Monday, October 13, 2008

Intolerant Polytheists?

Hindu Threat to Christians: Convert or Flee

Most polytheists (Wiccans, NeoPagans, and the whole unwashed mess of us) like to believe ourselves to be tolerant and accepting of other religions or spiritual beliefs (or non-beliefs). It's the monotheists who are cranky, strident, and intolerant---RIGHT?

Well, not exactly. Hinduism is the worlds largest polytheistic religion. But there's been a growing--and very troubling--thread of intolerance developing in India. The NY Times has a frightening article documenting violence and threats directed toward non-Hindus. As an example, one Christian family was terrorized by a crowd that would make the Spanish Inquisition proud:

...They were ordered to get on their knees and bow before the portrait of a Hindu preacher. They were told to turn over their Bibles, hymnals and the two brightly colored calendar images of Christ that hung on their wall. Then, Mr. Digal, 45, a Christian since childhood, was forced to watch his Hindu neighbors set the items on fire...(Mr. Digal was told)‘Embrace Hinduism, and your house will not be demolished,’...

Yikes. The sad thing is, that no matter what we believe, humans are the same all over.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Things like this make me weary of all religion, all belief--and I'm more inclined to keep what I do believe or practice very close and secret.

green_ghost113 said...

I hear what you are saying riverwolf.
Some people use Religion for the ugliest acts.
UGH.

genexs said...

What really bothers me is if I'm going to be cursed as a heathen western dawg the next time I call customer service! Heh.

About 10 years ago I had a discussion about this with an Indian (Hindu) friend. I mentioned that I thought India rather tolerant of other religions. He said that, sadly, this was no longer the case. Although such incidents were not getting press here that long ago, they were in India.