.html" style="color: #003300;">provided an update</a> on Sanal's situation, the High Court in Mumbai had refused him "anticipatory bail", which would have enabled him to fight the case without fear of pre-trial custody, and police officers had begun seeking his arrest in his home city of Delhi. In order to avoid jail, Sanal had left India for Europe.<br /><br />In terms of the potential for arrest, the situation remains the same – he still faces arrest if he returns to India, and as a result he remains in Europe. But in the meantime, details have emerged as to what those who reported Sanal to the police over his debunking of the dripping crucifix in the Church of Our Lady of Velan Kanni in Mumbai are demanding in return for withdrawing their complaints.<br /><br />Last weekend, a piece <a href="http://www.thesundayindian.com/en/story/withdraw-case-against-sanal/24/37573/" style="color: #003300;">appeared in the <i>Sunday Indian</i> newspaper</a> by the Christian journalist John Dyal, who is well known for his civil rights activism on behalf of India's religious minorities. As a former president of the All-India Catholic Union, Dyal is a respected figure in India's Catholic community, and he used his <i>Sunday Indian </i>column to call on the Catholic groups that reported Sanal to withdraw their complaints. While Dyal is critical of Sanal's approach to debunking religious complaints, he does not believe that legal action is justified:<br /><blockquote class="tr_bq" style="margin: 1em 20px;">
"I believe Christ is absolutely capable of defending Himself, if perhaps not the church in India. These statements by Sanal or the probe by his Rationalists must not be taken as an attack on the church or on the community. It certainly is not an attack on the faith in the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.</blockquote>
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The faithful of Mumbai think they are defending faith when they go on hunger strikes against books of fiction or films from Hollywood and Bollywood. But in reality they are defending their own positions and constituencies and do not want them to be exposed to the sunlight.<br /><br />Christ does not have to drip water from crucifixes to prove the love he has for each one of us. His healing is deeper and needs no instruments. I have experienced this in my own life. Catholics of Mumbai possibly realise the controversy is not getting the Church any new friends, nor is it adding to its lustre.<br /><br />It is time the church leadership really forgave Sanal. He has learnt his own lesson – not to mock at genuine faith of the people and not confuse a passing popular fancy for a “miracle”, however untenable, to say the community is being taken for a ride by the church. The police case against Sanal Edamaruku should be withdrawn as a sign that a mature Church in India needs no props for the depth of its faith in God."</blockquote>
Sanal has been in touch with us this week, and informed us of correspondence between Dyal and himself following the publication of the <i>Sunday Indian</i> piece. Dyal has been in touch with those behind the complaints (three local Mumbai Catholic groups with close connections to the Archdiocese of Bombay complained to the police), and through this correspondence we now know what they expect from Sanal in exchange for dropping the complaints.<br /><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 1.3em; margin: 0px 0px 0.75em;">
The Mumbai-based <a href="http://www.thecsf.org/home.html" style="color: #003300;">Catholic Secular Forum</a> was one of the groups that complained, and its founder Joseph Dias has told Dyal that he will drop the complaint in exchange for an apology from Sanal. Unsurprisingly, Sanal refuses to apologise for exercising his right to free speech in criticising religion:</div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq" style="margin: 1em 20px;">
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"I can understand that Joseph Dias might be inspired by the stories of Inquisition and Witch-Hunting in the Middle aAges. We live in the 21st century. There are courageous people who would defend the right to speak what they are convinced about, even if stakes are invoked against them. I am one amongst them. I would not apologize or succumb to any pressures."</div>
</blockquote>
Our petition calling on the Catholic authorities to withdraw the complaints has now acquired more than 10,000 signatures, but clearly this has not been enough to convince them that this legal action against Sanal is misguided. We need to keep up the pressure – we are looking at passing the petition on to Catholic authorities here in Europe, including the Vatican, but in the meantime, the more signatures it gets, the better.<br /><br /><b>Please <a href="https://www.change.org/en-GB/petitions/we-call-on-the-catholic-archdiocese-of-bombay-to-encourage-the-withdrawal-of-complaints-against-indian-rationalist-sanal-edamaruku" style="color: #003300;">take the time to sign</a> if you haven't already, and pass it on to anyone you can.</b><div style="clear: both; line-height: 1.3em; margin: 0px 0px 0.75em;">
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<span class="post-author vcard">Posted by <span class="fn">Paul Sims</span> </span><span class="post-timestamp">at <a class="timestamp-link" href="http://blog.newhumanist.org.uk/2012/07/sanal-edamaruku-update-indian-catholics.html" rel="bookmark" style="color: #003300;" title="permanent link"><abbr class="published" style="border: none;" title="2012-07-20T12:40:00+01:00">Friday, July 20, 2012</abbr></a></span></div>
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<span class="dsq-commenter-name" style="font-weight: 700;">James Pickett</span></div>
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Surely it is the Catholics who should apologise, or are bogus miracles OK..?</div>
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On 12 August 2011 my wife and I were ejected from a symposium at Calcutta University (happens to be my alma mater) because I am the author of 'Mother Teresa the Final Verdict' a fatal expose of the late nun. Indians defend Catholicism not because they love the faith but bec they suck up to fair skin:they equate Christianity with white races.But you can insult the majority Hindusim pretty much as much as you like (unless you are a Muslim). </div>
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So lying to people is acceptable but if someone points out you are lying they must apologise to you?</div>
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This seems to violate one of the Ten Commandments: Thou shalt not bear false witness.</div>
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Or am I being unnecessarily literal in my interpretation?</div>
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" Joseph Dias has told Dyal that he will drop the complaint in exchange for an apology from Sanal"<br />... maybe I'm just slow, but I still haven't worked out precisely what it is Sanal DID for which he must apologise. Save them from worshipping a false idol? Save them from DRINKING not-actually-holy sewage?<br />Or just for contradicting the holy morons who got it wrong in the first place?</div>
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I would think that the church feels they win either way. If he apologizes, great. If he stays in exile, no trial, and what a relief that would be because they will never be able to prove that he was wrong.</div>
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Unless Sanal's public statement is... well, pretty much exactly what I said above. Put it back to them to explain exactly what it was he did that was so terrible.</div>
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Allow me to suggest this text for Sanal's 'apology': "I'm sorry the church cannot tell the difference between a leaking pipe and a miracle, or between my justifiable statements and their lies"</div>
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"Christ does not have to drip water from crucifixes to prove the love he has for each one of us."<br />That's very nice but did anyone else notice John Dyal is insane? Jeebus is dead. Dead people can't love.</div>
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What happened to India? When did they make free speech illegal?</div>
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The "Catholic authorities" can demand apologies all it wants. They can be ignored because they're idiots. But why does the High Court in Mumbai suck up to morons? That's the real problem. India has a government that's out of control.</div>
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What India needs is ridicule and relentless insults. They are living in the Dark Ages and they are never going to grow up until someone tells them they have a mental problem.</div>
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I believe that the glowing object on my ceiling is a miracle. Anyone who says it's a light bulb powered my electricity should either apologize to me or be arrested. </div>
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Rationalisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13409668202689639009noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-869303440693657334.post-35972508721255365862012-07-23T14:16:00.003-07:002012-07-23T14:17:39.139-07:00" Most Wanted Rationalist" - - Skeptc Friends Network on Sanal Edamaruku<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-large;"><span style="color: blue;">SFN</span> </span></b><span style="color: red;">Skeptics Friends Network</span></h2>
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<center><img border="0" src="http://www.skepticfriends.org/forum/uploaded/1897/SanalWanted.png" /></center><br />
India skeptic rationalist Catholic Church Sanal Edamaruku</td></tr>
<tr><td style="color: #333333; font-size: 12px;" valign="bottom"><hr noshade="" size="1" />
<span class="SmallFont" style="color: midnightblue; font-size: 8pt;"><i><span style="font-size: xx-small;">“<b>If you are a religious apologist invited to debate with Christopher Hitchens, decline.” —</b></span></i><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><b> <a href="http://richarddawkins.net/videos/643452-honouring-christopher-hitchens" style="color: blue; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Richard Dawkins</a><br />“<i>So right, Richard. They wouldn't like the debate venue.” —</i> HalfMooner</b></span></span></td></tr>
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<br /></div>Rationalisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13409668202689639009noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-869303440693657334.post-35214129393205125162012-07-23T14:12:00.001-07:002012-07-23T14:12:25.120-07:00Catholic Bandita on Sanal Edamaruku<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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CATHOLIC BANDITA</h1>
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Sanal Edamaruku is impressive enough to the folks at <a href="http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg21428714.000-miracle-buster-why-i-traced-holy-water-to-leaky-drain.html?DCMP=OTC-rss&nsref=online-news" style="background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: 0px; color: #5e0000; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; word-wrap: break-word;" target="_blank"><strong style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; word-wrap: break-word;">NewScientist</strong></a> that they have granted him an interview wherein he is portrayed as someone who is “debunking” Catholicism.</div>
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<em style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; word-wrap: break-word;"><strong style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; word-wrap: break-word;">Indian rationalist Sanal Edamaruku faces a Catholic backlash after insisting that the “holy” water dripping from a statue of Christ came from a leaky drain.</strong></em></div>
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The problem with Edamaruku’s claim is that he did not “debunk” anything. There was<a href="http://www.dnaindia.com/mumbai/report_rationalist-in-dock-for-questioning-miracle-that-wasn-t-declared-one_1713821" style="background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: 0px; color: #5e0000; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; word-wrap: break-word;" target="_blank"><strong style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; word-wrap: break-word;">no miracle ever proclaimed</strong></a> by the Church.</div>
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<em style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; word-wrap: break-word;"><strong style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; word-wrap: break-word;">“Firstly, no one ever declared that it was a miracle,” said Arcanjo Sodder, lawyer for the complainant Agnelo Fernandes.</strong></em></div>
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<em style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; word-wrap: break-word;"><strong style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; word-wrap: break-word;">“We first asked him to apologise to us. Now the time for apology has long gone. He must be arrested,” said Joseph Dias of the Catholic Secular Forum who filed another complaint.</strong></em></div>
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There is a provision in the law in India to arrest people who make false claims about a religion in order to provoke anti-religious sentiment. This is what Edamaruku has done and it is right to charge him under the law.</div>
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The fact that <a href="http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg21428714.000-miracle-buster-why-i-traced-holy-water-to-leaky-drain.html?DCMP=OTC-rss&nsref=online-news" style="background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: 0px; color: #5e0000; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; word-wrap: break-word;" target="_blank"><strong style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; word-wrap: break-word;">NewScientist</strong></a> is promoting him as a “miracle buster” should give their readers pause. In short, they’re lying to their readers. No miracle having ever been proclaimed by the Church, there is no “miracle” to bust.</div>
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Blind them with <em style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; word-wrap: break-word;"><strong style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; word-wrap: break-word;">real</strong></em> science, Christians.</div>
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</div>Rationalisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13409668202689639009noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-869303440693657334.post-11595958682070091152012-07-23T14:06:00.000-07:002012-07-23T14:06:23.860-07:00The Heresy Club article on Sanal Edamaruku<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="color: #0b5394; font-size: x-large;">Sanal Edamaruku: The Miracle Man</span></h1>
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<li class="post-author" style="border: none; display: inline; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 12px 0px 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span class="small" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">by</span> <a href="http://heresyclub.com/author/hayley/" rel="author" style="border: 0px; color: #787878; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" title="Posts by Hayley Stevens">Hayley Stevens</a> </li>
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<a href="http://heresyclub.com/2012/07/sanal-edamaruku-the-miracle-man/">http://heresyclub.com/2012/07/sanal-edamaruku-the-miracle-man/</a></aside></header><section class="entry col-left" style="border: 0px; color: #333333; float: left; font-family: Bitter, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 2; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: -webkit-auto; vertical-align: baseline; width: 520px;"><div style="border: 0px; font-family: DroidSansRegular; margin-bottom: 1.2em; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
Edamaruku, the head of the <a href="http://www.rationalistinternational.net/" style="border: 0px; color: #1d5689; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Indian Rationalist Association</a>, is facing jail over <a href="http://www.rationalistinternational.net/article/2012/20120410/en_1.html" style="border: 0px; color: #1d5689; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">his debunking of a “miracle” at a Catholic Church in Mumbai.</a> He pointed out that “miraculous” water dripping from a statue of Christ at the Catholic Church of Our Lady of Velan Kanni in Vile Parle, Mumbai in fact originated from a leaky pipe. This led to widespread condemnation by the Catholic authorities in Mumbai, with the Auxiliary Bishop of Bombay, Agnelo Rufino Gracias calling on him to apologise for “hurting” the Catholic community. Formal complaints about Mr Edamaruku were then made to the Mumbai police by three local Catholic groups, the Catholic Secular Forum, the Association of Concerned Catholics and the Maharashtra Christian Youth Forum.</div>
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Edamaruku was at risk of being held in custody ahead of any trial, and was forced to avoid his home whole he filed for anticipatory bail with the High Court in Mumbai. The request for bail was denied which means arrest will lead to certain imprisonment for an indeterminate period. In early July police turned up at his home in Delhi twice with an arrest warrant. He wasn’t there as he is in Europe at an undisclosed location. Had Edamaruku been at home though, he would have been imprisoned for debunking a miracle.</div>
