With the passing of the Pontiff, there is an outside possibility that the next Pope will be Bombay’s Cardinal Ivan Dias. As with the Olympics, the Indian is the long shot. According to the Associated Press, bookies have listed the odds as 16:1 against him; the only online betting agency I can find gives the odds at 47:1 right now.

India has 16,694,000 Catholics who make up 1.54% of the country’s population. This makes it 16th in the world in terms of the number of Catholics per country. However, India does not have alot of leverage in the selection process for the new Pope. India has five Cardinals, only three of whom are eligible to vote. Cardinals Duraisamy Simon Lourdusamy and Simon Ignatius Pimenta are over 80, and are excluded from voting by an age limited introduced by Pope John Paul II himself. The remaining three Cardinals are Cardinal Ivan Dias of Mumbai, Cardinal Varkey Vithayathil of the Kerala based Syro Malabar Church, and Cardinal Telesphore Placidus Toppo of Ranchi.

The speculation about an Indian Pope seems to have emerged when that most religious of magazines, Businessweek, stated that Cardinal Ivan Dias (described simply as “a friend of Mother Teresa”) was under consideration for the top job.

According to the Calcutta Telegraph:

Dias, the archbishop of Mumbai, is among 13 cardinals believed to be in the running. Twenty-six years ago, the Vatican created history by anointing John Paul II, a Pole, the first non-Italian to be elected to the top post in over 400 years. There is now speculation if history will be made again by naming the first Indian and, possibly more important, the first non-White. Whether or not Dias is chosen, there is a likelihood that a non-White could actually become the Pope because several of the cardinals being tipped for the post are from Latin America and Africa. Dias’s office had earlier dismissed as “rubbish” the speculation that he was a candidate. The Catholic Bishops Conference of India spokesman, Fr Babu Joseph, said: “The Indian Church will be happy and proud if the next Pope comes from the country. But these (about Dias’s prospects) are speculative reports. The papal election does not happen just like that.” Dias has a few factors going for him. For instance, he has been a Vatican diplomat for 33 years in various parts of the world before coming to Mumbai in 1997 as the archbishop. He knows 17 languages, mostly European, and even speaks Korean. Above all, like Pope John Paul, he is orthodox, and is relatively young at 69 by Vatican standards. [Telegraph]

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New California Media reports on a story found in India West Magazine about chocolate Hindu deities. As I will explain in a moment this is met (by me at least) with great relief and gratitude:

Chocolate Deities, a confectioner based in the Catskill Mountains of New York, offers handmade chocolates molded into the shape of Lord Krishna, Ganesha, Buddha, the Tibetan goddess Tara and many other gods and goddesses.

Some customers like to eat them, while others, according to company cofounder Jeanne Fleming, prefer to put the chocolates on their home altars or even melt them down for hot chocolate or sauces.

“In the case of [Krishna and Ganesh], Hindus asked me to make them … and many of the folks who buy them are Hindus,” she wrote in an email to India-West Mar. 25.

Well hell. I will buy them for sure. So far there hasn’t been a good way for chocolate worshippers like myself to properly practice our faith. As you can see by the picture of my makeshift shrine at home, there is much left to be desired. This way at least my mother will believe that I have returned to my roots and am worshipping Hindu Gods again instead of practicing my heretical Swiss beliefs.

“We are not expecting that all those who buy our chocolates will necessarily eat them,” Fleming told India-West. “If you read our website carefully, we suggest that they can be used in ceremonial ways, as ritual objects, or spiritual objects for the kitchen. They are not like bikinis, or lunch boxes, or beer labels. They are not used ‘for’ something else, or in the service of something else. They are themselves what they are: objects of devotion, offerings, art, or to be eaten.”

Chocolate Deities website is actually very educational. They even explain that Ganesha liked sweets (so he’d probably approve of this venture):

Ganesha was very fond of sweets. There was one that he particularly adored, a dumpling called a modaka, which has steamed wrapping made of rice flour and a filling that absolutely bursts with coconut and dried fruit. Whenever Ganesha saw a dish of modakas, he had to stop and eat one. Of course, once he had eaten one, he had to eat another. Then another, and another until the dish, in no time at all, was empty.

