Ethics Reader: 'End-of-life' debate

 Forty years after the concept of brain death was established, the Vatican City has reopened the debate over whether the cessation of all brain functions marks the definitive end of life.  'End-of-life' debate Sphere: Related Content

Church in the World: Seek Forgiveness - Prayer for slain VHP leader at Missionaries of Charity

Let us forgive one another and ask forgiveness from one another for the wrong we have done to each other and reach out in love to each other: Sister Nirmala on Mother Thesresa's 11th death anniversary on 10 September 2008.

Mother Teresa shows the way: Faith in scepticism

By Valson Thampu

“Where is my faith? Even deep down…there is nothing but emptiness and darkness… If there be God —please forgive me. When I try to raise my thoughts to Heaven, there is such convicting emptiness that those very thoughts return like sharp knives and hurt my very soul … How painful is this unknown pain — I have no Faith. Repulsed, empty, no faith, no love, no zeal…what do I labour for?”: Mother Teresa.     Let us have faith in scepticism! Cocksureness about God is an insult to God. The first truth about God is his transcendence. God, if there is one, cannot be owned, predicted, manipulated and wielded at will as an instrument of parochial or partisan interests. It is instructive to recall the response of the then Archbishop of Canterbury to the request of the Queen to pray for British victory in the Falkland war. The venerable archbishop told the Queen politely that he would have to pray for soldiers on both sides! That is the problem with God. We cannot draw an arbitrary line — geographic, ethnic, religious or cultural, and expect God to play partisan on our side.  More > LifeLine: Articles of faith and Spirituality: Valson Thampu - Mother Teresa shows the way: Faith in scepticism

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Politics and Minority: Asghar Ali Engineer asks for CBI Inquiry and fast track special Courts in Orissa

The victims of violence should be adequately compensated on the lines of victims of anti-Sikh violence in Delhi in 1984, demanded the organization.
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Togadia to go ahead with Orissa ‘Yatra’ despite SC objection

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Rupees Three Hundred Thousand is the Cost of those died in Orissa Communal Violence

From Raj Bharat Patta's blog:

Shri. Shivraj Patil, the Home Minister of the Union Government of India, visited the violence erupted Khandamal in Orissa after 11 days of violence and has reviewed the situation over there. After his visit, he has announced a compensation of Rupees three hundred thousand as ex-gratia to each family of those killed in communal violence in Khandamal, Orissa. He also had to say that the present situation in Khandamal is somewhere between ‘normalcy and volatile’.
....

in a situation, which is so volatile like this in Orissa, I envision that to achieve justice to Dalit Christians means

· To promote peace and harmony among communities of all religions in Orissa.
· To condemn fundamentalism and fanaticism in every religion, that inflicts violence and inflates the religious sentiments leading to violence.
· To punish the perpetrators of violence under law, who cause it in the name of religion & caste and in specific, in the name of religious ethos.
· To create a space and place for the Dalit Christians to come back home safely and to live in all safety and freedom, by overcoming the fear, trauma and grief.
· To initiate peace committees through inter-faith interventions in all local communities.
· To exert pressure on the state and central governments in ensuring justice through their government machinery, and make the state also accountable for failing to maintain law and order situation in the state.
· To organise a dialogue/interface between the Tribals and Dalits in Khandamal for a peaceful negotiation between the two communities.
· To enjoy the freedom of religion as granted by the Constitution of India, and to exercise faith in all freedom and liberty.
· To affirm in the richness of the people’s cultural identities, with out any dictation from external agencies.
· To assert the human rights of all people, and specifically the rights of Dalits.
· To strive for a community of transformation, a community of friendship, a community of love and a community of peace and justice.

Read it all Sphere: Related Content

What happened to the India of our dreams?

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Equality for Women Moves at a Snail’s Pace

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To Be A Woman, To Be A Christian And To Be Prophetic Are Interlinked

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Politics and Minority: Christian Schools Face Trouble For Closing To Protest Orissa Violence

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‘They burnt my disabled brother alive’

Aditi Tandon writes from Bhubaneshwar

346 Dalit Christians walked over 300 km through mountains and forests to escape the killers of Kandhamal.  They told the story of Motilal Pradhan’s story  that he was burnt alive by the Sangh Parivar. Ravindranath Pradhan, one of the deceased’s brothers and other  members of the family of 14 watched with helplessness the gory end their kin met. They had no time to mourn him, as rioters intensified their search for missing people. In no time, the Pradhans were in the jungles around Kandhamal, searching for protection. For four days, they slept in forests, barefoot, sleepless and hungry. Read more

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Mother Teresa's Birth day celebrated with prayers for peace and harmony Sphere: Related Content

Women pray along with men at Lucknow mosque for the first time

Submitted by Tarique Anwar on 2 September 2008 - 5:37pm. 