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The New Humanist today reported that Indian Catholics have demanded Sanal Edamuaruku apologise for debunking miracle at a Mumbai church, and in return they will drop the complaints and the call for his arrest. Sanal says No.</div>
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They reported that a piece <a href="http://www.thesundayindian.com/en/story/withdraw-case-against-sanal/24/37573/" style="border: 0px; color: #1d5689; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">appeared in the <em style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Sunday Indian</em> newspaper</a> by the Christian journalist John Dyal, who is well known for his civil rights activism on behalf of India’s religious minorities. Dyal, a respected figure in India’s Catholic community, used his <em style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Sunday Indian </em>column to call on the Catholic groups that reported Sanal to withdraw their complaints. While Dyal is critical of Sanal’s approach to debunking religious complaints, he does not believe that legal action is justified and wrote:</div>
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“These statements by Sanal or the probe by his Rationalists must not be taken as an attack on the church or on the community. It certainly is not an attack on the faith in the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit…</div>
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…It is time the church leadership really forgave Sanal. He has learnt his own lesson – not to mock at genuine faith of the people and not confuse a passing popular fancy for a “miracle”, however untenable, to say the community is being taken for a ride by the church. The police case against Sanal Edamaruku should be withdrawn as a sign that a mature Church in India needs no props for the depth of its faith in God.”</div>
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The Mumbai-based <a href="http://www.thecsf.org/home.html" style="border: 0px; color: #1d5689; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Catholic Secular Forum</a> was one of the groups that complained, and its founder Joseph Dias has told Dyal that he will drop the complaint in exchange for an apology from Sanal. Sanal Edamaruku refuses to apologise and I can only applaud him. It is incredibly brave of Sanal to stand by reason and now cower to religious bullying. It must be incredibly tempting to relieve himself of the burden imposed by the Catholic Church but he didn’t. It’s heroic.</div>
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I implore any reader of The Heresy Club to go and <strong style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="https://www.change.org/en-GB/petitions/we-call-on-the-catholic-archdiocese-of-bombay-to-encourage-the-withdrawal-of-complaints-against-indian-rationalist-sanal-edamaruku" style="border: 0px; color: #1d5689; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">sign the petition ‘calling on the Catholic Archdiocese of Bombay to encourage the withdrawal of complaints against Indian Rationalist Sanal Edamaruku’.</a> Share it with your friends and family </strong>and show that people from all around the globe – religious and non religious – do<span style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;"><strong style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">not approve</strong></span> of religious privilege being used to silence criticism.</div>
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Crying statues are nothing amazing. Religious relics and miracles have been debunked time and time again. A brilliant book on the subject would be<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Looking-Miracle-Weeping-Stigmata-Visions/dp/1573926809/ref=la_B000APUMK8_1_17?ie=UTF8&qid=1342786182&sr=1-17" style="border: 0px; color: #1d5689; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> ’Looking for a Miracle: Weeping Icons, Relics, Stigmata, Visions & Healing Cures’ by Joe Nickell.</a> To try to imprison someone for speaking the truth because it would convenience you if people continued to think it was miraculous is sneaky, dishonest and manipulative – then again, it IS the Catholic Church<span style="font-size: x-small;">…</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 1em; line-height: 1em; text-transform: uppercase;"> STEVENS</span></div>
<aside class="post-author-box fix" style="border-width: 1px 0px; clear: both; font-size: 13px; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; zoom: 1;"><img alt="" class="avatar avatar-70 photo grav-hashed grav-hijack" height="70" id="grav-c70e19a8ef845833baa0d49582b44777-0" src="http://0.gravatar.com/avatar/c70e19a8ef845833baa0d49582b44777?s=70&d=&r=G" style="border: 0px; float: left; margin: 2px 15px 5px 0px; max-width: 100%; padding: 0px; vertical-align: bottom;" width="70" /><div class="profile-description" style="border: 0px; font-family: DroidSansRegular; line-height: 1.5em; margin: 0px 0px 0px 85px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
Hayley is a skeptical paranormal investigator and has been researching ghosts and monsters since the age of Seventeen. Hayley started out as a curious believer and developed into the curious, skeptical non-believer that she is today. She was a co-host of the Righteous Indignation Podcast that had examined extraordinary claims and the people who surround them between 2009 and 2012. She created 'Project Barnum' which was designed to help people learn the tricks used by fraudulent psychics in 2012, and regularly submits adverts for seemingly bogus health claims and cures to the Advertising Standards Authority & Trading Standards.</div>
</aside></section></div>Rationalisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13409668202689639009noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-869303440693657334.post-23052764683646239452012-07-23T13:57:00.001-07:002012-07-23T14:00:38.461-07:00Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) interview with Sanal Edamaruku<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-size: large;">Mythbuster Sanal Edamaruku on the run, could face blasphemy charges</span></h1>
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Sanal Edamaruku is the president of the Indian Rationalist Association. He also spends large amounts of his time debunking "miracles". Having recently discovered that a statue of Jesus Christ in a Mumbai Church had more to do with sewage than divinity, Edamaruku has fled India fearing that he will be detained and could face blasphemy charges.</div>
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<a href="http://www.cbc.ca/player/Radio/Day+6/ID/2253788835/" style="background-color: white; color: #1155cc; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.727272033691406px;" target="_blank">http://www.cbc.ca/player/<wbr></wbr>Radio/Day+6/ID/2253788835/</a>
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</div>Rationalisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13409668202689639009noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-869303440693657334.post-49038056463245693512012-07-23T13:50:00.002-07:002012-07-23T13:50:29.318-07:00John Dayal calls for withdrawal of case against Sanal Edamaruku<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Withdraw case against Sanal</h1>
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<a href="http://www.thesundayindian.com/en/story/withdraw-case-against-sanal/24/37573/" style="background-color: white;">http://www.thesundayindian.com/en/story/withdraw-case-against-sanal/24/37573/</a></div>
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JOHN DAYAL, VETERAN JOURNALIST AND MEMBER, NATIONAL INTEGRATION COUNCIL | Issue Dated: July 22, 2012, New Delhi</div>
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Sanal Edamuruku, or for that matter Rationalists International, were not names the Indian Catholic Church was familiar with before it ran into them in Mumbai, triggering an obnoxious controversy that has crossed national borders and is making news in the US and the UK. This is a purely Catholic controversy and does not touch the other church denominations in India.</div>
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<br />Sanal of the Rationalists International movement has been a fixture on the more sensational Indian print publications and TV news channels with his exposes of godmen of which India has a large number. In the past, he has taken on some venerable names in this sector and has survived. He can, in fact, be thought of as an extremist and fundamentalist himself in his belief as the subjects of his enquiry.<br />On March 10 this year, Sanal was asked by the TV9 channel to investigate the phenomenon of a crucifix at the Mumbai Church of Our Lady of Velankanni which had started attracting large crowds of believers because of little droplets of water trickling from the feet of Jesus. Mumbai, like Kerala, Goa and Mangalore, has a pretty large concentration of Catholics, most of them by all accounts active members of the Church. People, and not all of them Catholics, collected the droplets as “holy water”.</div>
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<br />Sanal, in his widely publicised findings, claimed the source of the water from the cross was a drainage near a washing room percolating through capillary action. This was the same phenomenon which made the idols of Lord Ganesh apparently “drink” milk some years ago. The laity and clergy of the Archdiocese of Bombay cried foul, describing Sanal’s statement as an insult to their faith.</div>
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<br />Father Augustine Palett, the priest of Our Lady of Velankanni Church, and the Association of Concerned Catholics (AOCC) demanded that Sanal apologise. Mumbai Auxillary Bishop Agnelo Gracias sought to restore some sanity saying the church was “always cautious in attributing supernatural causes” to such phenomena and always striving “to find 'scientific' explanations.”</div>
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<br />A criminal case was nonetheless filed against Sanal. The police have been going to his house in Delhi to arrest him. Sanal has mobilised a powerful international rationalist community to his aid. Not surprisingly, extremist groups in the Hindutva brigade have extended him support, presumably arguing that an enemy’s enemy is a friend, but conveniently forgetting the time they too were baying for his blood not too long ago.</div>
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<br />As someone who is in touch both with the Mumbai church and Sanal Edmaruku, I am pleading the return of a sense of proportion in this issue. It would seem a clash of two fundamentalist groups. It also comes in the context of a satellite TV and Internet social media environment in which many prominent Hindu temples, seminaries and their leaders have been exposed, often in what are called “sting operations”.</div>
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<br />Unlike the violence and hate campaigns unleashed on the Christian community by Hindutva strategists and cadres in many states, and by Muslims mullahs in the Kashmir valley and a few other areas in East and South India, Sanal’s is neither “persecution” nor “communalism” as we understand those terms. A section of the Catholic community is embarrassed and therefore enraged. Sanal is an extremist in his own way, especially in the manner in which he believes in his rationalist theories. To that extent, he is a bit of a social maverick. But he is “catholic” in his approach, and confronts all mythology and superstition irrespective of which group propagates it or how powerful those who believe in these superstitions and miracles are.</div>
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<br />I believe Christ is absolutely capable of defending Himself, if perhaps not the church in India. These statements by Sanal or the probe by his Rationalists must not be taken as an attack on the church or on the community. It certainly is not an attack on the faith in the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.</div>
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<br />The faithful of Mumbai think they are defending faith when they go on hunger strikes against books of fiction or films from Hollywood and Bollywood. But in reality they are defending their own positions and constituencies and do not want them to be exposed to the sunlight.</div>
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<br />Christ does not have to drip water from crucifixes to prove the love he has for each one of us. His healing is deeper and needs no instruments. I have experienced this in my own life. Catholics of Mumbai possibly realise the controversy is not getting the Church any new friends, nor is it adding to its lustre.</div>
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<br />It is time the church leadership really forgave Sanal. He has learnt his own lesson – not to mock at genuine faith of the people and not confuse a passing popular fancy for a “miracle”, however untenable, to say the community is being taken for a ride by the church. The police case against Sanal Edamaruku should be withdrawn as a sign that a mature Church in India needs no props for the depth of its faith in God. </div>
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</div>Rationalisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13409668202689639009noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-869303440693657334.post-53734771464085610612012-07-23T13:46:00.001-07:002012-07-23T13:50:50.946-07:00The Sunday Indian article on Sanal Edamaruky<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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The deep end of unreason</h1>
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<span style="color: #505151; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">A Delhi rationalist is on the run from the law after debunking a purported miracle in a Mumbai church</span><br />
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KS NARAYANAN | Issue Dated: July 22, 2012, New Delhi</div>
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<a href="http://www.thesundayindian.com/en/story/the-deep-end-of-unreason/31/37571/">http://www.thesundayindian.com/en/story/the-deep-end-of-unreason/31/37571/</a>
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<img alt="" src="http://www.thesundayindian.com/userfiles/church.gif" style="border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); clear: both; float: left; margin: 2px 5px 3px 0px; outline: none; padding: 4px;" />Sanal Edamaruku, president of the Indian Rationalist Association, who is facing arrest for hurting the religious sentiments of Catholics after he debunked a miracle at the Church of Our Lady of Velankanni in Vile Parle, continued to travel and was in touch with well-wishers even as Delhi police visited his home in the national capital last week to execute a Mumbai police arrest warrant. A lock on the door greeted the police team the last time it came calling.<br />
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Mumbai Police issued a warrant against Edamaruku last month on an FIR filed by Angelo Fernandez complaining that he had hurt the sentiments of Catholics. Edamaruku was booked under the 295(A) of the IPC, which deals with deliberate and malacious acts intended to outrage religious feelings.<br />
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Two other FIRs have been registered against Edmaruku at the Juhu police station and the MIDC station after he allegedly accused the Pope of exorcism and charged that Catholics were treading the path of superstition because of people like him. Edamaruku was alleged to have made the comments on March 5 during a programme, ‘Yeh kaisi astha?’ (What kind of faith is this?), on the TV9 channel.<br />
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Delhi Police, which had the responsibility to execute the warrant, seems clueless about Edamaruku. When contacted by TSI, Deputy Commissioner of Police (East Delhi) Prabhakar was evasive. "We have no information in this case," he replied.<br />
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Interestingly Edamaruku's residence in Mayur Vihar Phase I is in East Delhi. Despite this the senior police official was puzzled why the query was being directed at him. When this reporter persisted, Prabhakar said he could not set any time-frame to answer queries regarding the whereabouts of Edamaruku.<br />
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Asked to give his perspective on the issue, veteran journalist, National Integration Council member and All India Christian Council secretary general, John Dayal told TSI, "The police case against Sanal Edamaruku should be withdrawn as a sign that a mature Church in India needs no props for the depth of its faith in God. (see column)<br />
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Meanwhile, the global scientific community is outraged at the harassment being faced by the Indian rationalist. Richard Dawkins, British ethnologist and evolutionary biologist observed: "He exposed a fraudulent miracle. Since when has the unmasking of a fraud been 'offensive'?" US scientist Paul Zachary Myers noted: "Harassing Sanal Edamaruku for exposing the truth is an outrage against reason and justice".<br />
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Answering mails and telephone calls from an undiclosed location, Edamaruku is hopeful of the case ending in his favour. "My lawyers are working on several levels at the same time. Yes, I very much expect this to end in my favour. It is just a question of time (and unfortunately of money also...)," the rationalist asserted.</div>
