Phil Plait of BadAstronomy notes that the irony of Allen’s claim “is that she’s talking about uranium mining, and it’s through the radioactive decay of uranium that we know the Earth is billions of years old.”[Think Progress» Arizona state senator argues for uranium mining by claiming the Earth is '6,000 years' old.]

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When he was confused while cheating on his wife, he turned to I Corinthians.

I looked to where I often look for advice and counsel, and in I Corinthians 13 it simply says that,  “Love is patient and kind, love is not jealous or boastful, it is not arrogant or rude, Love does not insist on its own way, it is not irritable or resentful, it does not rejoice in the wrong, but rejoices in the right, Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things and endures all things”. [Exclusive: Read e-mails between Sanford, woman]

In his letter Paul wrote that such issues happened because the Corinthians did not understand the Gospel. The Corinthians believed that by putting their faith in Christ they had attained salvation, but Paul reminded them that they were living in an age of sin and were to refrain from participating in it.

But what sins were the Corinthians were committing? There were issues like members getting drunk, worship getting chaotic,  and some of them speaking in “tongues”. There were two other issues – one man was sleeping with his step mother and some church members were sleeping with prostitutes and bragging about it in the church.

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Sometimes this may mean engineering the non-zero-sumness — for example, strengthening commerce between Israel and the Palestinian territories. Other times it will mean highlighting a non-zero-sum dynamic that already exists — emphasizing, for example, that continued strife between Israelis and Palestinians will be lose-lose (as would escalated tensions between the “Muslim world” and the “West” more broadly). Enduring peace would be win-win.

This peace would also have been foretold. Isaiah (first Isaiah, not the Isaiah of the exile) envisioned a day when God “shall arbitrate for many peoples” and “nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more.” And in a Koranic verse dated by scholars to the final years of Muhammad’s life, God tells humankind that he has “made you into nations and tribes, so that you might come to know one another.”

This happy ending is hardly assured. It can take time for people, having seen that they are playing a non-zero-sum game, to adjust their attitudes accordingly. And this adaptation may never happen if barriers of mistrust persist.[Decoding God's Changing Moods -- Printout -- TIME]

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Ever since Roman Emperor Constantine legitimized the Jesus movement and converted to Christianity in his death bed, the religion expanded in a major way to change the West forever. There was a similar opportunity for Christians in the 13th century to convert Kublai Khan. If the Khan had converted, during the time of Mongol dominance (see map), the religious map of China and Mongolia would have made a Joshua Project volunteer smile.

The Khan did not hate Christians; in fact he had great respect for them. He was always curious about Christian kings and princes and wanted to know more about the Pope and how how Christians worshiped. When Niccolò and Maffeo (Marco Polo’s father and uncle) were returning back to Venice after their first visit, the Khan sent a letter to the Pope with them. It was a challenge. He wanted the Pope to send a hundred missionaries prepared to proselytize. These missionaries had to reason out that their faith was superior than others. If the Khan could be convinced he was ready to become a man of the Church without renouncing the Mongolian religion. He also wanted the Polos to get him the oil from the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, believed to have great healing powers.

The Polos gave Khan’s letter to the newly elected  Pope Gregory X who could only spare two Dominican monks instead of the hundred. With the oil, the two Polo brothers, along with a 17 year Marco Polo and the monks, started their journey to the Khan’s court. The monks dropped out in the middle of the journey due to fear, but the Polos reached the Khan’s court near Beijing and the Khan treated the oil with respect (the same way he would treat relics from Sri Pada)

Kublai Khan was once challenged by Nayan Khan, his uncle, who was a Nestorian Christian. In this power struggle, Nayan fought under a standard which displayed the “Cross of Christ”, but he did get any visions like Constantine during the battle of the Milvian bridge. Nayan lost and was killed as per Mongol custom – by wrapping in a carpet and dragged around violently – so that blood is not spilled. Following this when various people made fun of Nayan’s Christian faith and Holy Cross, Kublai Khan differentiated between Nayan’s treachery and his faith and ensured the Christians that they will not be persecuted for their religion; he did not behave like the 15th century Spaniards and 17th century French.

Actually Kublai Khan’s mother, Sorghaghtani Beki, was a Nestorian Christian. So you would think that she would influence him to convert. Even though she was a single parent, she made him appreciate Buddhism, Taoism and Islam besides Christianity. It was probably a wise thing to do to preserve harmony in the empire, but Sorghaghtani Beki did it out of conviction.

Seeing the Khan’s sympathy towards Christians the Polos asked why he did not convert? He said Christianity was just another religion and nothing else. Much before Marco Polo, William of Rubruck – a Franciscan missionary – made his way to Karakorum, debating Buddhist priests and nearly dying of starvation. He finally met Mongke Khan, Kublai Khan’s brother who explained to the Friar that the God has passed various religious beliefs to people and Mongols were a tolerant folk.