• Indian Muslim

By IANS,

Lucknow : This Uttar Pradesh capital for the first time is witnessing Muslim women offering prayers along with men at a Sunni mosque.

The move to hold prayers jointly comes after the initiative of the All India Women's Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB) members, a board official said. Read more

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Citizens Delegation meets President Pratibha Patil

Submitted by Tarique Anwar on 1 September 2008 - 6:58pm. 

By TwoCircles.net news desk,

New Delhi: A Citizens Delegation met President Pratibha Patil on Monday morning calling upon her to enforce Article 355 of the Constitution of India on Orissa so that the Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik administration takes adequate measures to protect Christians in the state from Hindutva violence.

The delegation reminded the President that the violence that has continued against Christians in Orissa from 23rd August till today justifies the use of this Article. The violence far exceeds that of Christmas 2007, the delegation told the President, reminding her that she had a big role to play at this juncture.

The Citizen's delegation, the first such to meet the President, was led by film maker Mahesh Bhatt and Jamiat-e-Ulema-e-Hind President Maulana Mahmood Madani, MP, National Integration Council member Dr John Dayal, Orissa Archbishop Raphael Cheenath, Delhi Archbishop Vincent Concessao, Maharashtra Government State Minorities Commission vice chairman Dr Abraham Mathai, Jamiat leader Mohd Faruqi, Al India Christian Council regional secretary Rev Madhu Chandra, Delhi Catholic Archdiocese Federation President Adv Jenis Francis and Mumbai's Catholic Social Forum secretary general Joseph Dias were the other members.  Read more

Citizen's Memorandum to the President of India

We, the secular civil society community, perceive that the great nation of India is at a tipping point. The groups, which favour a "Hindu Rashtra", have made Orissa their laboratory, as they earlier did Gujarat. The so-called saffronisation of the state has been the subject of well-documented academic and socio-political studies. We entreat you, as President of the Republic, to enforce the rule of law upon Sangh Parivar organisations which blatantly flaunt their divisive agenda. Specifically, we call upon you to bring the Vishwa Hindu Parishad, Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh, and Bajrang Dal under the rule of law.

As Orissa authorities have repeatedly said there was ample circumstantial evidence of Maoist involvement in the killing of VHP leader Lakshmananada Saraswati and four others on August 23rd. Additionally, someone who identified himself as Azad, a leader of Maoist outfit, People's Liberation Guerrilla Army claim responsibility for the killing as Times of India carries the news on August 30 referring to an interview with a leading Oriya daily on August 29.[1]

Yet Praveen Togadia, VHP general secretary, told an international journalist on August 27, "It is clear that the church killed the Swami."[2] Gouri Prasad Rath, Orissa state VHP secretary, said, "This attack is the handiwork of the Christians."[3] Subhash Chavan, national co-convener of the Bajrang Dal, said, "The police are trying to hide the truth by blaming the Maoists."[4] An unnamed RSS spokesperson said, "This is an attack by the agents of Christian missionaries, whose attempts at forcible conversions the Swamiji countered."[5] RSS spokesperson Ram Madhav told CNN IBN on Tuesday night[6] that Christians were behind the murders. Perhaps based on a media report[7], Madhav The final word lay with RSS supreme Kupahalli Sudershan who in a Press Statement faxed to the Media called the late VHP vice president a martyr for "stopping Christians from carrying on coversions."

These types of irresponsible statements must be met with the full force of the law. They are all culpable for penal action under IPC 295A for the crime of creating enmity between communities and religions. This would benefit not only Orissa, but the nation. Read more 

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Church team to Orissa: "Leaders of various churches in the state capital today decided to send a fact-finding team to Orissa in the wake of continued attacks on church property and persecution of members of the Christian community." Sphere: Related Content

Orissa 12,539 people in 10 relief camps

558 houses, 17 places of worship torched during riot: Orissa govt-India-The Times of India:
While 543 houses were burnt in the worst hit Kandhamal district, 15 houses had been set ablaze in Gajapati district, said Chief Secretary Ajit Kumar Tripathy after a review meeting chaired by Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik.
A total of 35 people were injured in the riot in Kandhamal, he said.
All the torching of places of worship were reported from Kandhamal district where over 185 people were arrested on charge of rioting, arson and other offences.

