Hindus worship false Gods

[NayaSurya]

Etown is a place I call home for most of my adult life and being here I can fill in some of the story not often covered.

Williams is a true barbarian.

He went to Louisville one year ago and called for the entire school system to be dismantled.

This is the sort of Ann Coulter-esque things this man says and does.

Steve Beshear, Beloved to all, was re-elected with a landslide victory over this pompous man.

Every single one of those kentucky folks that voted Beshear, spoke in one big giant voice to say that Williams was wrong and that Beshear did nothing wrong when he respected the Hindu ceremony. It was very wonderful to see the polls close and he be once again victorious. A small victory for humanity.

[Jainarayan]

America is indeed a Christian nation. Christianity is the de facto state religion

That is not true at all. It is a nation largely of Christians, but in no way is there any state religion in the US. The Constitution prohibits it in the First Amendment:

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof;

Neither was the US founded on "Christian principles" as many like to claim. Many of the founding fathers and framers of the Constitution did indeed hold religious beliefs, but they took great pains to keep religion out of civil law. The US is a wholly secular nation in civil law. References to "In God We Trust" are simply a nod to religious tradition, and do not mention any particular God, nor is swearing on a bible in courts or at public functions mandatory. It can be declined. Look up any Supreme Court case dealing with religious freedoms.

[Spiritualseeker]

Namaste,

(And, by the way, whether or not the story of Jesus was fabricated and stolen from myths and other religions does NOT matter to me at all.)

Namaste,

I do not mind that it was taken, but the Gnostics are more true to this origin. That is why Greek and Persian pagan mystics were allowed to be initiated into Gnosticism and Gnostics were allowed to be initiated in Persian and Greek mystery traditions. The reason why I mention it is because many Christians believe that their religion is unique and the only true religion. They love to talk about their monotheism and claim superiority over other paths. The reality is the most ancient of 'jews' worshiped multiple gods including a wife of their supreme god. The god that they worshiped came from Canaanite tribal deity. Eventually later people in this area decided to worship this tribal deity at the exclusion of others to show the superiority of their tribal deity. This is where the wrathful ignoramus deity of Judaism was born. The Gnostics themselves saw this deity as a lesser deity and even considered him evil. Later we know Christianity was birthed from other pagan mystery traditions. Its original intent was good. It was to initiate people into Brahman if you ask me. Though they called it other names, the aim was the same. But it got lost when unorthodox took root and thus a literal view of Christ and the bible was taken. Again the old ignorant deity was taken as an object of worship and then oppression rose. It is great to see Christians that are loving and this should be commended, but we can acknowledge that when Christians boast about their way, they usually have no idea about the roots of their religion.

To me I feel it is important to learn the histories of religions. Then you can see that things are not so dull. Take Satan for an example. He originally was a tester that their deity created in order to test his creation. Satan was not bad until later episodes of the bible where he is said to be cast out of heaven. Then this devil formed horns as there were pagan deities such as Pan (who was a nature deity with horns) in order to politically control people by taking away worship of 'false' deities. We see that this Satan evolved over time. Still to this day people are fearful of Satan, yet if they knew history they would see that Satan is empty and does not truly exist. What fear can come across our mind from a non-existent creature?

Grateful I am for this Dharma, I wish I could only be true to my words to express my gratitude.
Om Namah Sivaya

[punkrainbow]

If we look past the heated culture-war stuff for a moment I think it's possible to have an interesting theological discussion about levels of 'falsity'. In one sense, all our concepts about 'God' (gods) are limited by culture and conditioned by language and may contain some elements that are objectively 'false'. This is just as likely with Christian conceptions as with Hindu ones. What this guy lacks is a sense of religious humility about 'his' vision of God.

[Kali Bhakta]

Yeah, well, this just goes to show that protestations of secularism notwithstanding, America is indeed a Christian nation. Christianity is the de facto state religion, and currently Hinduism isn't given the same respect as Christianity.

It no more proves that America is a Christian nation than Richard Dawkins and a whole lot of his cronies harrassing the pope when he came to England proves that the U.K is militantly Atheist...And Christianity isn't technically the state religion because the consitution states otherwise.

America's most destructive elements are down to Capitalism anyway. It makes no sense for us to tar all Christians with the same brush, I'm a Shakta but I've heard Hindu's say things that I would never want people to think represented me and my worldview at all...

Blessings of the Divine Mother,
William.

[Vitani]

People like this are all over. I very much doubt this person has any iota of a clue of what Hinduism teaches.

Have any of you ever heard of Bertrand Russell? He was a critic of Christianity and wrote a book called, "Why I am not a Christian." He once was quoted as saying, "The problem with the world is that fools and fanatics are so sure of themselves, and the wise always so full of doubts." And sadly, this is so true for people like that, who hold on to an ideology and shun all others, thinking they know it all.

