Indian skeptic charged with "blasphemy" for revealing secret behind "miracle" of weeping cross
On 10th March, Sanal Edamaruku, President of the Rationalist International, flew to Mumbai. The TV channel TV-9 had invited him to investigate a “miracle” that caused local excitement. He went with the TV team to Irla in Vile Parle to inspect the crucifix standing there in front of the Church of Our Lady of Velankanni. This crucifix had become the centre of attraction for an ever growing crowd of believers coming from far and wide. The news of the miracle spread like wild fire. For some days, there were little droplets of water trickling from Jesus’ feet. Hundreds of people came every day to pray and collect some of the “holy water” in bottles and vessels. Sanal Edamaruku identified the source of the water (a drainage near a washing room) and the mechanism how it reached Jesus feet (capillary action). The local church leaders, present during his investigation, appeared to be displeased.
Some hours later, in a live program on TV-9, Sanal explained his findings and accused the concerned Catholic Church officials of miracle mongering, as they were beating the big drum for the drippling Jesus statue with aggressive PR measures and by distributing photographs certifying the “miracle”. A heated debate began, in which the five church people, among them Fr. Augustine Palett, the priest of Our Lady of Velankanni church, and representatives of the Association of Concerned Catholics (AOCC) demanded that Sanal apologize. But Sanal refused and argued against them. [The whole TV program is recorded. You can watch an abridged version of it on YouTube.]
When they saw Sanal refused to bow to their demands, they threatened to file a blasphemy case against him. And they did. Yesterday (10th April,2012) Sanal received a phone call from a Police official of Juhu Police Station in Mumbai directing him to come to the said police station to face the charges and get arrested. He also said that FIRs have also been filed in Andheri and some other police stations u/s 295 of Indian Penal Code on the allegations of hurting the religious sentiments of a particular community. Mumbai police has announced that they were out to arrest him. It is apprehended that he can be arrested any moment.
http://boingboing.net/2012/04/13/indian-skeptic-charged-with.html
Blasphemy? Who knew that critical thought, skepticism, and the scientific method were blasphemy.
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The irony of ironies is that they claim to stand for "secular" government. While they bend over backwards to get the support of the Muslim and Christian Minorities.
These Blasphemy laws are brought about by the Congress party due to the pressure exerted on them by the Muslim/Catholic clergy.
On one hand, its A-ok for the Muslim imams to castigate/call names about Hindus and Jews (yes there are Jewish people living in India), its A-ok for Catholic clergy to denigrate Hinduism during their sermons, however the moment one makes a comment about Muslim/Christian practices he/she is deluged by lawsuits.
The western media is oblivious to this, and paints the Congress party as the paragon of virtue and the BJP party as Hindu nationalist. However they fail to list some important facts.
The "Hindu nationalist" party was founded by an Atheist and considers him its founding father
The "Hindu nationalist" party is the only major party to abolish the inclusion of data about a persons Caste in official documents
The "Hindu nationalist" party was the party that pushed forth the law that requires that at least 33% of the Parliament seats should be reserved for Women
The "Hindu nationalist" party was the one that pushed for a nationwide independent agency to investigate claims of corruption.
etc
etc
The so called "secular" congress party was against all of these!
hopefully the Congress party will lose the upcoming election(already suffered some major defeats in the state -elections) and we will be able to get rid of these anti-science/anti-progressive dinosaur for good!
The blasphemy law is Anti-constitutional, and hopefully the courts will throw it out.Kudos to Sanal Edamaruku for stating facts to religious fundies.
Clause (h) of Article 51-A of Constitution of India states that :‘It shall be the duty of every citizen of India to develop the scientific temper, humanism and spirit of inquiry and reform.’
PS: I'm disgusted to see that the blasphemy laws have made their way into India thanks to these assholes.!!