Kublai Khan told Marco Polo that he found idolaters had more power – they could make wine cups float to the khan or make storms go away. Basically he was more impressed with shaman magic than the promise of an after life. He said if he converted to Christianity and if his barons asked for an explanation, he had none. He thought that embracing Christianity would weaken him and the best way to maintain peace in the empire was to be in good terms with barons.

Right now 50% of Mongolians are Buddhists and 40% don’t belong to any religion. Christians and Shamanists form 6%; Muslims, 4%.

1. Marco Polo: From Venice to Xanadu by Laurence Bergreen
2. Marco Polo and the Discovery of the World by John Larner

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1. The Slaying of Afzal Khan When Francois Gautier’s Foundation Against Continuing Terrorism put together an exhibition titled Aurangzeb as he was according to Mughal records, the folks at Tamil Nadu Muslim Munnetra Kazhagam, Manitha Neethi...
2. The Man who came to destroy Hinduism – 1 On Jan 15, 1823, Jean-Antoine Dubois, a French-Catholic missionary, who spent time in Pondicherry, Madras Presidency and Mysore left India for Paris, never to return again. During his time...

These students sat at the foot of the master listened to his discourses and learned the Qu’ran by heart. To be a learned master, you had to commit the text to memory and compared to other schools, the Moroccan school emphasized the rote learning. Like the Indic tradition, the memorization of these texts were meant to transmit scriptures to future generations

The Kadavalloor Anyonyam is an outward manifestation of the method of ancient traditional Vedic recital. Only in Kerala can one see remnants of the basic traditions in the study of Vedams, use of Prayogams, and in enunciation (chanting / recital). Only in Kerala have the Mudras (standardised movement of hand and fingers) used during Vedic recital been retained in its truly traditional, uncorrupted and pure form till this day. Its musical aspects (notes like Udaatham, Anudaatham, Swaritham) later evolved and developed into the classical music system of the country, and yet, the original form continues to be retained here. [via ]

See Also: Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam’s speech at the Brahmaswom Madom, one of the vedic schools which participates in the anyonyam.

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However, the Government has argued in court that such a bridge cannot exist and to support its claim, it has reffered to the Padma Purana in Ramayan which mentions that Lord Ram destroyed the bridge built by him using his magical bow and arrow.[Oh Lord! Now Govt says Ram destroyed Setu]

President Bush tells Prime Minister Manmohan Singh that the Nuclear deal is valid till the end of his presidency. Manmohan Singh develops spine and asks Karat and Co to become fossil fuel. To win the vote Congress cuts deals with DMK. DMK’s pound of flesh is that the Sethusamundram Shipping Canal Project should go on. Govt. officials read Padma Purana and find that Lord Rama, who did not exist before the vote, not only existed, but he himself destroyed the bridge.

Who would have thought that President Bush flapping his wings in the White House would result in the Govt. accepting the existence of Lord Rama? Even Valimiki could not have come up with such a twist.

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The ancient Hindu temple at Katas Raj, some 40 kilometres from Chakwal, has been robbed of all its relics, save for a stone carving depicting a god and a goddess, who are sitting, and two female slaves standing on either side.Kumar accused the Punjab Archaeology Department (PAD) for lack of interest and not providing the temple enough security. He said the temple had been a continuous victim to smugglers of ancient sculptures. He said the surviving statue was priceless and was also in threat of being stolen.[Only one Hindu relic left at Katas Raj temple]

In Tamil Nadu

In the last one month, there have been at least three cases of idol thefts, the latest being Thursday, where a wooden elephant was found being smuggled to France.The exquisitely carved Natarajas, Alwars and Murugans, crafted prior to 12th century have been stolen from these poorly guarded temples and make their way to many foreign countries

Officials from the idol wing say that there are idol thieves active in every district of Tamil Nadu, constantly targeting temples in Tanjavur and Madurai belonging to the Chola period, temples in Kancheepuram and Vellore belonging to the the Pallava period and temples in Tirunelveli belonging to the Pandian period.[Idol thieves target Tamil Nadu temples]

In Balochistan

Lawmakers in Pakistan’s southwest Balochistan assembly have demanded that the federal government drop plans to build a dam in the region as the structure will damage a historical Hindu temple visited by thousands of pilgrims every year.

In a joint resolution moved by several provincial ministers and backed by all lawmakers, except one, members of the assembly wanted the federal government to cancel plans for building the dam on Hangol river that would pass near the Makran coastal highway close to the Hinglaj Mata temple. [Balochistan lawmakers oppose dam construction near temple]

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When The Da Vinci Code, was released in Kerala, a state which has high Christian population, no one protested. There were long queues for the movie which according one theater owner generated interests second only to Titanic. That was not the case in Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu where the Government pro-actively banned the movie.