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</div>Rationalisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13409668202689639009noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-869303440693657334.post-38439147855171800512012-07-23T13:41:00.002-07:002012-07-23T13:46:21.174-07:00"The Sunday Indian" interview with Sanal Edamaruku<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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'This will end in my favour'</h1>
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<span style="color: #505151; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Sanal Edamaruku</span></span><br />
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KS NARAYANAN | Issue Dated: July 13, 2012, New Delh<span style="background-color: white;">i</span></div>
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<a href="http://www.thesundayindian.com/en/story/this-will-end-in-my-favour/31/37572/" style="background-color: white;">http://www.thesundayindian.com/en/story/this-will-end-in-my-favour/31/37572/</a></div>
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The charges are false. It is a case of malicious prosecution. They are angry that I have exposed their much propagated “miracle” of the dripping crucifix as interplay of blocked drainages and capillary action – in terms of applied science. My explanation stands factually correct and appropriate. Section 295A of the IPC criminalises “deliberate and malicious acts intended to outrage religious feelings”. It is a chewing gum law. With its vague wording, it has been often misused in the past to settle scores and silence opponents. In any case, the provisions of the Section are not applicable to this case by any stretch of the imagination. Stating evidence-based facts, even if they are disturbing for somebody, is not punishable under the laws of the land.<br />
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<b>Do you think the decision to arrest you has large support from irrational people and fanatics?</b><br />
The auxiliary bishop of Mumbai publicly appreciates those who have levelled charges against me. He “rejoices” about their “courage”. It is in the interest of the Catholic Church to silence me, even if the dirty work is done by some fanatic fools. Today, they cannot burn me alive as they burned Giordano Bruno. They have to try “legal” ways. I do not see that my persecutors have any public support beyond a very narrow circle of insiders. On the other hand, there is a wave of goodwill for me, in India as well as abroad. Even devoted Catholics have written to me and expressed regret and embarrassment about this case.<br />
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<b>What legal recourse are you taking in the case?</b><br />
My lawyers are working on several levels. I very much expect this to end in my favour. It is just a question of time (and unfortunately of money also). Moreover, I expect that we will be able to take the “blasphemy” law out of the hands of those who misuse it. This law has to go. It contradicts the right to Freedom of Expression (Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights). In my case, it also stands against the Indian Constitution that explicitly obliges all citizens to develop “scientific temper” and “spirit of inquiry”. This is perfectly in line with our rationalist approach.<br />
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<b>Do you worry of the backlash when you explain the rationality behind myths?</b><br />
Had I been afraid of any backlash, I would not have been able to achieve much. That I gained such a respected public position and that I have the chance to inspire millions of people to take at least some steps towards a more self-determined life without irrational fear and submission, is due to the fact that I do not care about possible backlashes. But if they come, we shall certainly handle them. It is not that I am naive and don’t see the dangers. But I do not respect threats.<br />
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<b>Do you think large sections of the mainstream media have ignored your plight?</b><br />
If the mainstream media is The Hindu, The Hindustan Times, The Times of India, Daily News & Analysis and the others, they did report and comment on the case. All of them were broadly on our side, some with excellent articles. I am quite happy with the media response so far. </div>
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<b>KS Narayanan</b></div>
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</div>Rationalisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13409668202689639009noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-869303440693657334.post-65810639099143673582012-07-23T13:36:00.000-07:002012-07-23T15:51:03.848-07:00"Der Standard" (Switzerland) on Sanal Edamaruku<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Wer nicht an Wunder glaubt, dem droht die Verhaftung</h1>
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Ein Skeptiker löst das Rätsel um ein vermeintliches Wasser-Mirakel in einer Kirche in Mumbai - Nun soll er dafür vor Gericht landen</h2>
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Nicht an Wunder zu glauben und diese Haltung auch öffentlich aussprechen zu dürfen klingt nach einer Selbstverständlichkeit in einer modernen Demokratie. In der nach der Zahl der Bürger größten Demokratie der Erde kann davon aber offenbar keine Rede sein, wie ein aktuelles Beispiel demonstriert. Hier kurz und nüchtern die - durchaus erschreckenden - Fakten: Sanal Edamaruku ist Gründer und Präsident der Skeptiker-Organisation "Rationalist International". Als eines Tages Wasser aus den Füßen einer Jesus-Statue in einer Kirche in Mumbai läuft, stehen die Gläubigen Schlange, um das "Wunder" mit eigenen Augen zu sehen.</div>
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Edamaruku wird von einem TV-Sender darum gebeten, sich die Sache näher anzusehen; auch Vertreter der betreffenden Kirche willigen ein. Der Skeptiker benötigt nicht lange um herauszufinden, dass das Wasser in Wirklichkeit aus undichten Leitungen stammt, das durch die Wände sickert - und keineswegs Zeichen eines Jesus-Wunders ist. Als er das Ergebnis seiner Untersuchungen öffentlich präsentiert, geschieht das Unglaubliche: Edamaruku wird von Kirchenvertretern angezeigt. Die Anklage lautet "Absichtliche Verletzung religiöser Gefühle von Gläubigen". Aktuell droht dem Skeptiker die Verhaftung. In einem Interview mit dem Wissenschaftsmagazin "New Scientist" beschreibt Sanal Edamarukur, wie er in diese absurde Lage geraten konnte und warum er keine Angst vor eine Verurteilung hat.</div>
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</div>Rationalisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13409668202689639009noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-869303440693657334.post-65089212299329207652012-07-23T13:32:00.001-07:002012-07-23T13:32:12.096-07:00New Scientist on Sanal Edamaruku<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-size: large;">Miracle buster: Why I traced holy water to leaky drain</span></h1>
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<img alt=""If it comes to a trial, I have nothing to fear" <i>(Image: Prakash Singh/AFP/Getty)</i>" src="http://www.newscientist.com/data/images/ns/cms/mg21428714.000/mg21428714.000-1_300.jpg" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-size: 13px; margin: 0px 0px 5px; padding: 0px;" title=""If it comes to a trial, I have nothing to fear" <i>(Image: Prakash Singh/AFP/Getty)</i>" /></h1>
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"If it comes to a trial, I have nothing to fear"- Sanal Edamaruku</div>
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<li style="background-image: url(http://www.newscientist.com/img/icon/icon_arrow.gif); background-position: 0px 5px; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border: 0px; font-size: 1em; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 10px;">03 July 2012 by <a href="http://www.newscientist.com/search?rbauthors=Jon+White" style="border: 0px; color: #34a3d1; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;"><b style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Jon White</b></a></li>
<a href="http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg21428714.000-miracle-buster-why-i-traced-holy-water-to-leaky-drain.html">http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg21428714.000-miracle-buster-why-i-traced-holy-water-to-leaky-drain.html</a>
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<i style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Indian rationalist <b style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Sanal Edamaruku</b> faces a Catholic backlash after insisting that the "holy" water dripping from a statue of Christ came from a leaky drain</i></div>
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<b style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">What was the so-called "miracle" you recently investigated in Mumbai?</b><br style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" />The priest and the very active Catholic laity organisations associated with the Our Lady of Velankanni church in Mumbai were promoting the idea that water dripping from the feet of a statue of Jesus was a sign from God. Hundreds of believers flocked to the dripping cross, collecting and consuming "holy" drainage water that they believed would cure all ailments.</div>
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<b style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">What prompted you to intervene?</b><br style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" />I was invited to the Delhi studio of TV9, a Mumbai-based national channel, to comment. During the <em class="ywp-page-play-pause ywp-page-video ywp-link-hover" style="border: 0px; font-style: normal !important; margin: 0px; outline: none !important; padding: 0px;"><em class="ywp-page-btn ywp-page-btn-play" style="background-image: url(http://l.yimg.com/pb/webplayer/0.9.42/img/themes/black-theme.png); background-position: -26px -1561px; border: 0px; cursor: pointer; display: inline-block; height: 14px; margin: 0px 6px 0px 0px; overflow: hidden; padding: 0px; position: relative; top: 1px; width: 14px;" title="Play Video"></em><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kUqhq9MuRG8&feature=relmfu" id="yui_3_3_0_1_13430751779431018" style="border: 0px; color: #34a3d1; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;" target="nsarticle">programme</a></em>, I rejected the possibility of a miracle, but of course could not give scientific explanations without an investigation. The channel then invited me to come to Mumbai. The church authorities agreed.</div>
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<b style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">What did you find?</b><br style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" />I had a close look at a nearby washroom and the connected drainage system that passed underneath the concrete base of the cross. I removed some stones from the drain and found it was blocked. I touched the walls, the base and the cross and took some photographs for documentation. It was very simple: water from the washroom, which had been blocked in the clogged drainage system, had been transmitted via capillary action into the adjacent walls and the base of the cross as well as into the wooden cross itself. The water came out through a nail hole and ran down over the statue's feet.</div>
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<b style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">You now face possible arrest. Why?</b><br style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" />Leaders of two Catholic laity organisations have launched charges against me under section 295A of the Indian penal code. This charges a person with "deliberately hurting religious feelings and attempting malicious acts intended to outrage the religious sentiments of any class or community". It is absurd to claim that I did anything of the sort.</div>
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<b style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">What do you fear might happen to you?</b><br style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" />If it comes to a trial, I have nothing to fear. I would welcome the opportunity to throw some light on the role that the Catholic church played and is still playing today, here in India. The possibility of arrest is threatening, however.</div>
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<b style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Do you have any regrets about intervening?</b><br style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" />Why would one not intervene when somebody gives gullible people sewage to drink? But my reason is broader. The promotion of superstition and belief in paranormal phenomena dulls people's minds and establishes dangerous misconceptions about reality in our society. Such efforts have to be countered.</div>
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<b style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Why do people so readily believe in miracles?</b><br style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" />For many, the regressive belief in superstitions and miracles is an escape from the hardships of life. Once trapped into irrationalism, they become more incapable of mastering reality. It is a vicious circle, like an addiction. They become vulnerable to exploitation by astrologers, godmen, dubious pseudo-psychologists, corrupt politicians and the whole mega-industry of irrationalism.</div>
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<b style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Sanal Edamaruku</b> is the founder-president of <a href="http://www.rationalistinternational.net/" style="border: 0px; color: #34a3d1; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;" target="nsarticle">Rationalist International</a>, president of the <a href="http://indianrationalists.blogspot.co.uk/" style="border: 0px; color: #34a3d1; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;" target="nsarticle">Indian Rationalist Association</a>, and honorary associate of the <a href="http://newhumanist.org.uk/ra" style="border: 0px; color: #34a3d1; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;" target="nsarticle">UK Rationalist Association</a></div>
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</div>Rationalisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13409668202689639009noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-869303440693657334.post-38925065653715626732012-07-23T13:22:00.001-07:002012-07-23T13:22:04.417-07:00Times of South Africa on Sanal Edamaruku<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="background-color: white; font-size: x-large; line-height: 1.1;">India seeks to arrest man for debunking 'miracle'</span></h2>
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Bruce Gorton | 06 July, 2012 12:09</div>
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<a href="http://www.timeslive.co.za/opinion/columnists/2012/07/06/india-seeks-to-arrest-man-for-debunking-miracle" style="background-color: white; text-align: left;">http://www.timeslive.co.za/opinion/columnists/2012/07/06/india-seeks-to-arrest-man-for-debunking-miracle</a></div>
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The crucifix held by Pope Benedict XVI is seen at the end of the First Vespers on the occasion of the first week of Advent in Saint Peter's Basilica at the Vatican.<br /><b>Image by:</b> STEFANO RELLANDINI</div>
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Sanal Edamaruku, an Indian rationalist, denied the Vile Parle’s Velankanni church’s dripping cross was a miracle.</h3>
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Asked by TV-9 to investigate the cross, he flew down to the cross, took pictures around it and demonstrated that the whole thing was the result of capillary action via underground water near the cross.</div>
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Capillary action works when the adhesive nature of a liquid overcomes gravity – making it appear to run upwards.</div>
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In other words the cross wasn’t a miracle; it was rising damp. If that’s a miracle, then bad RDP houses are holy sites.</div>
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Instead of recognising that maybe they had been a bit hasty to talk about miracles, someone from the church went to the cops who are now trying to arrest Edamaruku on charges that <a href="http://www.mumbaimirror.com/article/2/2012041720120417220221187efd41360/FIR-against-rationalist-for-questioning-%E2%80%98miracle%E2%80%99.html" style="border: 0px; color: #114477; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank" title="">he has offended a church goer’s religious sentiments</a>.</div>
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Seriously, there is a site where you can help <a href="http://www.rationalistinternational.net/defence_fund/" style="border: 0px; color: #114477; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" title="">fund his defence</a>.</div>
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The excuse being used is that he said the church was using the cross to make money, and that is one step too far. The good people at the<a href="http://www.ministryoftruth.me.uk/2012/05/29/skeptic-faces-threat-of-3-year-sentence-for-exposing-weeping-statue-scam/" style="border: 0px; color: #114477; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank" title="">Ministry of Truth</a> point out exactly where someone could have gotten such an impression - the church's website.</div>