[Kali Bhakta]

^Unfortunately I often think that people like Russell and certainly Richard Dawkins who claim to be "critical thinkers" fall into fanaticism in a similar way but via pseudo-skepticism rather than religious zealotry.

Blessings of the Divine Mother,
William.

[sanjaya]

It no more proves that America is a Christian nation than Richard Dawkins and a whole lot of his cronies harrassing the pope when he came to England proves that the U.K is militantly Atheist...And Christianity isn't technically the state religion because the consitution states otherwise.

America's most destructive elements are down to Capitalism anyway. It makes no sense for us to tar all Christians with the same brush, I'm a Shakta but I've heard Hindu's say things that I would never want people to think represented me and my worldview at all...

Blessings of the Divine Mother,
William.

William, I wish I could believe that this person doesn't represent the majority (or at least largest minority) of America. But I think the extent of Rick Santorum's success in the primaries/caucuses shows that these sorts of views are shared by many people in this country. I don't recall the specific figure, but I do know that over 30% of Americans identify themselves as evangelical. They may not live by the moral standards required of them, but one defining characteristic of all evangelicals is that they believe non-Christians, including Hindus, are going to hell unless we convert to Christianity. Christianity may not be the state religion, but it is the largest religion by far and is the assumed religion of all Americans. I genuinely believe the day may come when Indian Americans are actually expelled from this country for failing to convert to Christianity.

With full respect, I disagree with your statement that Christianity is not to blame. On the contrary, Christianity, the Bible, and the teachings of the gospels, are specifically to blame for the belief among Christians that Hindus are going to hell and must be converted (which invariably leads to hatred of Hindus). I will freely admit that there is a large number of good people in America who are Christian. But mind you: they are good people because they are bad Christians. They ignore Christianity's teachings on hell and conversion. The Bible teaches that we must be converted, that we are going to hell unless we comply with missionaries' teachings, and that the gods we worshiped centuries before Christians existed are false. I've read the whole thing, I have a pretty good idea what Christianity says about all of these things. You want to ignore Paul and the other apostles and stick to the teachings of Jesus? Good luck, the four gospels are largely redundant and comprise a small fraction of the whole Bible, and even they contain certain material that we Hindus would find offensive.

Many, including a few Hindu saints, refer to the Sermon on the Mount and point to the good teachings of Christianity. To this I would respond that even a broken clock is correct twice a day. Case in point: Hitler was a vegetarian and didn't smoke (or if you prefer, pick some other bad guy, and I can point to things he said that were true). Just because the Sermon on the Mount contains teachings that agree with Hinduism doesn't mean that Christianity is a good religion.

People like this politician are evil because they are Christians. Christianity is a fundamentally evil religion whose true adherants would have our culture destroyed. This doesn't mean we should bear ill will towards liberal Christians who eschew they more terrible teachings of their religion (and fortunately these people comprise the bulk of Christendom). But we should understand that being a good person and a good Christian are mutually exclusive. Good people who are Christians are good people precisely because they are bad Christians. The good teachings of Hinduism are fundamentally at odds with the evil teachings of Christianity. Christianity is a religion without redeeming merit, and is something to be avoided.

[Jainarayan]

But I think the extent of Rick Santorum's success in the primaries/caucuses shows that these sorts of views are shared by many people in this country.

Rick who? Keep up with the times and stop spreading fear-mongering.

The Fate of Rick Santorum's Delegates - ABC News
Apr 10, 2012 ... Now that Rick Santorum is out of the race, what happens to his delegates?
Santorum has 285 delegates, according to the latest ABC News ...
abcnews.go.com/blogs/politics/2012/.../the-fate-of-rick-santorums-delegates/ -

[Kali Bhakta]

TouchedbytheLord has summed things up with his link. If things were as Sanjaya says they were then I cannot see how this would have happened. And not all the conservative, Christian politicians are like him, Ron Paul is a Baptist and has happily assiocated with Hindu voters amongst others. Besides, many American Protestants belong to liberal organizations. And most of America's worst problems are down to Capitalism, its huge contribution to the ecological crisis for example, its corporate greed and the fact that gender and family structure there are being totally destroyed is all down to secularism not Christianity.

I will not accept that Chrisitianity not recognizing the salvation of non-members makes it an 'evil' religion. Besides, many of the greatest Christians have recognized that the eternal hell in the Bible is symbolic of lower states or that its length is merely perpetual/indefinite, Thomas Aquinas was amongst the latter who held this view I believe. Anyway, judging all Christian doctrine by the state of American Evangelism is a pure copout. Compare the similarities between the doctrines of Shankara and Meister Eckhart and try telling me that there is little to nothing of worth in Orthodox Christianity.

Blessings of the Divine Mother,
William.