NEW DELHI, October 3 (Compass Direct News) – At least two more Christians were killed today in Orissa state’s Kandhamal district after Hindu extremists this week set fire to nearly 400 homes there and in Boudh district. A third man succumbed to axe injuries on Wednesday (Oct. 1).

Weeks after Hindu extremist violence erupted against Christians, this morning tribal peoples in Sindhipankha village killed Dushashan Majhi, a local influential Christian, first shooting him and them cutting him to pieces. Local Christian leaders reported that Majhi was a government servant working in the treasury.

The mob then turned on Sanyasi Majhi, also said to be Christian, who was with Dushashan Majhi. There were unconfirmed reports that a third victim was killed along with the other two.

A local Christian who wished to remain unnamed told Compass that after killing the two men, the assailants massacred cattle belonging to village Christians and burned Christian-owned houses. Sindhipankha is about seven kilometers (four miles) from Tumudiband.

Local news reporter Lalit Jena told Compass from Kandhamal that the attacks – which have continued unabated since Hindu extremists blamed Christians for the death of Hindu leader Laxmanananda Saraswati on Aug. 23 even though Maoist militants admitted murdering him – involve women first ransacking the Christian homes.

“The modus operandi of the tribal mob is such that women go first and attack the Christian houses,” he said. “They ransack and rob the household’s gold and other jewelry, TVs and all that is precious. The men then follow and burn the houses. Lately it has been reported that now they are fighting among themselves for the booty.”

Jena added that tribal peoples who lived in poverty before the violence now have obtained many heads of cattle, including goats and cows, within a short span, as well as household goods.

“They may have no electricity in their villages, but one can see lots of television sets, nearly all of it looted from the Christians,” he said.

Axe Murder

On Wednesday (Oct. 1), Lalji Nayak, believed to be about 80 years old, died from axe wounds after a Hindu extremist mob attacked his village of Hrudangia the previous day. Nayak and 14 others were wounded, with Nayak struck between his neck and chest.

While three of the wounded received first-aid at a health center in Kandhamal, eight others, including Nayak and his wife Mandaki, were admitted to MKCG Medical College in Berhampur. At press time Nayak’s widow, who received an axe blow just below the ear, remained in the medical center with a serious head injury.

Local Christians in Berhampur wanted to give Lalji Nayak a Christian burial, but police did not allow it. Utkal Christian Council members B.D. Das and J.R. Patro expressed strong objections to the police action.

Nayak’s brother, Junas Nayak, was taken to Cuttack Medical College for gunshot wounds. He remained in critical condition at press time with multiple gunshot wounds, and according to Jena has a total of 13 bullets in him.

“Seven are on his left thigh, and six in his right hand, but the doctors have so far done nothing to remove them from his body, even though he has been admitted in the hospital since September 30,” Jena told Compass. “We are concerned that he may develop septic [shock or infection] because of the delay.”

In the attacks, an 8-year-old boy miraculously survived after being hit by an axe in the middle of his skull.

Two pregnant Christian women, Archana and Geeta Sahu, this week were brought from Kandhamal to Berhampur hospital, where they gave birth and were said to be out of danger.

Houses Burned

Nearly 400 houses were burned or destroyed in Orissa state’s Boudh and Kandhamal districts this week.

On Wednesday (Oct. 1), mobs set fire to dozens of houses in the Raikia area of the Kandhamal district. Yesterday the violence crossed over to neighboring Boudh district as about 100 houses were torched by mobs in at least nine villages. Worst affected was the village of Kantamal.

The burning of houses continued this morning, with more than 400 houses reported to have been either burnt or destroyed in Boudh and Kandhamal districts.

Police have reportedly arrested five people so far in connection with the burning of the houses in Boudh district.

Additional District Magistrate Mihir Chandra Mallik told reporters, that unidentified people set fire to over a hundred houses of Dalit Hindus in at least nine villages in Boudh district.