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The Catholic Church's representative in India has praised the prosecution in this case, which tells you exactly how much the church values truth and honesty.</div>
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This case is really just an extreme example of a trend that afflicts a lot of people - and it is one of the reasons I respect scientists a lot more than theologians.</div>
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Theology is pretty much an exercise in taking scripture and trying to find a way in which to make it not wrong by our modern understanding of nature, history and morality. It is about trying to make outdated religion, fit reality.</div>
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Just to clarify my definition of religion for the purposes of this rant - I hold that the opposite to atheism is theism, not religion. Religion to me is a belief system which asserts "unchanging" dogmas based upon authority, as opposed to evidence. As such my definition of religion includes atheist religions like "state philosophies".</div>
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One of the things that struck me reading through all the quotes about the now potentially found Higgs boson, was how many physicists were excited at the potential of it being something else.</div>
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A few weeks ago I noticed an argument in which a creationist was using a variation of the fine tuning argument, claiming that if the Earth was just a little bit closer to the sun it would bake, if it was just a little bit further out it would freeze.</div>
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Now this is obviously wrong, as the Earth’s orbit is elliptical, and a strong earthquake can shift the planet one way or the other, but that is not the interesting thing.</div>
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The interesting thing was, someone posted that as a response and got told; “Never correct me again.”</div>
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Where scientists seek real knowledge that contradicts their views, where scientists make a real effort to understand via evidence, all too many people seek to avoid being corrected.</div>
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Not all scientists are immune to the urge to shut down data that goes against their favoured hypothesis, but all scientists believe one shouldn't do that. The moral failing there would be with the scientist, not with the person presenting the conflicting data.</div>
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And I like to think no scientist worth his or her salt would have someone arrested after they disproved one of their theories.</div>
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Now just think about the sort of thinking that goes behind a group calling itself Boko Haram, the killing or jailing of "heretics" in Islamic countries, attempts to shut down the teaching of evolution in the US and South Korea, or the repression of academia in a lot of Communist nations. To fight knowledge, is to fight the possibility of correction.</div>
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Religion of this sort does not simply conflict with science, it conflicts with knowledge.</div>
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And the only limits to how far that kind of religious person will go in order to avoid correction, is precisely how far the rest of society lets them.</div>
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</div>Rationalisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13409668202689639009noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-869303440693657334.post-37852918007831113482012-07-23T13:16:00.004-07:002012-07-23T13:16:45.893-07:00The Hindu report on Sanal Edamaruku's response on police visit at his home<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-size: x-large;">Rationalist alleges witch-hunting</span></h1>
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Alleging that the Delhi Police had visited his Mayur Vihar house in East Delhi to execute an arrest warrant issued by a Mumbai court in a case of hurting the religious sentiment of Christians, eminent rationalist thinker Sanal Edamaruku on Thursday said the charges levelled against him were based on religious intolerance and arrogance.</div>
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Talking to <i style="outline: none;">The Hindu</i> late on Thursday night from an undisclosed location, Mr. Edamaruku said: “Through reliable sources, I have learnt that someone from the Mayur Vihar police station visited my house to execute the warrant, stating that it was as a follow-up of an order issued by a Karkardooma court.”</div>
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Mr. Edamaruku said “efforts to silence different views come from fanatic mindset. They do not have the courage to have intellectual dialogue with me on the basis of facts, science and history and are rather indulging in witch-hunting against me. It is cowardice. I stand for reason, common sense and science.”</div>
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“For the past 30 years, I have been speaking and writing against superstitions and educating public against blind beliefs. Under the Indian Constitution, it is my fundamental duty to promote scientific temper, spirit of inquiry and humanism and reform. I am committed to dispel superstitions and will continue to expose such things. Exposing of false miracle claims is my responsibility. I am not afraid of the efforts of fanatics to silence me,” he said.</div>
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On the legal recourse he intends to take, the rationalist thinker said: “I initially filed an anticipatory bail application in the Delhi High Court that directed me to approach the Mumbai court. I then moved the plea before the Bombay High Court, which has asked me to file the application in the Sessions Court … I am hopeful that the court will grant me anticipatory bail.”</div>
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Earlier, on Thursday, a visit to Mr. Edamaruku’s flat — No. 779 in Pocket 5 of Mayur Vihar, Phase-I in East Delhi — revealed that the premises had been locked for the past few days.</div>
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However, Deputy Commissioner of Police (East Delhi) Prabhakar said: “So far we have no information on the matter.”</div>
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The Mumbai Police, meanwhile, said they had issued a warrant against Mr. Edamaruku last month on a First Information Report filed by Agnelo Fernandez complaining that he had hurt the religious sentiments of Christians and had insulted the religion.</div>
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Mr. Edamaruku was booked under Section 295 (A) of the Indian Penal Code, which pertains to deliberate and malicious acts intended to outrage religious feelings of any class by insulting its religion or religious beliefs.</div>
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“Yes, we issued a warrant against Sanal Edamaruku last month. We have sent it to the court in Delhi. The Delhi Police will arrest him and produce him in the court,” said Suryakant Salvi, assistant inspector of the Juhu station.</div>
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Two FIRs had been registered against Mr. Edamaruku at the Juhu station and the MIDC station after he allegedly accused the Pope of exorcism and charged that Catholics were treading the path of superstition because of people like him.</div>
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Mr. Edamaruku was alleged to have made the comments on March 5 during a television programme, ‘Ye kaisi astha?’ (What can we say about such religious faith?) on channel TV9.</div>
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The programme was about people flocking to a private cross at Irla in Vile Parle to see the ‘miracle’ of water dripping from Jesus Christ’s feet. He criticised the religious leaders and accused them of creating such ‘miracles’ to bring more people into the fold of religion. “Why do Christians worship cross when it was on a cross that Jesus Christ was killed,” he asked in the TV programme, the FIR stated.</div>
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Complainants have alleged that Mr. Edamaruku visited Mumbai a few days after the news about the ‘miracle’ spread and not immediately. “When he came, the water was still dripping from the feet, but at a very slow pace; may be, a drop every half-an-hour. He looked around the place, made his assistant take some photographs, and left. We asked him if we should break the base where the cross was situated, so that it would help him better in his investigation. But he refused, saying that his investigation was done,” Judith Mantero, an eye-witness, told <i style="outline: none;">The Hindu</i> .</div>
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She claimed that Mr. Edamaruku made the allegations without proper examination. “He was asked to apologise for making such rude and untrue comments. But he went on TV again and kept insulting the priests, the Bishop and the Pope,” Ms. Mantero said.</div>
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</div>Rationalisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13409668202689639009noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-869303440693657334.post-18314676390120094062012-07-23T13:07:00.002-07:002012-07-23T13:08:30.722-07:00Austin Dacey on Sanal Edamaruku<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="http://www.csicop.org/author/austindacey" style="color: #085f71; font-size: 1em; font-style: italic; line-height: 16px; text-align: left; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Austin Dacey</a></h3>
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June 25, 2012</h4>
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The case against Sanal Edamaruku reveals the inherent flaws in legally protecting “religious feelings.”</div>
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<img alt="" src="http://www.csicop.org/uploads/images/si/dacey-indianidol.jpg" style="background-color: white; border: 2px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); display: block; margin: 0px auto 8px; padding: 4px;" />Sanal Edamaruku at Velankanni in Mumbai. Image by <strong>New Humanist</strong>.</div>
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Like all proofs, the recent <a href="http://blogs.wsj.com/indiarealtime/2012/05/15/religion-journal-christ-statue-in-mumbai-prompts-blasphemy-spat/" style="color: #008aa8; text-align: left; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">demonstration</a> by the Indian rationalist Sanal Edamaruku that a statue of the crucified Jesus at the Church of Our Lady of Velankanni in Mumbai was not miraculously producing holy water from its toes but rather venting backed-up wastewater by capillary action does not compel one to accept its conclusion. It compels one to either accept its conclusion or to reject one of its premises. Either it is no miracle or God is an iconoclast with a wicked sense of humor.</div>
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After criminal complaints were filed against Edamaruku by The Catholic Secular Forum and Maharashtra Christian Youth Forum under Section 295A of the Indian Penal Code, which criminalizes “insults or attempts to insult the religious or the religious beliefs” of any group with the “deliberate and malicious intention of outraging the religious feelings,” some international media observers framed the story as a case of blasphemy against a supernatural belief.</div>
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As with the waters of Mumbai, the real story is a bit murkier but it is also more interesting. Catholic leaders and organizations have distanced themselves from the miracle claims of the local laity. Instead they insist that the request for a police investigation of Edamaruku (<a href="http://blog.newhumanist.org.uk/2012/06/sanal-edamaruku-update.html" style="color: #008aa8; text-align: left; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">currently taking shelter in Finland</a> to avoid a pre-trial arrest) had nothing to do with his debunkery. It was rather a legal response to “objectionable” and “gratuitous” remarks about Catholic belief that he made during two discussions of the Irla case broadcast live on March 5 and 10 on the TV9 television network and for which he has refused to apologize. The rationalist found himself in the middle of a debate about the nature of idolatry.</div>
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The Skeptic on the Cross</h3>
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In a written <a href="http://mumbailaity.wordpress.com/2012/04/19/mr-sanal-no-church-authority-claimed-that-the-irla-cross-dripping-was-a-miracle/" style="color: #008aa8; text-align: left; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">statement</a>, the Auxiliary Bishop of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Mumbai, Agnelo Gracias, explained that the Church “has NOT made any pronouncement” on whether the dripping cross has a supernatural cause. “There is a lengthy scientific process that has to be undergone before any official pronouncement is made. It is quite possible that the dripping water may have a natural explanation.” He then went on to address Edamaruku’s on-air assertions that “the Pope or the Church is against Science,” that “the dripping Cross has been created by priests who are out to make money,” and that the Church advocates “worship of images.”</div>
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“There is a difference between honoring a thing and making it divine, something to be worshipped,” Gracias’ statement argued. “We respect and honor the Scriptures of any religion not because the books are in themselves divine, but because they have a special significance for the adherents of that religion. We honor a cross because it is for us a reminder of the love of Jesus who died for us.”</div>
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Facing a <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TfJ6_ftih0s" style="color: #008aa8; text-align: left; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">panel of outraged critics</a> on the March 10 broadcast, Edamaruku was repeatedly challenged to “prove” his statements, including this accusation of idolatry. Though he scarcely got a word in over the alternately Hindi and English torrent of opprobrium, which he seemed genuinely to enjoy, he did toss back this question: “When you put a candle burning in front of a statue, what does it mean? It’s not a worship?” He said he welcomed the chance to be heard and vindicated in a court of law and he has declared his intention to bring a challenge to Section 295 before the Supreme Court.</div>
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Subtle and Malicious</h3>
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India’s laws against blasphemy and religious insult were introduced under British colonial rule. The Indian Penal Code was drafted in 1837 by the Indian Law Commission under the chairmanship of Lord Thomas Babington Macaulay and adopted in 1860 after a period of review and intense debate. The Code would go on to influence colonial governments across the globe.</div>
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Many judges and Christian missionaries in India argued for removing or significantly modifying the so-called offenses relating to religion. As one commentator put it, “it is almost impossible to convert a sincere or ardent votary of any faith without wounding his religious feelings in the early stages of the process.” So, “if it is admitted that attempts at conversion from one faith to another ought not to be punished in British India, then the wounding of religious feelings ought not to be punished when the wound is inflicted with that legitimate object.” Even sarcasm “is often the only answer that can be given to positions too absurd to be gravely argued.”</div>
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In response to such objections, the framers of the Code placed their faith in the discretion of judges: “it is not the impression of the offended party that is to be admitted to decide whether the words uttered deserve to be considered as insulting; and whether they were uttered with the deliberate intention of insulting; these are points to be determined upon cool and calm consideration of the circumstances by the Judge.” However, the subsequent history has vindicated the critics’ warnings. In practice, many subsequent judicial decisions on cases of peaceful speech suppressed under these laws have been arbitrary, biased, and unjust.</div>
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One such case from 1962 prefigures Edamaruku’s own. In it the Karnataka High Court overturned an acquittal of Henry Rodrigues, editor and publisher of <em>The Crusader</em>, a magazine that attacked Roman Catholic belief from a broadly Biblical Christian perspective. “Honor to Mary or Dishonor?” asked one article. According to court records, it contained this passage:</div>
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Taken up with this infidel devotion to Mary, what a large number of people call upon a dead creature [for help]. The poor dead Mary neither hears nor sees them. If a thousand people, in a thousand cities use a thousand rosaries at the same time to say "Hail Mary, Hail Mary” to honor and worship a corpse, will a single dead creature be able to hear the prayers and honor uttered by the thousand people in the thousand cities in a thousand languages (which include the language of the dumb too)?<sup style="line-height: 0;">1</sup></div>
