Religion Archive

Surat is about 270 kms away from Ahmedabad in Gujarat. Like Vadodara, it is one of those cosmopolitan places where a lot of non-Gujaratis have come to call it their home. Its proximity to Mumbai and it being textile and diamond hub has also brought in people from other states.

Late in 386 CE, Libanius, a 72-year-old teacher of rhetoric from the Syrian metropolis of Antioch, penned an oration addressed to the Roman emperor Theodosius I. It offered one of the most powerful criticisms of the process by which Rome became a Christian empire. Libanius described Cynegius – the Roman prefect who governed a vast swath of the eastern Mediterranean – leading troops of soldiers and Christian monks on a rampage through the Syrian, Lebanese, Palestinian and Egyptian countrysides.

The Madras High Court has refused to quash the FIR against a Catholic priest who abused Bhuma Devi and Bharat Mata. The court said that offensive words against them attract the offense of hurting Hindu religious sentiments as believing Hindus consider Bharat and its land as deities. It further said that evangelists cannot have freedom of speech and expression to denigrate others’ religious beliefs.

Voice of Hind, the propaganda digital magazine of ISIS has released its new edition in which it has gone on to instigate Muslims to “Take back Babri from Hindus”. The cover of the latest edition of the ISIS mouthpiece read: “If you are a Muslim then you must be a terrorist so terror(ise) them….”.

The city of Kashi epitomizes the unshakeable resilience and unity of Hindus. Devastated multiple times by Islamic invaders, it rose again every time to be rebuilt and renewed by Hindus from all over Bharat, who ensured its perpetual rebirth and existence.

Whenever news of a ‘Ghar wapsi’ emerges, a question that many so-called secularists and “anti-Brahminical” voices ask is: Which caste will the converts enter?

An incident has come to light from Kolkata where the employees of a restaurant attacked the customers with sharp knives and rods during a spat. Jenifer Kirti Desai, sister of one of the victims, posted details of the incident on her Instagram account with photos and videos of injured victims.

The Assam government has shut down around 700 madrassas in the past few years, which has led to a massive uproar in the secular (that is, Islamist) coterie. But the state’s Chief Minister is anything but apologetic about having closed these madrassas. While many claims that this is an attack on the country’s secular fabric, the justification for why a secular government must fund religious studies of a particular faith system remains obscure.

The ‘Dismantling Global Hindutva’ (DGH) conference may in fact have helped open the eyes of many somnolent Hindus to the reality of Hinduphobia . The awakening was spurred on by vigilant Hindu groups like the Hindu American Foundation, Hindus on Campus, and Coalition of Hindus of North America.

Sometimes the darkest place on earth can be one’s own soul.