A Muslim girl decided to learn Bharathanatyam, the Hindu classical dance form. She came first in the dance competition in the recently held Kerala School festival. Now they are being shunned by the local mosque for this.

The local mosque committee at Valluvambram, however, is not impressed by Rubiya’s feats, says her father, a clerk with a travel agency. “If she had won prizes in ‘oppana’ and ‘mappila pattu’ [traditional Muslim art forms], she would have been flooded with gifts by now. The mahallu leaders would never openly admit that it is her dance that makes them treat us as virtual outcasts,” says Mr Alavikutty.
“God is one. When I pay ritualistic obeisance through mudras [hand signs], I am imploring not just the Hindu gods but the supreme creator, which we call by different names,” she says. It is the Hindu worship content in the classical dances that her family says has driven a chasm between her and conservative elements in the community. [Muslim girl dances social divide]

Rubiya is not the only one who had to face such issues. Kalamandalam Hyderali , a Muslim was one of the best Kathakali singers in Kerala. Kathakali is usually performed in temples and once a temple wall was demolished and a stage was constructed in such a manner that he could sing from outside the temple. He too faced problems with fundamentalists on both sides, but his talent was strong enough to survive such pettiness.
Now Shamcera, a Muslim woman in Kerala, is teaching Kalaripayattu, an ancient Hindu martial art form of Kerala.

Kalari Payattu combines both physical and spiritual discipline and is claimed to be one of the oldest martial art forms existing in the world. The training involves severe physical fitness exercises. The practitioners are also trained to use weapons like swords, shields and “Urumi” a metre-long flexible sword. Shamcera belongs to the conservative Muslim community and is just one among the many women who are now trained in martial arts. Religious restrictions did not deter her in pursuing her mission. [A Malayalee Muslim martial arts teacher trains women, children in Manjur]

M.T.Vasudevan Nair has made a style of re-writing history with different perspectives. His book, Randaam Oozham (The Second Turn), retells Mahabharata from Bheema’s perspective. His movie, Oru Vadakkan Veeragatha retells a popular story from the perspective of the person characterized as the villain in the original.
Now in what seems to straight out of a MT novel, comes the Gospel of Judas, a long lost manuscript which tells the story of Jesus from the perspective of Judas.

In this version, “Judas is the good guy,” said Bart Ehrman, a University of North Carolina professor of religious history.
The 3rd or 4th Century manuscript, written in Coptic on sheets of papyrus, was discovered in Egypt in the 1970s only to vanish again into an underworld of smugglers and shadowy antiquities dealers. On Thursday it was unveiled by the National Geographic Society, which is publishing the text and other materials.
The text describes itself as “The secret account of the revelation that Jesus spoke in conversation with Judas Iscariot during a week three days before he celebrated Passover.”[The Judas gospel]

The 13 sheets of manuscript dated to between 220 and 340 A.D reveals that Judas was Jesus’s friend and is asked by Jesus to betray his identity. Similar to what is mentioned in the Bhagavad Geeta, Jesus also says about the death of the body while the soul remains alive and then goes on to say

“The star that leads the way is your star, Jesus said to Judas… You will exceed all of them for you will have sacrificed the man that clothes me.

Even though it says Gospel of Judas, there is nothing which indicates who the author is. Some scholars think that the author could be a scribe, in the Gnostic community of Cainites who regard Cain, Esau and Judas as heroes.
Herb Krosney, author of The Lost Gospel : The Quest for the Gospel of Judas Iscariot, says that this document may not be included in the New Testament, which is no surprise.

I would really doubt that it might be included in the New Testament. In early Christianity, there were at least 30 potential gospels floating around, and there were dozens and dozens if not hundreds of original documents which were winnowed down at an early stage in the 3rd and 4th centuries which became the New Testament and the basis of the new religion called Christianity. I don’t think that any apocryphal document will now be accepted in the canon of orthodox Christianity. But what this document does is it opens us up into a whole world of history that we had not been able to fully appreciate before, and it gives a new and different interpretation of both Judas and his relationship to Jesus.[The Lost Gospel of Judas Iscariot?]

See Also: The Gospel of Judas, Explore the Document

The 6th grade text book controversy in California is taking a new turn. An organization called California Parents for the Equalization of Educational Material has filed a complaint against the State Board of Education.

The civil rights of Hindu schoolchildren are violated by advancing an inaccurate and derogatory picture of Hinduism in sixth grade school textbooks. California Department of Education and State Board of Education meetings on the matter failed to address Hindu concerns. Hindus are being discriminated.
Various Hindu groups and parents participated in this process since the Sixth grade History-Social Sciences textbooks came up for adoption last year. After being let down by the CDE and SBE, the parents decided to move the court and restore civil rights and forbid discriminatory practice against Hindus. Most importantly, the school children are the ones who will be suffering damage due to derogatory presentation in the textbook. Many students, from past and present, have spoken to CDE and SBE about their experience in the classroom and that what is taught in the school has nothing to do with what they know and practice at home.

During the memorial service for Coretta Scott King, Martin Luther King’s wife, one of the speeches was given by Bernice King, his daughter, who is also a minister. In her speech she said the following about what is wrong in this world today.

See, what God is saying to us today, through the — through the transition of Coretta Scott King, is that we, here in this world, right now, are suffering from a — complications of cancer, from materialism, and — and greed, and — and selfishness, and arrogance, and elitism, and poverty, and racism, and perversion, and obscenity, and misogyny. and idolatry, and violence, and militarism. [Tribute to Coretta Scott King]

As a Hindu, I worship idols. So do about 800 million people. According to Ms. King, the world is suffering from people like us, and we rank along with perversion, violence and complications of cancer.
Did not know that the daughter of the man who fought against racism is a racist of the first order.