“We have set up a relief camp at Kantamal town to provide food and shelter to the people who have lost their homes,” he added.

The administration said that the motive for burning these houses was ethnic, as Kandh tribal peoples attacked Dalit Pana homes.

Area church leaders confirmed this, but one said on condition of anonymity, “First they were targeting Christian Panas only, but now even Hindu Panas are not being spared. All Hindus who have not joined the mobs in attacking Christians are also being treated in the same way as Christians.”

Both Dalit Pana houses as well as homes belonging to the Christian Pana community have been targeted in Boudh district, he said.

In Barakhama village near Kandhamal, Christians may move to the safer Daringbadi. A local pastor told Compass that Barakhama was also targeted last December, when around 400 homes belonging to Christians were burned and demolished.

“The same continues now,” he said on condition of anonymity. “The Christians love their homes, but it is just not safe to live here anymore, for the government has failed to protect us. The Christians in Barakhama have almost decided to move collectively to Daringbadi, which is at least a bit safer.”

It is estimated that around 500 Christian families will leave the village.

Nun Raped

Police have finally confirmed the rape of a nun in Kandhamal two days after the death of Hindu leader Saraswati.

A mob of around 40 men attacked the nun at K. Nuagaon village, where she and a priest, Father Thomas Chellantharayil, had taken shelter after their center was attacked. The mob allegedly dragged her and the priest to a deserted office of a Non-Governmental Organization, where she was stripped and raped. The priest was reportedly doused with gas and beaten as he tried to stop the attack on her.

Police have arrested four suspects in the rape. Juria Pradhan, 52, his 22-year-old son Kartik Pradhan, Biren Sahu, 35, and 26-year-old Tapas Patnaik were arrested in connection with the assault and rape of the 29-year-old Catholic nun on Aug. 25.

The inspector-in-charge of Baliguda police station has since been suspended in connection with the incident. The Orissa government has also ordered a probe, 39 days after the initial complaint.

District Superintendent of Police S. Praveen Kumar this week told reporters that a medical examination report confirmed that the nun was raped.

The Hindustan Times reported today that although the report was filed weeks ago, police obtained the medical examination report only two days ago following media reports and the efforts of Sister Nirmala, Superior-General of the Missionaries of Charity, who wrote to the state seeking justice.

“A police official said they were busy in maintaining law and order and could not find time to look into the case,” the national daily reported.

Attempts at Law and Order

Since Wednesday (Oct. 1), 46 people have been arrested on charges of rioting in Kandhamal district. A police official said that they had arrested more than 300 people in the past month.

Christian leaders attributed the sudden arrest of 46 people in the last two days to new state Director General of Police (DGP) Manmohan Praharaj, who took over from Gopal Chandra Nanda, who retired on Tuesday (Sept. 30).

Hindu extremist Vishwa Hindu Parishad International President Ashok Singhal did not take kindly to the latest arrests.

“The new DGP is indiscriminately arresting leaders of Hindu organizations that are not related to any case,” he told reporters this week.

Nearly 53 companies of paramilitary forces have been appointed in Kandhamal district, and curfew was still imposed. The central government sent 1,000 paramilitary personnel in the form of 10 Central Reserve Police Force companies on Wednesday (Oct. 1) to Kandhamal district. Local sources said 10 more companies were expected by Sunday (Oct. 5).

The central government has come down heavily on the Orissa state government. Union Home Minister Shivraj Patil wrote a strongly worded letter to Orissa Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Wednesday (Oct. 3) asking him to take effective measures and provide security for the Christian community in the state.

“Merely continuing to ask for additional forces after every few days cannot be the solution,” Patil wrote. “The state government has to implement overall strategy for creating an environment of security.”

The letter came hours after the Union Cabinet expressed grave concern over the situation in the state, with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh directing Patil to present a report on the situation at the next cabinet meeting.

Peace Rally in New Delhi

In New Delhi, nearly 15,000 Christians joined in a peace march in solidarity with the victims of the Orissa and Karnataka violence yesterday.