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The article went on to assert that miracles attributed to Mary were designed to swindle money from parishioners.</div>
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The lower court granted that such language could be considered abusive and insulting to Catholics, but found no malicious intent. Rodrigues’ lawyers argued that Rodrigues—himself a self-identified Catholic—published this material “in a spirit to bring about reformation and out of a sincere conviction that certain practices followed by the Roman Catholics and certain superstitious beliefs entertained by them, are all wholly opposed to what is stated in the Holy Bible.”</div>
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In the matter of <em>The Crusader</em>, truth was supposed to be of no moment. As the court put it, “even a true statement may outrage religious feelings.” Likewise, if the matter of the dripping cross sees trial, truth will be no defense and so the outcome will not formally turn on whether Catholic idol-worshipping or science-bashing can be “proven.” What the judges will most likely think they will be doing in exercising the powers first granted to them by the colonial government, is determining whether Edamaruku’s insult was made with malicious intent. But truth has a way of seeping imperceptibly back into the matter, as if itself moved by capillary action.</div>
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In <em>State of Mysore v. Henry Rodrigues</em>, the High Court, considering the very same evidence as had the lower court, arrived at the contrary finding of malice.</div>
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This is an allegation made, without any just or lawful excuse. Because, by no stretch of imagination can it be said that in worshipping and offering prayers to Mary, the followers of the Roman Church actually worshipped a corpse or a dead body. . . . There cannot be any doubt that the statement of the [defendant] . . . is one made without any lawful or just excuse and intended only to outrage the religious feelings of the followers of the Roman Catholic Church.</div>
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Apparently the judges could fathom no psychologically plausible motive other than malice,<em>given the obvious unreasonableness of the defendant’s speech</em>. But their prior belief in the unreasonableness of his speech must have come from their own understanding of what does and does not constitute idolatry. Evidently, Rodrigues held that that to attribute agency and address petitionary prayer to Mary is to invest with divinity a dead human being. By refusing to countenance this as a “just or lawful” reason for his insulting speech, the court in effect classified his religious beliefs as beyond reasonable imagination.</div>
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Several years earlier, <em>S. Veerabadran Chettiar vs E. V. Ramaswami Naicker & Others</em>, the Supreme Court weighed in on this matter. The case involved a man who shattered a clay figure of the Hindu god Ganesh in a public act of religious protest. Lower courts dismissed charges under Section 295—covering any act that “destroys, damages or defiles any place of worship, or any object held sacred by any class of persons”—on the grounds that the particular token of Ganesh’s image in question, while resembling those that were consecrated and worshipped by some Hindus, had not itself actually been consecrated and worshipped by anyone.<sup style="line-height: 0;">2</sup> The Supreme Court, claiming that the lower courts had “given much too restricted a meaning to the words ‘any object held sacred by any class of persons’,” found that an object held sacred could include “any objective representation of a similar kind” to that which is consecrated or worshipped.</div>
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The judges may well have been cool and calm, but impartial they were not. This is the fatal flaw in the legal standard of intentional outrage of religious feelings: It gives government authorities the opportunity and the right to determine which contestable moral and religious beliefs are more worthy of protection.</div>
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Do Rationalists Have Feelings?</h3>
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Lord Macaulay well understood that the contemporaneous British blasphemy law, which safeguarded Christian belief per se, would be unworkable in the multi-faith Indian context. The legal standard calibrated to “religious feelings” or “religious hatred” continues to be attractive to many precisely because it promises to substitute a quasi-secular category of harm to individual persons for a religious category of disrespect to a deity or dogma; to replace spiritual blasphemy with personal blasphemy, as I call it in <a href="http://www.amazon.com/The-Future-Blasphemy-Speaking-Sacred/dp/1441183922" style="color: #008aa8; text-align: left; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank"><em>The Future of Blasphemy: Speaking of the Sacred in an Age of Human Rights</em>.</a></div>
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However, the history of the Indian Penal Code illustrates that the quasi-secular standard of personal blasphemy does not prevent invidious discrimination on the basis of religious content. Neither does it remove a more basic structural inequality. The law of personal blasphemy comes to the defense of “religious” feelings but provides no equal protection for the sensibilities of secular persons of conscience or adherents of unrecognized minority faiths. Under the Indian Penal Code, rationalists like Sanal Edamaruku might as well have no feelings.</div>
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This inherent failure of equal treatment under the law is one powerful reason why we should welcome any challenge to this colonial-era law in secular democratic India and to similar laws wherever they are found.</div>
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Notes</h4>
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1. State of Mysore v. Henry Rodrigues (1962) 2 Cr LJ 564.</div>
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2. S. Veerabadran Chettiar v. E. V. Ramaswami Naicker & Others (1958) AIR 1032, 1959 SCR 1211.</div>
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Austin Dacey</h3>
<img alt="Austin Dacey's photo" height="97" src="http://www.centerforinquiry.net/images/member_photos/photo_184.jpg" style="background-color: #dddddd; border: 1px solid rgb(170, 170, 170); float: left; margin: 17px 5px 5px 10px; padding: 4px;" width="100" /><br />
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Austin Dacey, Ph.D., is former director of Science and the Public, a program of the Center for Inquiry and State University of New York at Buffalo, and author of several articles and books, including <cite>The Secular Conscience</cite>. He holds a doctorate in applied ethics and social philosophy and has taught most recently at Polytechnic Institute of New York University.</div>
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<iframe class="AFpHvf" frameborder="0" height="96px" id="remote_iframe_0" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" name="remote_iframe_0" scrolling="auto" src="https://hfcrokj5neo8jqtide9hbgsq3opjndlh-a-gm-opensocial.googleusercontent.com/gadgets/ifr?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.gstatic.com%2Fig%2Fmodules%2Fgm%2Fyoutube%2Fcard-youtube.xml&container=gm&view=card&lang=en&country=FI&sanitize=0&v=bf9da2575e599f36&libs=core%3Adynamic-height%3Aflash%3Agoogle.contentmatch%3Agoogle.debug%3Agoogle.sharebox%3Agoogle.waitforload%3Alocked-domain%3Aoauthpopup%3Arpc%3Asecurity-token%3Asetprefs%3Askins%3Aviews%3Aauth-refresh&parent=https%3A%2F%2Fmail.google.com%2Fhtml&skintype=gm&skinval=GM_BG_COLOR%3A%23F2F2F2%3BGM_TEXT_COLOR%3A%23222%3BGM_LINK_COLOR%3A%2315c%3BGM_SELECTED_BG_COLOR%3A%23ffc%3BGM_SELECTED_TEXT_COLOR%3A%23222%3BGM_SELECTED_LINK_COLOR%3A%23222%3BGM_MENU_BORDER_COLOR%3A%23888%3BGM_MENU_BG_COLOR%3A%23fff%3BGM_MENU_TEXT_COLOR%3A%23333%3BGM_MENU_LINK_COLOR%3A%230065cc#c=gm&rpctoken=e3064xy3kp8k&cob=%257B%2522google.com%253AYTPublicExtractorCard%2522%253A%255B%257B%2522video_id%2522%253A%2522TfJ6_ftih0s%2522%257D%255D%257D&mid=0&st=e%3DAA6WCYbuP8i0d8CMWTggFRtpMa6%252B1hFWNnnz31N8XeLgXC6IsREihZIIP%252F9%252B7anni23GKAZJ8D9OTlAo3twjii%252Fh4CaUrGXiNRMXvebgbGITz6RbNMES1NNlSMR78q2b4%252BJdMfCLJaAq%26c%3Dgm" width="100%"></iframe></div>
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</div>Rationalisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13409668202689639009noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-869303440693657334.post-13690614678941894702012-07-23T13:02:00.004-07:002012-07-23T13:03:30.965-07:00Maryam Namazie on Sanal Edamaruku<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-size: x-large;">Christianity stinks too</span></h2>
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Maryam Namazie</div>
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I often hear people saying that Christianity is better than Islam. And I’m not talking about the far-Right that thinks the fight against Islam is a fight for Christianity and a new crusade but I often hear it from skeptics and atheists too.</div>
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As you may know even <a href="http://freethoughtblogs.com/maryamnamazie/2011/08/05/this-is-what-happens-when-you-join-the-neo-cons/" style="border: 0px none; color: #3366cc; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Ayaan Hirsi Ali had recommended that Muslim women become Christians rather than remain within Islam</a> if they want to carry on believing in god. My response is that it’s a racism of lower expectations. If Ayaan and I can become atheists, so can other Muslim women.</div>
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But nonetheless there is this perception that Christianity is better.</div>
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But that’s a perception only.</div>
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As I’ve said before, Christianity only seems nicer because to some extent it has been pushed back by an enlightenment. A ‘better’ religion is generally one that has its back to the wall and has no political power.</div>
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And the minute it has access to some form of power, it rears its cruel and ugly head for all to see.</div>
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The US Christian Right, the abuse and violence faced by children deemed witches in Nigeria, the lack of accountability of the Church for it years of paedophelia and sex abuse are all current day examples of how Christianity is fundamentally no different. and that’s not even looking at the Spanish inquisition and the like. Of course there are many more current days examples but the most recent case is the complaint by the Mumbai Catholic Archdiocese against Indian Rationalist Sanal Edamaruku.</div>
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Following his exposure of a supposed miracle at a Catholic Church in Mumbai in March 2012 as nothing more than a leak, a complaint has been lodged against Sanal by local Catholic organisations with the police, who are now able to arrest him. He has been denied ‘anticipatory’ bail which means if arrested he faces a long term in prison merely for explaining the science behind yet another fraudulent claim by religion.</div>
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It is important to defend Sanal and also the many facing such charges by Islamists across the globe.</div>
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<a href="https://www.change.org/en-GB/petitions/we-call-on-the-catholic-archdiocese-of-bombay-to-encourage-the-withdrawal-of-complaints-against-indian-rationalist-sanal-edamaruku#" style="border: 0px none; color: #3366cc; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Here’s a petition you can sign on Sanal’s behalf.</a></div>
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</div>Rationalisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13409668202689639009noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-869303440693657334.post-52271421210639365972012-07-23T12:55:00.001-07:002012-07-23T12:55:17.754-07:00Praveen Swamy on Sanal Edamaruku<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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INDIA’S GOD LAWS FAIL THE TEST OF REASON </h2>
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<span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: small;">BY PRAVEEN SWAMI</span></span></div>
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From: <a href="http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/lead/article3391109.ece" style="color: black;">www.thehindu.com</a><br />
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<a href="http://godisnothere.com/2012/05/17/indias-god-laws-fail-the-test-of-reason-by-praveen-swami/">http://godisnothere.com/2012/05/17/indias-god-laws-fail-the-test-of-reason-by-praveen-swami/</a>
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Police investigation of Sanal Edamaraku for debunking a “miracle” at a church is a crime against the Constitution.<br />
Early in March, little drops of water began to drip from the feet of the statue of Jesus nailed to the cross on the church of Our Lady of Velankanni, down on to Mumbai’s unlovely Irla Road. Hundreds began to flock to the church to collect the holy water in little plastic bottles, hoping the tears of the son of god would sanctify their homes and heal their beloved.<br />
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Sanal Edamaruku, the eminent rationalist thinker, arrived at the church a fortnight after the miracle began drawing crowds. It took him less than half an hour to discover the source of the divine tears: a filthy puddle formed by a blocked drain, from where water was being pushed up through a phenomenon all high-school physics students are familiar with, called capillary action.<br />
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For his discovery, Mr. Edamaruku now faces the prospect of three years in prison — and the absolute certainty that he will spend several more years hopping between lawyers’ offices and courtrooms. In the wake of Mr. Edamaruku’s miracle-busting Mumbai visit, three police stations in the capital received complaints against him for inciting religious hatred. First information reports were filed, and investigations initiated with exemplary — if unusual — alacrity.<br />
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<strong style="color: black;">Real courage</strong><br />
Mr. Edamaruku isn’t the kind to be frightened. It takes real courage, in a piety-obsessed society, to expose the chicanery of Satya Sai Baba and packs of lesser miracle-peddlers who prey on the insecurities of the desperate and gullible. These actions have brought threats in their wake — but never from the state.<br />
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India’s Constitution obliges all citizens to develop “scientific temper, humanism and the spirit of inquiry and reform”. India’s laws, though, are being used to persecute a man who has devoted his life to doing precisely that.<br />
Like dozens of other intellectuals and artists, Mr. Edamaraku is a victim of India’s god laws — colonial-era legislation obliging the state to punish those who offend the faith of others. Section 295 of the Indian Penal Code criminalises the actions of “whoever destroys, damages or defiles any place of worship, or any object held sacred by any class of persons”. Its sibling, Section 295A, outlaws “deliberate and malicious acts intended to outrage religious feelings of any class”. Section 153B goes further, proscribing “any act which is prejudicial to the maintenance of harmony between different religious, racial, language or regional groups or castes or communities”. Alarmingly, given the sweeping generalities in which these laws are written, truth is not an admissible defence.<br />
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In the decades since independence, these laws have been regularly used to hound intellectuals and artists who questioned religious beliefs. In 1993, the New Delhi-based progressive cultural organisation, Sahmat, organised an exhibition demonstrating that there were multiple versions of the Ramayana in Indian culture. Panels in the exhibition recorded that in one Buddhist tradition, Sita was Ram’s sister; in a Jain version, she was the daughter of Ravan. Even though the exhibits drew on historian Romila Thapar’s authoritative work, criminal cases were filed against Sahmat for offending the sentiments of traditionalist Hindus.<br />
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Punjab has seen a rash of god-related cases, mainly involving Dalit-led heterodoxies challenging the high traditions of the Akal Takht. In 2007, police filed cases against Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh, the head of the syncretic Saccha Sauda sect, for his purportedly blasphemous use of Sikh iconography. Earlier, in 2001, similar charges were brought against Piara Singh Bhaniarawala, after he released the <em>Bhavsagar Granth</em>, a religious text suffused with miracle stories.<br />