Recently there was a controversy in Kerala over Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakse’s visit to Guruvayoor temple. It seems his wife entered the temple and the issue was if she was a Christian or a Buddhist. In Guruvayoor temple only Hindus are allowed to enter and there is a strict dress code. Men have to remove their shirt and wear a mundu. Women are allowed to wear only sarees and girls have to wear a skirt and blouse.
This is one busy temple and there is a guard at the door checking to see if you confirm to the dress code and I am not sure if he checks the religion also. If so, it would be an amazing skill, for there is no easy way to find the religion of an Indian, unless he is wearing a symbol, like the cross. Due to this it is possible for people of any religion to enter the temple, but only famous people are stopped.
So when Congress leader, Vayalar Ravi’s son’s marriage was conducted in Guruvayoor, the authorities had to clean the temple because Vayalar Ravi’s wife was a Christian. If it were two ordinary folks, no one would have questioned this nor cleaned the temple. Other famous people who have been denied entry are singer Yesudas, who is a devotee of Guruvayoorappan and poet Yusuf Ali Kecheri, who lives close to the temple and has written many devotional songs.
But then how can we assume that all Hindus too are devotees? Communists are known to be atheists and what is the logic in allowing them to enter the temple. Recently in a statement, the temple authorities said that people of Buddhist and Jain faiths are allowed entry, since they are treated on par with Hinduism. This even more odd since both these religions do not recognize God as Hindus do. In Jainism, there is no creator god and a person is responsible for his actions. Buddha claimed that his enlightenment was not due to any divine intervention. It seems illogical that when followers of such agnostic religions are allowed entry, people who believe in Guruvayoorappan are not.
Related Links: Anand writes on the reforms initiated by his father at Guruvayoor. Bhavane rolls his eyes as he reads about the marxist temple minister. Rajeev Srinivasan makes the counterpoint.

According to Harvard Professor Michael Witzel, scientific evidence against the creationism based Aryan Invasion Theory is a Hindu conspiracy!

A few months back, Science magazine published a paper that disproves the Aryan Invasion Theory. You can read about that paper here.

The research shows that there was only a single dispersal from Africa, via a southern coastal route, across the mouth of the red Sea, through India and onward into Southeast Asia and Australasia. There was subsequently a northern offshoot from the Gulf region, leading ultimately to the settlement of the Near East and Europe, but this only occurred much later.

However, this turns out to be wrong. According to the Harvard Professor who supports theories based on Biblical creationism, this is nothing but a conspiracy hatched by Hindus!

Witzel claimed the changes were motivated by “Hindutva” forces and would “lead without fail to an international educational scandal if they are accepted by the California’s State Board of Education.”

Hindus had suggested changes in textbooks based on this paper to California’s State Board of Education. According to another “scholar” named James Heitzman who was on the “Super Review Team” to assess the facts placed by Hindus, the “undecayed body of Saint Francis Xavier” is actually a miracle! And Islam began when “Muhammad received visions in which the Archangel Gabriel revealed the word of God to him.” Heitzman also states that Hinduism is based on speculations.

The activists led by Michael Witzel were also planning to contact BBC and make them take off the section on Hinduism that stated that the Aryan Invasion Theory “was not just wrong, it included unacceptably racist ideas.” Apparently, they temporarily succeeded in their efforts to foil the Hindu conspiracy to plant DNA evidence when BBC pulled down the page for two days, but the page was restored after BBC received complaints from people who believed in DNA evidence. [SABHA 4M Report]

For more on the text book issue in California, read this post by Sibin, who asks who the experts are.

The other day President Bush made a telephone call to the astronauts aboard the space shuttle Discovery and praised them for being risk takers for the sake of exploration. As President of United States, he leads a nation which is at the forefront of scientific research in almost every field.
But when there is a conflict between science and his religious beliefs, like medieval era Popes, he chooses religion and all logic goes out of the window. Recently when he was asked about teaching “intelligent design” in schools, he said he supported it. The theory is called “intelligent design” since it is dumb. It promotes the idea that an intelligent being is behind the creation of humanity, the intelligent one being God as mentioned in the Bible.
As the editorial in Washington Post notes

Of course the president is right that, in the context of a philosophical debate, it would be appropriate to discuss both sides of an issue before arriving at a conclusion. In the context of a religious discussion, it would also be very interesting to ponder whether the human race exists on Earth for a purpose or merely by accident. But the proponents of intelligent design are not content with participating in a philosophical or religious debate. They want their theory to be accepted as science and to be taught in ninth-grade biology classes, alongside the theory of evolution. For that, there is no basis whatsoever: The nature of the “evidence” for the theory of evolution is so overwhelming, and so powerful, that it informs all of modern biology. To pretend that the existence of evolution is somehow still an open question, or that it is one of several equally valid theories, is to misunderstand the intellectual and scientific history of the past century.[But Is It Intelligent?]

Since evolution is not banned, children in United States will get an education better than the one in Pakistani madrassa. If you question him further on this matter, President Bush being the intellectual giant he is, will start sounding like a broken record player. Recently after baseball player Rafael Palmeiro was suspended after he tested positive for steroid use, President Bush said, he believes Palmeiro’s testimony that he does not use steroids. As Kevin Drum says, “It’s like listening to a small child. He doesn’t want to believe it, so it isn’t true.”
But if alternate theories about the origin of humanity is being taught, they should also teach that there is a possibility that a Flying Spaghetti Monster created the universe.
Related Links: Religion on the rise