The peace march was the culmination of the week-long sit-in organized by the Christians of Delhi and NCR (National Capital Region) beginning Sept. 26 to protest atrocities on Christians in Orissa and Karnataka. The peace march took place on the birthday of Mahatma Gandhi, father of the nation.

Many national leaders, including central ministers Lalu Prasad Yadav and Oscar Fernandes, addressed the gathering at the Dharna (sit-in). Yadav, the union minister for Indian Railways, promised to personally meet with the prime minister and urgently discuss the matter. He said that he would “take up the anti-Christian violence in Parliament and debate the hatred of Hindutva [Hindu nationalist] forces.”

Hindu leaders such as Swami Agnivesh addressed the peace march at Rajghat (Gandhi’s final resting place), saying that the “very killers of Mahatma Gandhi, are the same killers of Christians in Orissa, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh and other parts of the country . . . The Hindutva fascists do not represent the peace-loving Hindu societies, rather they are damaging the Sanatam Dharma [eternal law] of Hinduism,” he said.

Report from Compass Direct News

BEING AN AUTHENTIC ACCOUNT OF THE SUFFERINGS
AND DEATHS OF PRIMITIVE AND PROTESTANT MARTYRS
IN VARIOUS COUNTRIES

As Edited by William Byron Forbush
Has Had Material Deleted and other material Added Compared to the Original

This is a book that will never die - one of the great English classics. Interesting as fiction, because it is written with both passion and tenderness, it tells the dramatic story of some of the most thrilling periods in Christian history.

Reprinted here in its most complete form, it brings to life the days when "a noble army, men and boys, the matron and the maid," "climbed the steep ascent of heaven, 'mid peril, toil, and pain."

"After the Bible itself, no book so profoundly influenced early Protestant sentiment as the Book of Martyrs. Even in our time it is still a living force. It is more than a record of persecution. It is an arsenal of controversy, a storehouse of romance, as well as a source of edification."

James Miller Dodds,
English Prose.

"When one recollects that until the appearance of the Pilgrim's Progress the common people had almost no other reading matter except the Bible and Fox's Book of Martyrs, we can understand the deep impression that this book produced; and how it served to mold the national character. Those who could read for themselves learned the full details of all the atrocities performed on the Protestant reformers; the illiterate could see the rude illustrations of the various instruments of torture, the rack, the gridiron, the boiling oil, and then the holy ones breathing out their souls amid the flames. Take a people just awakening to a new intellectual and religious life; let several generations of them, from childhood to old age, pore over such a book, and its stories become traditions as individual and almost as potent as songs and customs on a nation's life."

Douglas Campbell,
"The Puritan in Holland, England, and America"

"If we divest the book of its accidental character of feud between churches, it yet stands, in the first years of Elizabeth's reign, a monument that marks the growing strength of a desire for spiritual freedom, defiance of those forms that seek to stifle conscience and fetter thought."

Henry Morley,
"English Writers"

Read this classic work at:

http://particularbaptist.com/library/martyrs_foxe_contents.html

There are many other indirect methods that are focused simply on awareness using media. One was Pangea Day last may (http://www.pangeaday.org/ ). It focused on film as a method to help people realize we are all the same and hopefully drive us towards empathy. That event changed me and caused me to rethink my entrepreneurial mission. Another was a initiative that involved Peter Gabriel and was focused on getting cameras into the hands of people in areas where major atrocities were taking place so that the reality of the situation could be shared with the world (see video below).

This leads me to the last major initiative focused on photography. James Nachtwey, a photographer, made a TED wish during his presentation in 2007. He wanted assistance to help him use photography in order to create awareness on a global scale . This culminated in a worldwide event taking place across the world that includes showing a series of photographs on large screens in major cities across the world (including Toronto). The website will be launched on October 3rd and we'll know more. In the meantime, check out the videos below on James Nachtwey. Please let me know what you think can change the world and point me and readers of this blog to major initiatives under way.

