Religion Dispatches
…r evangelical opponents of yoga, part of the problem is that it comes from India. In discussing yoga’s roots in India, he characterizes it as “almost manically syncretistic.” Mohler warns that if that syncretism is allowed to further infect the United States, we will end up living in the unthinkable: a “post-Christian” nation. But this attempt to produce a monolithic vision of yoga ignores the fact that it, like religion itself, is anything but a…
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…Only recently, when the lesbian premier of Ontario Kathleen Wynne visited India, the Sikh priests announced that she won’t be honoured at the Golden Temple, the holiest shrine of the Sikhs in Amritsar. However, several prominent Sikhs in Canada have been consistently supporting the rights of the gays and lesbians in accordance with the Canadian Charter of Rights that guarantees equality to visible minorities. Norway: Catholic Church May Stop Perf…
Read More…lating HAF with Dinanath Batra, the retired schoolteacher who sued Penguin India to “ban” the book in the Indian markets. “Similar to Mr. Batra,” Jerryson asserts, “Ms. Shukla considers religious organizations the controllers and arbitrators of academic discussion.” He then goes on to offer a dubious claim that he had been censored from offering comments on Shukla’s blog in the Huffington Post, since HAF—or any group or individual that writes for…
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…ect Pride marches, and are perfectly capable of doing the same in Nikšić.” India: Court investigating parents’ attempt to force trans man to marry The Delhi High Court heard allegations that the parents of Shivy, an 18-year-old transgender man living in the United States tricked him into visiting India on a holiday, took his passport and green card, and tried to forcibly marry him to a man. He says he fears for the safety of transgender activists…
Read More…djan headquarters of the country’s most prominent gay rights organization. India: Court rejects celebrity petition on challenge to criminal sodomy law On Wednesday the Supreme Court refused to reconsider the constitutionality of a colonial-era law criminalizing homosexuality; a petition had been filed by a number of prominent gay individuals. The Court, which had effectively recriminalized homosexuality in 2013 when it overturned a 2009 lower cour…
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…hey oppose the distribution of condoms in prisons on the grounds that this promotes homosexuality. Supported by the churches, the prison service promotes abstinence as its main prevention approach. Lithuania: Conservative manifesto calls LGBT movement tyrannical A coalition of religious and intellectual leaders released a manifesto that condemned the 2016 Baltic Pride celebration “as an attack on human nature and the public good that follows in th…
Read More…ent Hinduism or Buddhism, but certainly influence the issue of violence in Indian society. Indeed, if the demand is to quote a prominent public figure who can credibly speak for Buddhists on the topic of violence in India today, then only the Dalai Lama would suffice. (For the curious, his comments are here.) Another commenter noted “the Kakacupama Sutta was not a teaching given to young laywomen.” This is true. Buddhism’s historical emphasis on m…
Read More…of ‘Third Gender’ Ruling Reaching Universities We noted in April that the Indian Supreme Court had recognized transgender people as a “third gender.” GLAAD notes that the impact of the decision is working its way through the system, and that Delhi University has added “transgender” as a gender option in student and faculty application forms. The Telegraph of India reported that the “ministry of social justice and empowerment has been working to f…
Read More…neglects to look at the discrimination harbored within its own walls. The Indian bishops are looking inward. In 1992, the CBCI General Assembly stated: “With a sense of sorrow we must admit that women feel discriminated against, even in the Church.” The Indian bishops recognize that no matter how much work is done on ending discrimination against women in the world, this work does not make much difference without ending discrimination in the Chur…
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…s in allowing LGBT advocacy groups to register as nonprofit organizations. India: Mother places same-sex matrimonial ad Padma Iyer, a mother in India, garnered international attention when she placed the first same-sex “matrimonial ad” seeking a husband for her son. Some major papers turned down the ad, but Mumbai tabloid Mid-Day agreed to run it. Same-sex relationships have been illegal since a 2013 high court ruling reinstated a colonial-era sod…
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