Hotel bibles for atheist China? Where are the Upanishads?

Today I read on scotsman.com that the China Patriotic Catholic Association (CPCA), the official state-controlled body for Christian Catholicism in China, recently introduced a novel idea at the National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference:

“A large number of foreign athletes and tourists will swarm into Beijing for the Games, a majority of whom have religious belief, and providing Bibles at hotels will meet their religious needs.”

Of course! The 150 nations competing at the 2008 Olympics and the 6 billion people represented around the world will have all their spiritual bases covered by this single important act. Please ask the Gideons to ship 100,000 bibles immediately so we may place them in the little drawers next to the mini-bar. The spokesman for CPCA, Liu Banyan, goes on to say

“The Bible is a must at hotel rooms in foreign countries, especially European countries. The service can help clear up foreigners’ misunderstandings of China in the area of religion.”

A “must“. By Mr. Banyan’s account, it is an essential fixture, like a bed, hot water, and the complimentary copy of the New York Times I always seem to trip over on my way to meetings. The article goes on to state that the report did not mention other religions. Which is understandable, because Mr. Banyan, (may I call you Liu?), stated a bible is sufficient to meet everyone’s religious needs. I’m not sure who deserves more flak: the Catholics’ pathetically veiled proselytizing attempt during an international sporting event, or officially atheist China’s need to appear so open and free for these short months before reverting back to its normally constrictive policies.

So I’m sorry, Liu Banyan, I’m paying $250 a night for this room, and that drawer space is going to my copy of the īśāvāsya upaniṣad.

an example of subtle bias on wikipedia

I’ll jump right into it. Check out the following article on Wikipedia I have recently come across

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shambuka

Then, check out the “discussions” tab and the “history” in each of those. For the latter, I noticed two anti-Hindu websites were being linked to, as proponents of “Dalit rights” groups. Also, the wording of the second article made it seem like Shri Ram, a kshatriya (warrior), had it in for Shambuka and killed him because he was from a lower “caste” yet performed a religious ritual reserved for a Brahmin. Now as a Hindu I am totally against casteism in all its evil forms, however for the Dalit websites in question to 1. pin this on Ram as a caste thing, when in the time of the Ramayana there was no “caste” as we see it today (rather there was “jati”) and 2. pin this as a blackspot on Hinduism when there was no such religion is ridiculous.

Is being angry bad?

Generally, anger is categorized as quite a negative emotion. Not only is it “bad” physiologically (high blood pressure, hormonal release, etc.) but psychologically the phenomenon of anger invites a host of less desireable afflictions. Why, then would one want to blog about being angry, that too injecting the “Hindu” tag? Isn’t Hinduism associated with peace, love, and the Beatles?

Right on, brothers and sisters. But sometimes anger is a good thing. Sometimes it can be channeled into a useful force- a force for change. Be it Arjun on Kurukshetra, Gandhi in South Africa or King in Alabama, the visceral rise in emotion was followed closely by action. Positive, sustained, well-thought action.

This, then, is a call to action. The words you read and hopefully the dialogue that ensues may make your blood boil, it may increase your heart rate, it may release noradrenaline into your blood stream.

Good. Now what are you going to do about it?