*As soon as Christianity was legal (315), more and more pagan temples
were destroyed by Christian mob. Pagan priests were killed.

*Between 315 and 6th century thousands of pagan believers were slain.

*Examples of destroyed Temples the Sanctuary of Aesculap in Aegaea,
the Temple of Aphrodite in Golgatha, Aphaka in Lebanon, the
Heliopolis.

*Christian priests such as Mark of Arethusa or Cyrill of Heliopolis
were famous as "temple destroyer." [DA468] *Pagan services became
punishable by death in 356. [DA468]

*Christian Emperor Theodosius (408-450) even had children executed,
because they had been playing with remains of pagan statues. [DA469]

According to Christian chroniclers he "followed meticulously all
Christian teachings..."

*In 6th century pagans were declared void of all rights.

*In the early fourth century the philosopher Sopatros was executed on
demand of Christian authorities. [DA466]

*The world famous female philosopher Hypatia of Alexandria was torn to
pieces with glass fragments by a hysterical Christian mob led by a
Christian minister named Peter, in a church, in 415.

continue here for the rest of Christian love-story

I have often thought of Islam as a faith fueled by anger. Some of that anger may stem from political and social factors – poverty, cultural repression, perceived indignities from other nations – I don’t know the exact nature of the stew. But Harris doesn’t seem to think the foundations of the anger matter much when the atrocities arising from that anger are committed in the name of one’s faith.

He sees Islam as a faith of domination. A faith that cannot admit of any truth (if such a thing exists) other than its own perception of the way the world should be.

(As an aside, I was listening to an episode of “Speaking of Faith” on National Public Radio where the host was speaking with an Einsten biographer. At one point, one of her guests said that science is not about truth – as many people suppose –  but about helping us to paint a more accurate picture of the world. I think that is an interesting perspective. Do religious people really seek a more accurate picture of the world? Or do they only seek to confirm the validity of the picture painted by their sacred texts? And which approach is more useful in dealing with a changing world? I’ll leave that one up to you.)

Harris speculates that such a worldview may not have been as dangerous before advances in technology made it as easy as it is today to destroy large numbers of people in literally moments. And I think he is right.

But I have a hard time with his thinking that the current president is less motivated by religious faith than some of the leaders of Islamic nations around the world. He suggests that the current president would not have perpetrated the same kind of atrocities that some political and religious leaders have committed through the justification of their faith. I don’t agree. Our president has committed atrocities guided by his faith, as those close to the president have reported many times. He may be constrained by the nature of our culture, which values life in many respects. But I would bet there is a certain blackness in his heart that would exercise itself if given the chance.

It has left me questioning Harris’ judgment – and his conclusions. I guess I will just have to finish reading the book to see how he ties all this together. Hopefully, it will make some sense in the end.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xkQCmf-K60o&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nXZ4MRAxcow&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ybjV6k7smpo&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=klKAOSF7BcY&feature=related

... and many more...

I believe that the Bible is a rewritten story taken from earlier myths and further that it will be rewritten again and again and again and again.

In Campbell’s teachings he shows clearly that the Egyptians had a Virgin Mary named Isis. Isis conceived via the powers of a dead god. Isis’ son was also put to death and he also rose in 3 days and 2 nights. Campbell points out that the ending of the old moon and the presence of a new moon also takes 3 days and two nights. The Egyptians believed that the period between death and new life was 3 days and 2 nights just like the Bible claims. The Bible was not first.

I remember when the first revised King James version of the Bible hit the streets and the congregation of the Baptist church I was attending all thought it was a communist plot. That was in 1955.

Since then there have been hundreds of revised versions of the Bible and no communist plots.

A thousand years from now the Bible will be completely changed. Even genders will change. And the story will change again and again and again over the passing of time.

When George Washington was a boy his father said to him, “Son, if you want to be president you cannot tell a lie.” Today his father would say, “Son, if you want to be president you must be able to lie.”