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Islamic chauvinists have shown the same enthusiasm for the secular state’s god laws as their Sikh and Hindu counterparts. Earlier this year, FIRs were filed against four writers who read out passages from Salman Rushdie’s <em>The Satanic Verses </em>— a book that is wholly legal in India. Fear of Islamic neo-fundamentalists is pervasive, shaping cultural discourse even when its outcomes are not as dramatic as Mr. Rushdie’s case. In 1995, writer Khalid Alvi reissued <em>Angaarey </em>— a path-breaking collection of Urdu short works banned in 1933 for its attacks on god. The collection’s most-incendiary passages were censored out. India’s feisty media didn’t even murmur in protest after the magazine <em>India Today</em> was proscribed by Jammu and Kashmir in 2006 for carrying a cartoon with an image of the Kaaba as one among a metaphorical pack of political cards.<br />
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Even religious belief, ironically enough, can invite prosecution by the pious. Last year, the Kannada movie actress, Jayamala, was summoned before a Kerala court, along with astrologer P. Unnikrishna and his assistant Reghupathy, to face police charges that she had violated a taboo against women in the menstruating age from entering the Sabrimala temple.<br />
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For the most part, judges have shied away from condoning criticism of the pious, perhaps fearful of being held responsible for public disorder. In 1958, the Supreme Court heard litigation that grew out of the radical politician, E.V. Ramaswamy Naicker’s decision to break a clay idol of Ganesha. Lower courts had held, in essence, that the idol was not a sanctified object. The Supreme Court differed, urging the lower judiciary “to pay due regard to the feelings and religious emotions of different classes of persons with different beliefs, irrespective … of whether they are rational or otherwise”.<br />
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<strong style="color: black;">‘Insult to religion’</strong><br />
Earlier, in 1957, the Supreme Court placed some limits on 295A saying it “does not penalise any and every act of insult to or attempt to insult the religion”. Instead, it “only punishes the aggravated form of insult to religion perpetrated<em>with deliberate and malicious intention</em>” (emphasis added). The court shied away, though, from the key question, of what an insult to religion actually was.<br />
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Hearing an appeal against the Uttar Pradesh government’s decision to confiscate Naicker’s contentious <em>Ramayana</em>, the Supreme Court again ducked this issue. In 1976, it simply said “the law fixes the mind of the Administration to the obligation to reflect on the need to restrict and to state the grounds which ignite its action”. “That is about all”, the judges concluded.<br />
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That hasn’t, however, been all. In 1998, the Supreme Court upheld Karnataka’s decision to ban P.V. Narayanna’s <em>Dharmakaarana</em>, an award-winning re-reading of the Hindu saint, Basaveshwara. In 2007, the Bombay High Court similarly allowed Maharashtra to ban R.L. Bhasin’s <em>Islam</em>, an aggressive attack on the faith. There have been several other similar cases. In some, the works involved were scurrilous, even inflammatory — but the principles established by courts have allowed State governments to stamp out critical works of scholarship and art.<br />
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<strong style="color: black;">Dangers ahead</strong><br />
Indians have grappled with these issues since at least 1924, when Arya Samaj activist Mahashe Rajpal published the pamphlet that led the state to enact several of the god laws. <em>Rangila Rasul</em> — in Urdu, ‘the colourful prophet’ —was a frank, anti-Islam polemic. Lower courts condemned Rajpal to prison. In the Lahore High Court, though, Justice Dalip Singh argued that public outrage could not be the basis for legal proscription: “if the fact that Musalmans resent attacks on the Prophet was to be the measure [of legal sanction]”, he reasoned, “then an historical work in which the life of the prophet was considered and judgment passed on his character by a serious historian might [also] come within the definition”.<br />
<br />
In 1927, when pre-independence India’s central legislative assembly debated the<em>Rangila Rasul</em> affair, some endorsed Justice Singh’s message. M.R. Jayakar likened religious fanaticism to a form of mental illness, and suggested that those who suffer from it be segregated “from the rest of the community”. This eminently sane suggestion wasn’t, however, the consensus: the god laws were expanded to expressly punish works like <em>Rangila Rasul</em>.<br />
<br />
Perhaps Indians can congratulate themselves that the god laws have not been used to persecute and kill religious dissenters, as the ever-expanding blasphemy laws which sprang up in Pakistan. Mr. Edamaruku’s case ought to make clear, though, just where things are inexorably headed. If Indians wish to avoid the fate of the dystopia to the country’s west, its citizens desperately need to accept the right of critics to attack, even insult, what they hold dear.<br />
<br />
In 864 CE, the great physician, Abu Bakr Muhammad Ibn Zakaria al-Razi, wrote: “The miracles of the prophets are imposters or belong to the domain of pious legend. The teachings of religions are contrary to the one truth: the proof of this is that they contradict one another. It is tradition and lazy custom that have led men to trust their religious leaders. Religions are the sole cause of the wars which ravage humanity; they are hostile to philosophical speculation and to scientific research. The alleged holy scriptures are books without values”.<br />
Following a rich scholarly life, and a tenure as director of the hospital in Baghdad patronised by the caliph Abu al-Qasim Abd ‘Allah, al-Razi died quietly at his home in Rey, surrounded by his students. In modern India, his thoughts would have led him to a somewhat less pleasant end.</div>
</div>Rationalisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13409668202689639009noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-869303440693657334.post-50553099715359258232012-07-23T12:46:00.000-07:002012-07-23T12:46:03.224-07:00James Randi on Sanal Edamaruku<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<tr style="vertical-align: top;"><td valign="top"><span class="small" style="color: #8c876b; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-weight: bold;">Written by James Randi </span> </td></tr>
<tr style="vertical-align: top;"><td class="createdate" style="color: #8c876b; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-weight: bold; height: 20px; padding-bottom: 5px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: top;" valign="top">Monday, 18 June 2012 13:13<br /><br /><a href="http://www.randi.org/site/index.php/swift-blog/1746-james-randi.html">http://www.randi.org/site/index.php/swift-blog/1746-james-randi.html</a>
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Sanal Edamaruku is the well-known Indian Rationalist who has now taken refuge in Finland, where he has fled to avoid prison in his homeland. He faces arrest due his criticism of a so-called "miracle" claimed by the Catholic Church in his country, a "weeping statue" fueled by sewage water that leaked in from a drain. This is a preposterous action, a violation of human rights and an affront to reason and justice. We should all be both alarmed and insulted by the government of India, from whom we certainly could have expected a rational reaction rather than this pandering to "political correctness" that threatens the liberty of Mr. Edamaruku. To quote Sanal himself:</div>
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<em>It is nothing new that the Catholic bishops try to sentence their opponents to the stake when they run out of arguments. Giordano Bruno’s is a case in point. But try as they may, they cannot stop me to stand for reason, science and historic facts. And I am not alone. Freedom of expression is under attack and we are going to defend it!</em></div>
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TV channel TV-9 had invited Sanal to investigate a “miracle” at Mumbaia that resulted in some local excitement. He inspected the crucifix standing in front of the Church of Our Lady of Velankanni. This had become the centre of attraction for an ever-growing crowd of believers arriving from far and wide, thus the Church was anxious to take advantage of their credulity. For some days, there were little droplets of water trickling from the feet of the painted plaster figure. Hundreds of people came every day to pray and collect some of the “holy water” in bottles. The town was becoming a pilgrimage centre. But within minutes, Sanal Edamaruku clearly identified the source of the water – a drainage pipe near a laundry room – and the means by which it reached the figure’s feet – <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capillary_action" style="color: #960000; text-decoration: none;">capillary action</a>. The local church leaders who were present during this investigation, were far from pleased. See the investigation in detail on <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kUqhq9MuRG8" style="color: #960000; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">YouTube</a>.</div>
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<img alt="miraclefeet" height="267" src="http://www.randi.org/site/images/stories/miraclefeet.jpg" width="200" /></div>
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I just received an email note from Mr. Edamaruku:</div>
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<br /><em>Yesterday I reached Helsinki. My first breath of free air after two months in hiding. My new anticipatory bail is filed at Mumbai High Court. It will come up for consideration on Monday or Tuesday. Here is my local mobile number in Finland: <a href="tel:%2B358414874408" style="color: #960000; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank"><span class="skype_pnh_container" dir="ltr" style="background-attachment: scroll !important; background-color: transparent !important; background-image: none !important; background-position: 0px 0px !important; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat !important; border-collapse: separate !important; border: 0px none rgb(0, 0, 0) !important; bottom: auto !important; clear: none !important; clip: auto !important; color: rgb(73, 83, 90) !important; cursor: pointer !important; direction: ltr !important; display: inline !important; float: none !important; font-family: Tahoma, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif !important; font-size: 11px !important; font-style: normal !important; font-weight: bold !important; height: 14px !important; left: auto !important; letter-spacing: 0px !important; line-height: 14px !important; list-style: disc outside none !important; margin: 0px !important; overflow: hidden !important; padding: 0px !important; page-break-after: auto !important; page-break-before: auto !important; page-break-inside: auto !important; position: static !important; right: auto !important; table-layout: auto !important; top: auto !important; vertical-align: baseline !important; white-space: nowrap !important; width: auto !important; word-spacing: normal !important; z-index: 0 !important;" tabindex="-1"> <span class="skype_pnh_highlighting_inactive_common" dir="ltr" skypeaction="skype_dropdown" style="background-attachment: scroll !important; background-color: transparent !important; background-image: none !important; background-position: 0px 0px !important; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat !important; border-collapse: separate !important; border: 0px none rgb(0, 0, 0) !important; bottom: auto !important; clear: none !important; clip: auto !important; cursor: pointer !important; direction: ltr !important; display: inline !important; float: none !important; height: 14px !important; left: auto !important; letter-spacing: 0px !important; list-style: disc outside none !important; margin: 0px !important; overflow: hidden !important; padding: 0px !important; page-break-after: auto !important; page-break-before: auto !important; page-break-inside: auto !important; position: static !important; right: auto !important; table-layout: auto !important; top: auto !important; vertical-align: baseline !important; width: auto !important; word-spacing: normal !important; z-index: 0 !important;" title="Click to make a low cost call with Skype"><span class="skype_pnh_left_span" skypeaction="skype_dropdown" style="background-attachment: scroll !important; background-color: transparent !important; background-image: url(chrome-extension://lifbcibllhkdhoafpjfnlhfpfgnpldfl/numbers_common_inactive_icon_set.gif) !important; background-position: 0px 0px !important; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat !important; border-collapse: separate !important; border: 0px none rgb(0, 0, 0) !important; bottom: auto !important; clear: none !important; clip: auto !important; cursor: pointer !important; direction: ltr !important; display: inline !important; float: none !important; height: 14px !important; left: auto !important; letter-spacing: 0px !important; list-style: disc outside none !important; margin: 0px !important; overflow: hidden !important; padding: 0px !important; page-break-after: auto !important; page-break-before: auto !important; page-break-inside: auto !important; position: static !important; right: auto !important; table-layout: auto !important; top: auto !important; vertical-align: baseline !important; width: 6px !important; word-spacing: normal !important; z-index: 0 !important;" title="Skype actions"> </span><span class="skype_pnh_dropart_span" skypeaction="skype_dropdown" style="background-attachment: scroll !important; background-color: transparent !important; background-image: url(chrome-extension://lifbcibllhkdhoafpjfnlhfpfgnpldfl/numbers_common_inactive_icon_set.gif) !important; background-position: -11px 0px !important; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat !important; border-collapse: separate !important; border: 0px none rgb(0, 0, 0) !important; bottom: auto !important; clear: none !important; clip: auto !important; cursor: pointer !important; direction: ltr !important; display: inline !important; float: none !important; height: 14px !important; left: auto !important; letter-spacing: 0px !important; list-style: disc outside none !important; margin: 0px !important; overflow: hidden !important; padding: 0px !important; page-break-after: auto !important; page-break-before: auto !important; page-break-inside: auto !important; position: static !important; right: auto !important; table-layout: auto !important; top: auto !important; vertical-align: baseline !important; width: 27px !important; word-spacing: normal !important; z-index: 0 !important;" title="Skype actions"><span class="skype_pnh_dropart_flag_span" skypeaction="skype_dropdown" style="background-attachment: scroll !important; background-color: transparent !important; background-image: url(chrome-extension://lifbcibllhkdhoafpjfnlhfpfgnpldfl/flags.gif) !important; background-position: -1819px 1px !important; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat !important; border-collapse: separate !important; border: 0px none rgb(0, 0, 0) !important; bottom: auto !important; clear: none !important; clip: auto !important; cursor: pointer !important; direction: ltr !important; display: inline !important; float: none !important; height: 14px !important; left: auto !important; letter-spacing: 0px !important; list-style: disc outside none !important; margin: 0px !important; overflow: hidden !important; padding: 0px !important; page-break-after: auto !important; page-break-before: auto !important; page-break-inside: auto !important; position: static !important; right: auto !important; table-layout: auto !important; top: auto !important; vertical-align: baseline !important; width: 18px !important; word-spacing: normal !important; z-index: 0 !important;"> </span> </span><span class="skype_pnh_textarea_span" style="background-attachment: scroll !important; background-color: transparent !important; background-image: url(chrome-extension://lifbcibllhkdhoafpjfnlhfpfgnpldfl/numbers_common_inactive_icon_set.gif) !important; background-position: -125px 0px !important; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat !important; border-collapse: separate !important; border: 0px none rgb(0, 0, 0) !important; bottom: auto !important; clear: none !important; clip: auto !important; cursor: pointer !important; direction: ltr !important; display: inline !important; float: none !important; height: 14px !important; left: auto !important; letter-spacing: 0px !important; list-style: disc outside none !important; margin: 0px !important; overflow: hidden !important; padding: 0px !important; page-break-after: auto !important; page-break-before: auto !important; page-break-inside: auto !important; position: static !important; right: auto !important; table-layout: auto !important; top: auto !important; vertical-align: baseline !important; width: auto !important; word-spacing: normal !important; z-index: 0 !important;"><span class="skype_pnh_text_span" style="background-attachment: scroll !important; background-color: transparent !important; background-image: url(chrome-extension://lifbcibllhkdhoafpjfnlhfpfgnpldfl/numbers_common_inactive_icon_set.gif) !important; background-position: -125px 0px !important; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat !important; border-collapse: separate !important; border: 0px none rgb(0, 0, 0) !important; bottom: auto !important; clear: none !important; clip: auto !important; cursor: pointer !important; direction: ltr !important; display: inline !important; float: none !important; height: 14px !important; left: auto !important; letter-spacing: 0px !important; list-style: disc outside none !important; margin: 0px !important; overflow: hidden !important; padding: 0px 0px 0px 5px !important; page-break-after: auto !important; page-break-before: auto !important; page-break-inside: auto !important; position: static !important; right: auto !important; table-layout: auto !important; top: auto !important; vertical-align: baseline !important; width: auto !important; word-spacing: normal !important; z-index: 0 !important;">+358414874408</span></span><span class="skype_pnh_right_span" style="background-attachment: scroll !important; background-color: transparent !important; background-image: url(chrome-extension://lifbcibllhkdhoafpjfnlhfpfgnpldfl/numbers_common_inactive_icon_set.gif) !important; background-position: -62px 0px !important; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat !important; border-collapse: separate !important; border: 0px none rgb(0, 0, 0) !important; bottom: auto !important; clear: none !important; clip: auto !important; cursor: pointer !important; direction: ltr !important; display: inline !important; float: none !important; height: 14px !important; left: auto !important; letter-spacing: 0px !important; list-style: disc outside none !important; margin: 0px !important; overflow: hidden !important; padding: 0px !important; page-break-after: auto !important; page-break-before: auto !important; page-break-inside: auto !important; position: static !important; right: auto !important; table-layout: auto !important; top: auto !important; vertical-align: baseline !important; width: 15px !important; word-spacing: normal !important; z-index: 0 !important;"> </span></span> </span></a></em></div>