Besides Kandhamal, Tripathy said, people were provided with food in free kitchen in Rayagada and Gajapati districts. While 12,539 people were fed in 10 relief camps, 783 people got the facilities in two relief camps in Rayagada district." > full story Sphere: Related Content

Dr Binayak Sen, My Brother, Our Hero By Dipankar Sen

Twenty two Noble Laureates pleaded for him in an appeal to the PM. He was given the highest American medical award, honours by medical colleges and doctors in recognition of his protracted work for the poor in remote interiors. And yet, he is condemned in jail on fabricated charges by the BJP government in Chhattisgarh. Dr Binayak Sen's younger brother arrives from Belgium to seek justice for his Dada, and discovers a saga of pain and injustice. Special to Hardnews

This is what his former teacher, Dr P Zachariah, wrote in a tribute to his student:" Binayak is a very rare doctor - a man with a deep understanding of the social and political dimensions of health. The governments of the world, the World Bank and other organizations are now worrying about food security and alternative food policies; Binayak was decades ahead of them all."None of this apparently moves the State, which refuses to budge from its position. If you ask someone in the government why Dada is in prison, the reply is standard: "He is a Maoist leader and sympathizer, and we have enough evidence against him." Read the full story

Older Posts
Join the Campaign to free Dr. Binayak Sen.
Maker of Film on Binayak Sen's Life Imprisoned for 90 days



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Rioting is rarely ‘spontaneous’

Research by scholars like Paul Brass has shown that no community rage can intensify into a riot without political, government and police help. That is, people may be full of anger, hatred and violence towards each other, but full-scale mob violence is only possible with good organisation, mobilisation, official complicity, and time and space provided by the law enforcers for law breakers to have their way. This is a worldwide phenomenon. A good example is how Hitler and the Nazis mobilised incipient, vague and petty anger against Jews in Europe into full-blown genocide. Read full article

WHEN ORISSA was gripped under violence targeted against Christians by the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) extremists, there came a report of the World Bank’s latest estimates on global poverty. As per the report, 42 per cent of Indian population (456 million people) is living below newly adjusted international poverty line of $1.25 per day. The population of the poor has reached to 33 per cent (one-third) of the global poor. Moreover, it is quite shocking, but not surprising that those who are engaged in promoting education, moral and social upliftment to the weaker sections of the society, and providing financial support to the poor and downtrodden of our society are being targeted by the enemies of the humanity Read Full article Sphere: Related Content

Hate Literature against Christians

Hate Literature against Chrstians Sphere: Related Content

Aid to the Church in Need: INDIA: Government “aided” attacks on India’s Christians

Government “aided” attacks on India’s Christians

Orissa state Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik who visited the affected areas said “I saw damaged houses, damaged buildings during visit to some village in Kandhamal district.

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Orissa Update

Eight prayer houses were damaged in Kundra area of Koraput on Sunday

 Film Director Mahesh Bhatt will meet President Pratibha Patil on Monday

All India Christian Council in a press release on Sunday said a delegation led by noted Film Director Mahesh Bhatt will meet Indian President Pratibha Patil on Monday to apprise her about miseries being faced by the Christian community in Orissa state. Full Story

Shambhu Nath Naik, independent legislator of the Orissa state assembly:

Murder of Swami was a planned conspiracy against Christians

More than 100 people have lost their lives

Shambhu Nath Naik, independent legislator of the Orissa state assembly, attacked the state government saying that it is a state sponsored anti-Christian communal violence.

He said that no FIR has been registered so far against the arrested rioters. There is coalition government of Biju Janata Dal (BJD), Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) in the state and they are providing logistic support to the VHP people to spread violence and create havoc.

We are not allowed to visit affected areas, he said responding to a question.

He alleged that murder of Swami was a planned conspiracy against Christians there. Swami got a life threat just 26 hours before his murder and despite this threat his PSO, provided him by the government, went on leave and all other police officials deputed for his security, went for dinner just minutes before his killing.

When asked about the official record of death he told that it says 40 lives but more than 100 people have lost their lives in this communal violence. Full Story

Cardinal Oswald Gracias : the persecution against the Church is aimed at stopping Christian promotion of the person

The Archbishop of Bombay and president of the Latin Rite Bishops of India, Cardinal Oswald Gracias said on Vatican Radio that . “These fundamentalist forces do not want the Church to work in support of human rights and the poor. They do not want the Church to contribute to improving the standard of living of these people. For this reason there are problems,” he added. Full Story


Hindu activists had forced about 3,000 Christans in riot-affected parts of the state to renounce their religion in the past few days. But Hindu leaders said all the conversions were voluntary.

“Armed Hindu activists are raiding the villages and threatening them with violence if they do not convert to Hinduism immediately.

“Fearing for their lives, the poor Christians are taking part in the rituals of conversion to Hinduism. For the past week, in many villages, Hindu activists have been conducting forced conversions,” he said.
“The most unfortunate fact is that everything is happening under the nose of the authorities. Despite our appeals neither the state government nor the local police have done anything to protect the Christians.”

Hindu leaders say that their ongoing Hindu “homecoming” ceremonies are being attended voluntarily by Christians. Full story Sphere: Related Content