This revision has occurred within my lifetime. Think how it has changed everyone’s outlook. It’s okay. Not to worry. A man’s private life is up to him. In fact, we really do not care if he inhaled. Nor do we care that he exploited a child aide. So what?

Recently the Hubble telescope discovered a Nova 3 billion miles long and 7,000 light-years away.

Think about it. So where is heaven? If Jesus rose into the sky only 2,000 years ago he has not caught up with the new Nova discovered by Hubble which is 7,000 light-years away; he needs another 5,000 years traveling at the speed of light to catch up with the Nova and by then the universe is expanding so fast he cannot outrun it.

These stories are myths. These myths have been handed down for centuries, thousands of years before there was ever a Christ baby. The myths change as the knowledge of the subscribers change.  If the congregation wants followers they can control, they can only go so far.

My father was a prison guard in two federal prisons from 1925 to 1938.  He talked about control of prisoners and about sex in prisons. For sure it wasn’t heterosexual. The prison authorities know that control will be lost if prisoners are kept from having sex.

The congregation knows that control will be lost if concessions are not made within the church.  Nothing is forever, not even this universe. And certainly not this solar system. Our sun and this solar system have already passed the mid-point.

When our sun burns out and these planets pass through the black hole, what new galaxy is standing by to give board to our homeless souls?

I have not completely adjusted to my new conclusions even though they have been a part of me all my life.  If I could free the world of sin I would.  I cannot stand what it does to the children.  Can you believe that grown up people have the thoughtlessness to frighten little children with hell for ever after if the children do not comply?

That’s torture and in the name of religion.

Who makes the rules?  The congregation.  The good and the resentful.  The Billy Grahams and the Jimmy Swaggarts.  Do you think there are any gay members on the board? I am sure there are.

I can tell you one thing. My God would not have allowed 13,000 young men to have been killed in the first 20 minutes of battle at Gettysburg. If this were my God’s nation, he would not have allowed it. Don’t forget “who is in control”.

My God would not have allowed 12 million Jews, 20 million Russians, 10 million Chinese, 10 million Poles and one-half million Americans to be killed between 1938 and 1945.

Only a blasphemous god would have allowed those atrocities.

Nope. I believe that by necessity the human brain advances at a much faster rate than many other species of life and that once humans solved the problem of survival, humans then went for territory and humans became the enemy.  Humans simply turned on each other.  They will again and again and again.

If it’s not war it will be floods, avalanches, tornadoes, hurricanes, volcanoes and all of the turbulence common with the energy of a universe which is expanding as fast as the speed of light.  Nothing is static.  Nothing is forever. Nothing.

Give praise to TAC.

KHAIRLANJI
A Strange and Bitter Crop

By Anand Teltumbde

HoloCaste 1
Demy Octavo, 210 pages, Rs 190
ISBN: 978-81-89059-15-6

"Anand Teltumbde's analysis of the public, ritualistic massacre of a dalit family in 21st century India exposes the gangrenous heart of our society. It contextualizes the massacre and describes the manner in which the social, political and state machinery, the police, the mass media and the judiciary all collude to first create the climate for such bestiality, and then cover it up. This is not a book about the last days of relic feudalism, but a book about what modernity means in India. It discusses one of the most important issues in contemporary India." — ARUNDHATI ROY

In Khairlanji, on 29 September 2006, 44-year-old Surekha Bhotmange and her daughter Priyanka Bhotmange were stripped, paraded naked, and raped repeatedly. Surekha's sons Roshan and Sudhir were lynched. The entire village was involved. The Bhotmanges were dalit. The Bhotmanges have been forgotten. After all, two dalits are murdered every day in India. ANAND TELTUMBDE reconstructs one of post-independence India's worst caste atrocities and tells us how and why Khairlanjis are always around us.