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Folks, as you may know, I’m currently involved in a legal action involving my partner, and I’m much preoccupied with that matter. However, I will take these few moments to urge you to go to <a href="http://www.rationalistinternational.net/defence_fund/" style="color: #960000; text-decoration: none;">click here </a>if you feel you might wish to provide some support for Sanal. He’s a good and effective fighter for reason and rationality, and deserves support. Please consider that possibility…</div>
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And I thank you, all.</div>
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</div>Rationalisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13409668202689639009noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-869303440693657334.post-78737379264802693472012-07-23T12:41:00.002-07:002012-07-23T12:42:18.641-07:00Sceptical science on Sanal Edamaruku<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<h1 class="title" style="clear: none; color: #444444; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', 'Lucida Grande', arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 1.7em; margin: 0px 0px 10px; padding: 0px;">
<a href="http://www.skeptical-science.com/religion/support-needed-indian-rationalist-sanal-edamaruku-catholic-church/" rel="bookmark" style="color: #3333ff; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-shadow: rgb(221, 221, 221) 1px 1px 1px;">Your Support Needed – Indian rationalist Sanal Edamaruku vs the Catholic Church</a></h1>
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<strong style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><a href="http://www.skeptical-science.com/religion/support-needed-indian-rationalist-sanal-edamaruku-catholic-church/">http://www.skeptical-science.com/religion/support-needed-indian-rationalist-sanal-edamaruku-catholic-church/</a>
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<strong style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">First the background</strong> – Hopefully you are already familiar with it all</div>
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A couple of months ago Sanal Edamaruku, the President of the Indian-based skeptic organization<a href="http://www.rationalistinternational.net/" style="color: #ff1111; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Rationalist International</a>, was invited by an Indian TV channel (TV-9) to visit a Catholic Church in Mumbai to offer his opinion of a claimed miracle. He is well-known in India and has been debunking similar claims for many years.</div>
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The miracle in this specific instance involved water dripping from the feet of a statue of the crucifixion, and so Edamuruku quickly identified the cause as a leaking drainage system. Apparently the water was being drawn up through the nail holes in the statue’s feet by capillary action.</div>
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Edamaruku commented that the church was simply exploiting people for money, an observation that was not exactly embraced with open arms by the cleric in question. He then later took part in a debate with the priest, Father Augustine Palett, who instead of actually debating, simply threatened legal action – if Edamaruku refused to apologize then he would face a <a href="http://www.patheos.com/blogs/friendlyatheist/2012/04/14/indian-skeptic-charged-with-blasphemy-for-rationally-explaining-a-miracle/" style="color: #ff1111; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">blasphemy complaint</a>. With no apology (it is the priest who should apologise for the blatant fraud), litigation commenced.</div>
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The Association of Concerned Catholics lodged a formal complaint with the Mumbai police, and they responded by arresting Edamaruku on the charge of “<em style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">hurting the religious sentiments of a particular community</em>.” Sadly yes, that is a real Indian law, specifically designed to clamp down on extremists from the various religious factions, it was never intended for a case like this.</div>
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He applied for “bail,” but this request was rejected because the judge thought jail would be the safest place for him, (interesting that the judge felt that the Catholics were a real threat).</div>
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As pointed out by one blogger recently …</div>
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India’s Constitution only adds to the confusion. Clause (h) of Article 51-A states:</div>
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It shall be the duty of every citizen of India to develop the scientific temper, humanism and spirit of inquiry and reform.</div>
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In other words, Edamaruku was <em style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">not only not breaking the law, he was fulfilling the Indian Constitution</em>!</div>
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<strong style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Now you can help, there is a Petition for you to sign</strong></div>
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A <a href="http://blog.newhumanist.org.uk/2012/06/petition-calling-on-catholic-church-in.html" style="color: #ff1111; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">petition has been set up</a> to put international pressure on the Catholic Church to step in and call for the charges to be dropped.</div>
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You can <a href="https://www.change.org/en-GB/petitions/we-call-on-the-catholic-archdiocese-of-bombay-to-encourage-the-withdrawal-of-complaints-against-indian-rationalist-sanal-edamaruku" style="color: #ff1111; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">sign that petition here</a>.</div>
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<strong style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Links</strong></div>
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<li style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"> <a href="http://blog.newhumanist.org.uk/2012/05/indian-rationalist-sanal-edamaruku-vs.html" style="color: #ff1111; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;">New Humanist has lots more information here.</a></li>
<li style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">You can also read more about Sanal Edamaruku <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sanal_Edamaruku" style="color: #ff1111; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;">on his Wikipedia page here</a>.</li>
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Unrelated to the above, to give you an idea of who Sanal is, here he is a couple of years ago on Indian TV. It is a rather famous incident where he challenged live on TV tantrik Pandit Surendra Sharma to prove his claim that he could kill anyone with magical powers. It was a very powerful demonstration to millions that they were believing in complete bullshit … Sanal is indeed unafraid to confront, and has been doing his country a valuable service for many decades, so please do help and sign the petition.</div>
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</div>Rationalisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13409668202689639009noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-869303440693657334.post-90870829743822221052012-05-16T12:00:00.001-07:002012-05-16T12:00:21.522-07:00<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-size: large;">Religion Journal: Christ Statue in Mumbai Prompts Blasphemy Spat</span></h1>
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: 0px; line-height: 1em;">May 15, 2012</span></h1>
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<a href="http://blogs.wsj.com/indiarealtime/2012/05/15/religion-journal-christ-statue-in-mumbai-prompts-blasphemy-spat/">http://blogs.wsj.com/indiarealtime/2012/05/15/religion-journal-christ-statue-in-mumbai-prompts-blasphemy-spat/</a>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; text-align: left;">Sanal Edamaruku, pictured, has spent 30 years </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; text-align: left;">debunking miracles and exposing fraudulent faith healers.</span>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 21px; text-align: left;">The man facing blasphemy charges after he claimed water dripping from a statue of Christ in Mumbai was not miraculous but the result of a badly plumbed toilet is preparing to ask India’s Supreme Court to abolish the blasphemy law.</span>
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Sanal Edamaruku is accused by Catholic groups in Mumbai of breaking the Indian Penal Code, which outlaws “deliberate and malicious acts intended to outrage religious feelings.”</div>
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Mr. Edamaruku, a rationalist who has spent 30 years debunking miracles and exposing fraudulent faith healers, denies the offense and claims the law is being misused in order to silence him.</div>
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His lawyers are asking the High Court in Mumbai to intervene to stop the charges going further, but Mr. Edamaruku also plans to make a separate challenge to the blasphemy law in the Supreme Court in Delhi.</div>
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“I see this as an opportunity to make sure this law isn’t misused any more against anybody,” said Mr. Edamaruku who is president of Rationalist International, a group working to promote science and reason in place of religious belief and superstition.</div>
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The blasphemy law, created in 1860, goes against the fundamental right of freedom of expression and should be abolished, he says.</div>
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Those invoking it against him said they were offended by Mr. Edamaruku’s comments that clergy at Velankanni Church in Mumbai were using the sight of water dripping from the feet of a Christ statue to make money from visiting pilgrims.</div>
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The Catholic Secular Forum filed a first information report with the police in Mumbai, while the Association of Concerned Catholics and Maharashtra Christian Youth Forum also objected to Mr. Edamaruku’s claims. The groups also accuse Mr. Edamaruku of alleging the Catholic Church practises idolatry.</div>
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“They want to avenge and put me in prison,” said Mr. Edamaruku, who fears he could be arrested immediately if he returns to Mumbai.</div>
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The Catholic Bishop of Mumbai Agnelo Gracias has called on Mr. Edamaruku to apologize for “hurting” the Catholic community and said that no money had been collected at the shrine.</div>
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In a letter to The Examiner, a Catholic Newsletter, the bishop said he did not believe the water to be a miracle. “But to make that an occasion to hurl false allegations against the Christian community and its leaders is quite another matter,” Bishop Agnelo wrote.</div>
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Although the groups who have taken the cases against Mr. Edamaruku do not represent the bishop, he appeared to praise them for their actions. “We can rejoice that there are some people who have the courage to stand up when the attempts are made to besmirch the name of the Catholic community.”</div>
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Father Nigel Barrett, coordinator of the Catholic Communications Centre in Mumbai, said that the miracle had not yet been officially ascertained because Velankanni Church had not referred the matter to the bishop for the proper process of verification to take place.</div>
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Some in the Catholic media have come out in support of Mr. Edamaruku, including Deepika, a Catholic newspaper based in the southern state of Kerala. Mr. Edamaruku believes the groups lining up against him are “fundamentalist,” taking their inspiration from Islamic fundamentalism in order “to preserve their religion.”</div>
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During his working life, Mr. Edamaruku, who is from Kerala, has been attacked with fire by an “angry god-man” and faced the black magic of a tantrik priest trying to kill him during a televised stunt.</div>
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But he says he has never felt as much under threat as he does now.</div>
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“This is the first time I have had cases filed against me… I don’t want unexpected people to come and attack me, so only close friends know where to find me,” Mr. Edamaruku told India Real Time.</div>
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He added that his case echoes that of Salman Rushdie, whose book the “The Satanic Verses” was labelled blasphemous and led Ayatollah Khomeini, Iran’s leader, to issue a Fatwa ordering the author to be put to death. <a href="http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970203718504577180393077812140.html//" style="border-bottom-style: none !important; color: #f98d21; outline: none;">Mr. Rushdie didn’t appear at the Jaipur Literary Festival</a> this year because of claims he would be targeted by assassins from the Mumbai underworld if he turned up.</div>
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“It’s the same category of threat [against me]… just a different form,” Mr. Edamaruku said.</div>
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However, he said he refuses to be bowed by the cases against him.</div>
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“I’m determined, I have a duty to develop scientific temper and promote inquiry so on these two grounds we will challenge the very veracity of this law in the Supreme Court.”</div>
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Mr. Edamaruku added that if the blasphemy law could not be overturned then a committee to prevent it being used as “a mechanism to stop someone’s freedom” should properly police it.</div>
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“I believe in absolute freedom of expression in any free society people should have the freedom to ridicule to criticize or to be ridiculed. That should be guaranteed in any civil society,” he said.</div>
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Rationalist International has conducted over 2,000 outreach programs in villages around India to promote reason and “liberate” people from belief in miracles, superstitions and fraudulent faith healers, according to its president.</div>
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“India is a very fast developing country, we have a very serious interest in science and we are going around the world serving people with our IT and science knowledge,” Mr. Edamaruku said.</div>
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“That’s one India that is in the 20<sup>th</sup> century. We have another India that’s in the 16<sup>th</sup>century – we are in constant conflict and it is 16<sup>th</sup> century India that is pulling us back.”</div>
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<dt class="wp-caption-dt" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><img alt="" class="size-full wp-image-5" height="76" src="http://s.wsj.net/public/resources/images/OB-SP695_ijoann_A_20120417054009.jpg" style="border: none; margin: 8px 0px 0px;" width="76" /></dt>
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<em>Joanna Sugden is freelance journalist living in Delhi. Before coming to India in 2011 she spent four-and-a-half years as a reporter at The Times of London, covering religion and education. </em></div>
