There is a controversy brewing at the Tulsa Zoo in Oklahoma. Zoo officials there want to display an exhibit that explains the creation of animals by means of the biblical account. We all know that creationism is on the rise at an alarming rate in school districts across the country. Now they want it in the zoos as well? Why? Well it turns out that the impetus for this stupid idea might be one Ganesh. USA Today reports:

The Tulsa Zoo will add a display featuring the biblical account of creation following complaints to a city board about other displays with religious significance, including a Hindu elephant statue.

The Tulsa Park and Recreation Board voted 3-1 Tuesday in favor of a display depicting the account in Genesis, the first book of the Bible, that God created the world in six days and rested on the seventh.

The vote came after more than two hours of public comment from a standing-room-only crowd.

Zoo employees, religious leaders and others spoke in opposition, saying religion shouldn’t be part of the taxpayer-funded scientific institution.

But those who favored the creationist exhibit, including Mayor Bill LaFortune, argued that the zoo already displayed religious items, including the statue of the Hindu god, Ganesh, outside the elephant exhibit and a marble globe inscribed with an American Indian saying, “The earth is our mother. The sky is our father.”

Is this merely a petty attempt to counter the Ganesh statue with some Christianity? Lord knows we don’t want decent God-fearing Oklahomans to go to the zoo, get converted, and turn Hindu on us when they see a Ganesh statue in front of them. We might as well battle that possibility with some Genesis. So why was the Ganesh statue there anyways?

Zoo officials argued that the zoo, as a scientific institution, does not advocate religion and that displays like the elephant statue are meant to show the animal’s image among cultures. The same exhibit includes the Republican Party’s elephant symbol.

And of course I have to finish with a quote that will make you smack your forehead in disgust:

“I see this as a big victory,” said Dan Hicks, the Tulsa resident who approached the Tulsa Zoo with the idea for the exhibit. “It’s a matter of fairness. To not include the creationist view would be discrimination.”

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Beer, thongs, bikinis, toilet seats, sandals and now shoes: it seems the entire inventory of your local Wal-Mart ends up stenciled with Hindu art at some point. Emboldened by his success, the activist who got a brewery to drop its Ganesh beer is now opposing women’s shoes in France displaying an image of Rama:

A pair of women’s shoes allegedly showing Lord Rama made by French shoemaker Minelli has angered a pro-Hindu website, which has urged supporters to begin a letter-writing campaign to the shoemaker protesting against the product…

Expatriate attorney Brij Mohan Dhir has supported the bid, and is himself mobilizing opinion to protest production and marketing of the shoe… The San Francisco-based activist has circulated a copy of the letter widely on the Internet. If Minelli doesn’t back down, he is considering filing a complaint in the European Court of Human Rights…

Dhir’s joined forces with Hindu Human Rights, which complains that Meera Syal disses Hindus:

The BBC has made it to the top of the complaints charts with their new entry straight in at number one: Meera Syal’s much vaunted “Life Isn’t All Ha Ha Hee Hee” once again shows their inability to provide a positive portrayal of Hindus in Britain. Containing a series of cheap and insulting digs at Hindus, this programme continues the tradition of the Western media’s denigration of Hinduism and Hindu culture.

HHR needs to get in line, because Syal is an equal-opportunity humorist. Her Bhaji on the Beach screenplay, oft-maligned for ‘bashing men,’ is a Girls’ Night Out by definition.

Previous posts: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7

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I have continued to read Slate’s dispatches feature this week which is titled “The Monkey God’s Army.” Despite criticism from a few SM readers on some finer points in the article, it has remained an absorbing read, and there are still two installments left. Rather than quote from the article itself (which I urge you to read) I will instead quote from The Fray. The Fray is Slate’s discussion board that is often full of gems. Slate editors recommended this posting from The Fray:

Hanuman is worshipped by a lot of people who have no affiliation with the Dal. The very phrase – Monkey God – sounds awful! Hanuman, happened to be a monkey. He is worshipped for his devotion to Ram. For his supreme love for the right way, regardless of how much pain he would have to bear. Not because he was a monkey. But because of who he was despite being a monkey. There is a very rich tapestry of philosophy and culture – to demean all of that in this manner is disgusting. It shows a complete lack of understanding and sensitivity towards Indian culture.