=========

In the Khairlanji massacre, the sessions judge in a Bhandara court did not find any expression of 'caste hatred' and hence did not think it necessary to invoke provisions of the Prevention of Atrocities Act, 1989. Nor did he find any evidence of rape. To understand why this is not surprising, to understand how in most crimes committed against dalits the prosecution and the judges do not find it necessary to invoke the PoA Act, to know what really happened in Khairlanji, for a chronicle of the state repression that was unleashed on the protesting dalits in the aftermath of Khairlanji, and to know why Khairlanjis have been happening and shall continue to recur in India, read the first title in Navayana's new HoloCaste series.

HoloCaste

'The right of life and death was one of sovereignty's basic attributes,' said Foucault. 'The right of life and death is always exercised in an unbalanced way: the balance is always tipped in favour of death.' In post-independence India, the authority of caste found a new ally—the state and its police. The state admits to the murder of two dalits every day, a crime against a dalit every eighteen minutes. Atrocities pile up, forming a landscape of tears, blood and ashes. It could be said this is not genocide. It could be argued this is not a holocaust. What is it then, this slow, everyday ritual of murder? Unreported, easily forgotten. What should we call a holocaust in instalments— a 'Holocaste'? This series from Navayana chronicles dalit massacres that go almost unnoticed in the world's largest democracy. Each title in the Holocaste series will locate each specific massacre in its socio-historical context.

===========

For bulk orders and trade enquiries contact anand.navayana@gmail.com

For VPP orders write to oasisbooks@yahoo.com

In bookstores by 10 October!
www.navayana.org

S.Anand
Publisher
www.navayana.org

Address for correspondence

Navayana Publishing
M-100 (First Floor)
Saket, New Delhi--110017
Ph: +91-9971433117
Landline: +91-11-29561731

But why am I so cruel, you may ask? Why do I hate America and the people who died that day? I don't hate America, and I don't have anything but sympathy for the people who died or lost loved ones that day.

But you know what? Few Americans really give a damn: it's just a show. There have been far worse tragedies that haven't even gotten an eye blink from the American public. Darfur genocide, the war between Russia and Georgia, terrorist attacks in other countries, AIDS in Africa, the elections in Zimbabwe, human rights abuses by our own military...not to mention that more innocents have been killed in the Middle East after 9/11 than were ever killed on that day.

I hear very few of the same people who are still "paying respect" to the victims of 9/11 giving a damn about those events.

Let's be honest with ourselves. Most of us were not directly affected by 9/11: and what did affect us, we did to ourselves. Let's be even more honest: it only matters to our country because it was an attack on our country. Because the American people, encouraged by the Republican party, have turned 9/11 into far more powerful a weapon than it ever was. Face it: the terrorists, be they the ones sitting in the white house or hiding in holes in the Middle East, got what they wanted. They won. We handed ourselves over on a silver platter: our consciences, our rights, our freedoms, our economy, our privacy...we call ourselves the home of the brave, but we are still shaking in a corner and sucking our thumbs seven years later, repeating the same horror stories like mantras. And let's face it! America is full of drama queens. It's no different from when a child bullies other children, then gets pinched by one of them, takes it out on all of them, and cries for seven years. If we were any other country, we would have had serious concerns about our safety for a while, then gotten over it. But no. Instead, we expect the rest of the world to sympathize with us scaring ourselves. We have only ourselves to blame for letting 9/11 become a weapon of fear.

"...if you are looking for the guilty, you need only look in the mirror..." -V for Vendetta

While thinking about you, making me go dream chasin' baby boo,

All i need is you.

Your skin as paper, my lips as pen,

And our oceans of bloody diamond's, inside my brain.

Cause we are two groove junkies,

That move, through this concrete jungle like monkeys.

Your my escape to Zion

Cause i'm feeling trapped, in this box of iron.

Disconnected from this reality, i rewind the movie of my life,

That i've produced in my mind, scared of the atrocities that i'm seeing,

Making me wanna go deaf and blind.