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</div>Rationalisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13409668202689639009noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-869303440693657334.post-53375081934118331242012-05-16T07:20:00.003-07:002012-05-16T07:20:58.897-07:00<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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THE HINDU</div>
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India's god laws fail the test of reason</h1>
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<b>Police investigation of Sanal Edamaraku for debunking a “miracle” at a church is a crime against the Constitution.</b></div>
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Early in March, little drops of water began to drip from the feet of the statue of Jesus nailed to the cross on the church of Our Lady of Velankanni, down on to Mumbai's unlovely Irla Road. Hundreds began to flock to the church to collect the holy water in little plastic bottles, hoping the tears of the son of god would sanctify their homes and heal their beloved.</div>
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Sanal Edamaruku, the eminent rationalist thinker, arrived at the church a fortnight after the miracle began drawing crowds. It took him less than half an hour to discover the source of the divine tears: a filthy puddle formed by a blocked drain, from where water was being pushed up through a phenomenon all high-school physics students are familiar with, called capillary action.</div>
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For his discovery, Mr. Edamaruku now faces the prospect of three years in prison — and the absolute certainty that he will spend several more years hopping between lawyers' offices and courtrooms. In the wake of Mr. Edamaruku's miracle-busting Mumbai visit, three police stations in the capital received complaints against him for inciting religious hatred. First information reports were filed, and investigations initiated with exemplary — if unusual — alacrity.</div>
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<b style="outline: none;">Real courage</b></div>
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Mr. Edamaruku isn't the kind to be frightened. It takes real courage, in a piety-obsessed society, to expose the chicanery of Satya Sai Baba and packs of lesser miracle-peddlers who prey on the insecurities of the desperate and gullible. These actions have brought threats in their wake — but never from the state.</div>
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India's Constitution obliges all citizens to develop “scientific temper, humanism and the spirit of inquiry and reform”. India's laws, though, are being used to persecute a man who has devoted his life to doing precisely that.</div>
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Like dozens of other intellectuals and artists, Mr. Edamaraku is a victim of India's god laws — colonial-era legislation obliging the state to punish those who offend the faith of others. Section 295 of the Indian Penal Code criminalises the actions of “whoever destroys, damages or defiles any place of worship, or any object held sacred by any class of persons”. Its sibling, Section 295A, outlaws “deliberate and malicious acts intended to outrage religious feelings of any class”. Section 153B goes further, proscribing “any act which is prejudicial to the maintenance of harmony between different religious, racial, language or regional groups or castes or communities”. Alarmingly, given the sweeping generalities in which these laws are written, truth is not an admissible defence.</div>
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In the decades since independence, these laws have been regularly used to hound intellectuals and artists who questioned religious beliefs. In 1993, the New Delhi-based progressive cultural organisation, Sahmat, organised an exhibition demonstrating that there were multiple versions of the Ramayana in Indian culture. Panels in the exhibition recorded that in one Buddhist tradition, Sita was Ram's sister; in a Jain version, she was the daughter of Ravan. Even though the exhibits drew on historian Romila Thapar's authoritative work, criminal cases were filed against Sahmat for offending the sentiments of traditionalist Hindus.</div>
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Punjab has seen a rash of god-related cases, mainly involving Dalit-led heterodoxies challenging the high traditions of the Akal Takht. In 2007, police filed cases against Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh, the head of the syncretic Saccha Sauda sect, for his purportedly blasphemous use of Sikh iconography. Earlier, in 2001, similar charges were brought against Piara Singh Bhaniarawala, after he released the <i style="outline: none;">Bhavsagar Granth</i>, a religious text suffused with miracle stories.</div>
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Islamic chauvinists have shown the same enthusiasm for the secular state's god laws as their Sikh and Hindu counterparts. Earlier this year, FIRs were filed against four writers who read out passages from Salman Rushdie's <i style="outline: none;">The Satanic Verses </i>— a book that is wholly legal in India. Fear of Islamic neo-fundamentalists is pervasive, shaping cultural discourse even when its outcomes are not as dramatic as Mr. Rushdie's case. In 1995, writer Khalid Alvi reissued <i style="outline: none;">Angaarey </i>— a path-breaking collection of Urdu short works banned in 1933 for its attacks on god. The collection's most-incendiary passages were censored out. India's feisty media didn't even murmur in protest after the magazine <i style="outline: none;">India Today</i> was proscribed by Jammu and Kashmir in 2006 for carrying a cartoon with an image of the Kaaba as one among a metaphorical pack of political cards.</div>
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Even religious belief, ironically enough, can invite prosecution by the pious. Last year, the Kannada movie actress, Jayamala, was summoned before a Kerala court, along with astrologer P. Unnikrishna and his assistant Reghupathy, to face police charges that she had violated a taboo against women in the menstruating age from entering the Sabrimala temple.</div>
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For the most part, judges have shied away from condoning criticism of the pious, perhaps fearful of being held responsible for public disorder. In 1958, the Supreme Court heard litigation that grew out of the radical politician, E.V. Ramaswamy Naicker's decision to break a clay idol of Ganesha. Lower courts had held, in essence, that the idol was not a sanctified object. The Supreme Court differed, urging the lower judiciary “to pay due regard to the feelings and religious emotions of different classes of persons with different beliefs, irrespective … of whether they are rational or otherwise”.</div>
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<b style="outline: none;">‘Insult to religion'</b></div>
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Earlier, in 1957, the Supreme Court placed some limits on 295A saying it “does not penalise any and every act of insult to or attempt to insult the religion”. Instead, it “only punishes the aggravated form of insult to religion perpetrated<i style="outline: none;">with deliberate and malicious intention</i>” (emphasis added). The court shied away, though, from the key question, of what an insult to religion actually was.</div>
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Hearing an appeal against the Uttar Pradesh government's decision to confiscate Naicker's contentious <i style="outline: none;">Ramayana</i>, the Supreme Court again ducked this issue. In 1976, it simply said “the law fixes the mind of the Administration to the obligation to reflect on the need to restrict and to state the grounds which ignite its action”. “That is about all”, the judges concluded.</div>
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That hasn't, however, been all. In 1998, the Supreme Court upheld Karnataka's decision to ban P.V. Narayanna's <i style="outline: none;">Dharmakaarana</i>, an award-winning re-reading of the Hindu saint, Basaveshwara. In 2007, the Bombay High Court similarly allowed Maharashtra to ban R.L. Bhasin's <i style="outline: none;">Islam</i>, an aggressive attack on the faith. There have been several other similar cases. In some, the works involved were scurrilous, even inflammatory — but the principles established by courts have allowed State governments to stamp out critical works of scholarship and art.</div>
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<b style="outline: none;">Dangers ahead</b></div>
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Indians have grappled with these issues since at least 1924, when Arya Samaj activist Mahashe Rajpal published the pamphlet that led the state to enact several of the god laws. <i style="outline: none;">Rangila Rasul</i> — in Urdu, ‘the colourful prophet' —was a frank, anti-Islam polemic. Lower courts condemned Rajpal to prison. In the Lahore High Court, though, Justice Dalip Singh argued that public outrage could not be the basis for legal proscription: “if the fact that Musalmans resent attacks on the Prophet was to be the measure [of legal sanction]”, he reasoned, “then an historical work in which the life of the prophet was considered and judgment passed on his character by a serious historian might [also] come within the definition”.</div>
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In 1927, when pre-independence India's central legislative assembly debated the <i style="outline: none;">Rangila Rasul</i> affair, some endorsed Justice Singh's message. M.R. Jayakar likened religious fanaticism to a form of mental illness, and suggested that those who suffer from it be segregated “from the rest of the community”. This eminently sane suggestion wasn't, however, the consensus: the god laws were expanded to expressly punish works like <i style="outline: none;">Rangila Rasul</i>.</div>
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Perhaps Indians can congratulate themselves that the god laws have not been used to persecute and kill religious dissenters, as the ever-expanding blasphemy laws which sprang up in Pakistan. Mr. Edamaruku's case ought to make clear, though, just where things are inexorably headed. If Indians wish to avoid the fate of the dystopia to the country's west, its citizens desperately need to accept the right of critics to attack, even insult, what they hold dear.</div>
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In 864 CE, the great physician, Abu Bakr Muhammad Ibn Zakaria al-Razi, wrote: “The miracles of the prophets are imposters or belong to the domain of pious legend. The teachings of religions are contrary to the one truth: the proof of this is that they contradict one another. It is tradition and lazy custom that have led men to trust their religious leaders. Religions are the sole cause of the wars which ravage humanity; they are hostile to philosophical speculation and to scientific research. The alleged holy scriptures are books without values”.</div>
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Following a rich scholarly life, and a tenure as director of the hospital in Baghdad patronised by the caliph Abu al-Qasim Abd 'Allah, al-Razi died quietly at his home in Rey, surrounded by his students. In modern India, his thoughts would have led him to a somewhat less pleasant end.</div>
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Keywords: <a href="http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/lead/article3391109.ece#" style="color: #1f57a5; outline: none; text-decoration: none;">Velankanni church miracle</a>, <a href="http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/lead/article3391109.ece#" style="color: #1f57a5; outline: none; text-decoration: none;">Our Lady of Velankanni</a>, <a href="http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/lead/article3391109.ece#" style="color: #1f57a5; outline: none; text-decoration: none;">Sanal Edamaruku</a>, <a href="http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/lead/article3391109.ece#" style="color: #1f57a5; outline: none; text-decoration: none;">capillary action</a>, <a href="http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/lead/article3391109.ece#" style="color: #1f57a5; outline: none; text-decoration: none;">Sahmat</a>, <a href="http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/lead/article3391109.ece#" style="color: #1f57a5; outline: none; text-decoration: none;">The Satanic Verses</a>, <a href="http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/lead/article3391109.ece#" style="color: #1f57a5; outline: none; text-decoration: none;">religion and reason</a>, <a href="http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/lead/article3391109.ece#" style="color: #1f57a5; outline: none;">religious miracles</a></div>
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</div>Rationalisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13409668202689639009noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-869303440693657334.post-42725536270924108242012-05-16T07:15:00.001-07:002012-05-16T07:15:08.501-07:00<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-size: large;">Life is the greatest of all miracles</span></h1>
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<a href="http://www.mydigitalfc.com/2012/life-greatest-all-miracles">http://www.mydigitalfc.com/2012/life-greatest-all-miracles</a>
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<span class="date-display-single" style="text-align: center;">May 02 2012, By PARVEZ IMAM</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In the 15th century, there lived a man who was a mathematician, a physicist, an astronomer, and a philosopher. Among his many achievements were the evolution of the telescope and the astronomical observations that supported the Heliocentric theory put forward by Nicolaus Copernicus. Copernicus was haunted by the church throughout his later life for the ‘blasphemous idea’. But, our man, Galileo Galilei, with complete knowledge of the religious abhorrence to the idea of shifting the centre of universe from the earth to the sun, still continued to follow his heart and his observations. Slowly, his thoughts, arising from his work, began to find its way beyond the four walls of his workspace into the domain of the common people.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />They did not understand the mathematics or the deductions that led him to believe that the earth is moving around the sun. But people found it interesting that someone was questioning what the priest (a strong symbol of power during those times) claimed to be a part of the scriptures. Those were repressive times, with all kinds of taxation on the common man from both the king and the religious leaders supporting the king in the name of the lord. Wonder how much has changed since then? Anyway, people were only too happy to find a chink anywhere in the religious armour to somehow challenge its godly absoluteness and to challenge the guardians without the fear of god. Galileo Galilei was beginning to give them an excuse.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />Neither the majority of the astronomers of that time nor the church was happy by his Copernicus-like ideas. Both preferred the geocentric theory, perhaps for their own stability and status, the tendency to resist change that is so well entrenched in all of us. So, when Galileo continued, an inquisition was set up to examine his work. Not surprisingly, they found him ‘vehemently suspect of heresy’ and the man was placed under house arrest for the rest of his life. Publishing any of his work (not just the heliocentric theories), but even those he may write in the future, was banned. The ban on the reprinting of his work was finally lifted in 1718.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />More than 300 years later, in October 1992, Pope John Paul II expressed his regret and acknowledged the error committed by the tribunal that had judged Galileo. Meanwhile, the earth continued to move. The sun remained motionless. Galileo died. And our behaviour towards new ideas seemed to remain unchanged.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />I recently read about a man explaining an apparent miracle in a religious place in Mumbai. Sanal Edamaruku, president of the Rationalist International, visited a site of the miracle where water was trickling out from the feet of Jesus. The news brought many devotees to collect the holy water in bottles. Sanal, however, identified the source of the water and explained the phenomenon through the mechanism of capillary action. That unfortunately did not go down well with some. Soon he was facing FIRs for ‘hurting the religious sentiments’ and a potential arrest by the police under some sections of the IPC. And the earth continued to move quietly as always while the sun shone on it from the same spot.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />I sit here wondering what or how many lives will it take for us to understand that one need not seek miracles to exhibit one’s faith in religion. In our effort to claim our gods, we forget to marvel and enjoy the greatest miracle that unfolds every second. Every single moment that flows by, as our hearts tick along telling us that we are alive, is perhaps all that we need to understand the uselessness of any other miracle ever.</span></div>
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<em><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">(The writer is a filmmaker, traveller and doctor)</span></em></div>
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</div>Rationalisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13409668202689639009noreply@blogger.com0