The High Courts of both states vituperated the governments.The Andhra High Court told the government that, “the constitution does not confer or tolerate such individualised hyper-sensitive private censor intrusion into and regulation of guaranteed freedom of others.” The Madras High court, on similar lines, wrote, “artistic expressions may be asphyxiated by law if a petulant group of self-appointed `censors’ prescribes the paradigms for suspending the screening of a film.”

More opportunities for asphyxiating artistic expressions are on the way, but this time it will not be the state governments which will be acting.

In the much awaited Kamal Haasan movie, Dasavatharam, it seems there are scenes which show idols being destroyed in the clash between Shaivaites and Vaishnavites. Vishwa Hindu Parishad leader Vedantam has said that such scenes hurt the sentiments of Hindus all around the world and should be removed failing which they will resort to protests.

The second protest, which might start soon, is for the new Mike Myers movie, The Love Guru. In this movie, which also stars Ben Kingsley, Jessica Alba, and Justin Timberlake, Myers spoofs an Indian Guru who returns to Canada to get into the self help business. The fight over the movie has already started in United States with Rajan Zed, the Indian priest who was heckled by Christian fundamentalists in the Senate, stating that the movie “aids in creating negative stereotypes of Hindu characters. ” Deepak Chopra, the self-help guru, retaliated with a statement that anyone who opposes the movie is a fundamentalist.

Deepak Chopra is doing a cameo in the movie and has an upcoming book, Why Is God Laughing?, about comedy and religion and so has his own reasons for batting for Paramount and Mike Myers. That said, is this religion which survived Aurangzeb and Macaulay now facing the biggest threat from a Canadian comic? This Nawab of Arcot mentality will give free publicity to the movies and opportunities for violent mobs to destroy public property achieving nothing else. Movies come, go to DVD and their popularity would be fugacious, but something which has survived more than four millennia will live on.

If you are offended by these movie concepts, don’t watch it. Stay at home and get offended by the IPL cheerleaders.

And if we Hindus fail to ignore such Love Gurus, we have to go back to the Upanishads and Bhagavad Gita and start from scratch. Because we have not even understood the basic teachings of Hinduism.[Simply Ignore the Hollywood Movie The Love Guru and the Controversy]

As for Mr. Vedantam, there are many real temples in dilapidated state around the country hurting the sentiments of Hindus all around the world. If only he could worry about them, instead of fake idols in a movie.

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Acceding to Catholic doctrine, the government for the past five years has supported only what it calls “natural” family planning. No national government funds can be used to buy contraceptives for the poor, although anyone who can afford them is permitted to buy them. Local governments can also buy and distribute contraceptives, but many lack the money.

In 2005, Catholic bishops in the southern Philippines announced that they would refuse Communion to government health workers who distributed birth control devices. [Birthrates Help Keep Filipinos in Poverty]

Deepak Chopra writes what is happening in the Pope’s back yard where people have rejected the thermometer and graphs.

Italy, the home country of Catholicism in Europe, has one of the lowest birth rates in the world. This implies a resort to contraception, and yet Church dogma calls that a sin, forcing its parishioners into Hobson’s choice.

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In modern times body parts and warfare are not in vogue; the disciple donates something according to his capabilities to the guru and such convention has worked very well. The stay at Sivananda Ashram in Kasi is entirely free for few days and if you want to extend the stay, all you need is notify the receptionist. The 10 day vipassana course conducted around the world is free as well. All these are supported by dakshinas by people and there are enough people donating that both these institutions, like many others, have been running successfully for years.

By giving a dakshina, as per Indian tradition, we honor the guru parampara; all the masters in the org structure who made this transmission of knowledge possible. By our support we also make sure that our children and grand children have access to this knowledge. It was never about money this has always been the way of Indian spirituality.

Now you see certain New Age spiritual groups which sell spirituality with a predefined price list for various courses. There is a fee for basic meditation course, a larger amount for advanced meditation and half your salary for a residential course. Essentially it is like registering for a tennis or salsa dancing class – you pay a certain amount and you get packaged spirituality.

Indian philosophy has supported a market place of ideas including both astika and nāstika but there never was, during ancient times, an instance when spirituality was sold as a product in the market place. Earlier each school differentiated itself by ideas, now it is by the menu card. To top it, these spiritual groups demand a guru dakshina at the end of the class and what got by goat was a recent $100 discount coupon I got for one such spiritual course.

Selling spirituality is not to be delated. That is business and looking at the amount of people flocking to these gurus, it seems to be a profitable one too. Then, at the end of the tennis class our coaches do not ask for more money for the price for the class was negotiated and settled earlier. Asking for guru dakshina in such situations does not go with tradition and it would be as disagreeable as adding sugar to sambar. As Yoda would have said^*, “This mix and match of business and tradition, jarring I find it to be.”

(*) result of watching 6 Star Wars movies back to back.

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