I have no qualms with being harsh with either the RSS or the Bajrang Dal. But if the KKK had decided to call themselves Jesus’s army, to belittle Jesus would have been as stupid and pointless as belittling Hanuman in this context.

The title reflects a racist insensitive view of Hindiuism and I, for one, would strongly urge Slate to post an apology and a retraction of the title.

Then we find this one which curiously wasn’t recommended by Slate editors:

Obviously, this newspaper editor is an ignorant fool. He doesn’t even know the Vedic Scriptures which flourished in India starting at least some 5,500 years ago, but are actually infinitely prehistorical.

For the education… let me offer some barebone background information. The last “Golden Age” or SatyaYuga, some 4,000,000 years ago, was the Age when dinosaurs also roamed the earth. The Bible also touched on that when it said, “when Men were giants.” (Some species of man were). What you know call the denizens of the “intermediate world,” i.e., animals, plants birds, and the filth-born, also speak the common language on earth, and understood each other. Meaning, an animal can speak to man, and vice versa and understood each other. The personification of the animals, the sky-ranging creatures like the birds, as well as plants were as intelligent as man.

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Reza Aslan has been making rounds on the talk show circuit recently to hype his book “No God, but God.”

In No god but God, Aslan challenges the “clash of civilizations” mentality that has distorted our view of Islam and explains this critical faith in all its complexity, beauty, and compassion.

Irshad Manji (born to Indian and Egyptian parents) on the other hand takes a different approach. USA Today reports:

Irshad Manji has plenty of enemies among her fellow Muslims. Her critique of Islam is frank and fierce. She defends the invasion of Iraq. She sympathizes with Israel. She’s a lesbian and doesn’t try to hide it.

“Then there is the hair,” she adds, referring to the spiky highlights that sharpen her live-wire manner.

What has brought this Uganda-born Asian-Canadian to prominence is her book, “The Trouble With Islam Today,” just out in paperback in the United States where she has been touring and talking.

As you can imagine, a practicing Muslim with such unique views might be a product of an unusual background.

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That’s me in the corner
That’s me in the spotlight
Upgrading my religion
Trying to keep up with you
And I don’t know if I can do it…

— apologies to R.E.M., ‘Losing My Religion’

Are you highly religious and anxious about the fast pace of technological change? Simply text your guru for personalized blessings (via Boing Boing):

… they were dubbed “bhajan-kirtan” channels, watched by the very old or the very bored… [Sadhana] has started an SMS service by which viewers can contact their favourite guru for blessings/advice. So, if you want to know from Sudhanshuji Maharaj if it’s the right day to go looking for a job, all you have to do is type “7333” and “S SUD”.

… the channel has empanelled 40 spiritual leaders. “We get 20,000 SMS every day from all kinds of viewers,” says Gupta, who has tied-up with 85 cellular operators…

Or launch a satellite so you know when to pray:

The Organization of the Islamic Conference, the world’s largest Muslim body, said Sunday it plans to launch an $8 million satellite within two years to take pictures of the moon to find lunar calendar dates… “The satellite will have a fixed camera on board that will take highly detailed pictures of the moon and beam them back to earth…” A moon sighting committee in Saudi Arabia, the birthplace of Islam, frustrated millions of worshippers when it said it got the date wrong by a day for the peak of this year’s haj pilgrimage in January.

There is already some criticism from religious officials in Saudi Arabia, which uses the lunar calendar. “The shape of the moon has to be seen from the ground,” said Osama al-Bar, dean of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques Institute for Haj Research in Saudi Arabia.

Osama the Hajj researcher has decreed it, so thus it will be.