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BBC News describes a stimulated aspect of Bhutan’s scenic landscape:

Driving from the country’s only airport in Paro to the capital city of Thimphu, graphic and colourful paintings of penises adorn the white-washed walls of homes, shops and eateries. In many places, pictures of dragons and soft drink advertisements showing a Bollywood actress jostle for space on the walls with phallic drawings. [BBC News]

An actress jostling with a penis could just be a still frame from any Bollywood flick, instead of evidence of a phenomenon. It’s not until you go down further on the article, that you realize the almighty deeock is found in even the most remote of Bhutan’s crevices:

Next to the traditionally painted wooden windows of the 80-year-old farmer, Dema’s, house is a bright red painting of a penis. Dema tells me she hired a professional artist to do it. “It’s to protect those who live inside the house,” she says…A few houses away lives 42-year-old Kinley. A simple drawing of a phallus adorns his wall. He tells me he painted it last year when he renovated his house. “It’s to ward off the evil eye. When people envy me or say bad things about me or my family, it takes away the sting,” Kinley says. [BBC News]

Kinley is doing something horribly wrong if a penis is taking away, rather than delivering, a sting. So why is everyone in Bhutan nuts about penis? The admiration is borne of religious lore:

Legend has it that Drupka Kinley would hit errant demons over the head with his penis to subdue them and turn them into protective deities. Today, several wooden penises are kept in the monastery. The longest, a brown wooden one with a silver handle, is the most important – it is considered a religious relic and is used for blessing the devout…The monk hits three young women devotees who come to pray at the monastery on the head with it. [BBC News]

Homesick Bhutanese monks (or just about anybody else) in Los Angeles can get that service for $30-40 (per head) on Hollywood Blvd.

BBC News: Bhutan’s phalluses warn off evil

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Hindu and Muslim extremists share at least one thing in common: A knack for creating controversy where none should exist. The latter is up in arms over an on-screen kiss between Pakistani actress Meera and Bollywood actor Ashmit Patel in the yet-to-be-released “Nazar”:

Conservative Islamists are incensed at the thought of a Muslim woman kissing a Hindu. Some have called for an apology; others have filed a lawsuit, demanding that she be censured for an “immoral scene” — it is unclear what the court could do if it agreed – and still others have issued death threats. [The New York Times]

Not to be outdone, former BJP MP Vinay Katiyar is trying to pull an Ayodhya on the venerable Taj Mahal:

“The Taj Mahal was, in fact, a Shiva temple and was built by Raja Jai Singh. Its name was Tejo Mai Mahal (shining palace),” Katiyar said in Lucknow…“It (the Taj) actually belongs to us (Hindus) and we will do everything possible to reclaim it,” Katiyar said adding a ’Shankar Sena’ (Shiva army) would soon be formed and ‘Damrus’ (Shiva’s drum) distributed among the people to create awareness on this issue. [Hindustan Times]

Imagine the uproar from the zealots if a Hindu man and Muslim woman shared a kiss (with tongue, of course) on the steps of the Taj Mahal. Would the mere thought of it just cause their heads to explode? I hope so. Because that would mean that they’d be dead from a massive head explosion. And then we wouldn’t have to hear from them anymore. We can only fervently pray for such a peaceful fate.

The New York Times: Kiss a Hindu? Just imagine. Islamists did, with outrage (free registration required)
Hindustan Times: Taj Mahal was a Shiva temple: Vinay Katiyar

Previous post: Let sleeping Moghuls lie…PLEASE.

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Tipster Amy H. alerts us to news of a settlement between 15 year old Amandeep Singh and the Greenburgh Central School District in Westchester County, New York that will now allow him to keep wearing his kirpan. As reported on the website of the Beckett Fund for Religious Liberty which helped broker the agreement:

For peacefully observing the commands of his Sikh faith, fifteen-year-old Amandeep Singh was suspended for eight school days last month from his school in the Greenburgh Central School District in Westchester County, New York. Despite the ninth-grade honor student’s exemplary academic and disciplinary records, Principal Michael Chambless initially determined that Amandeep’s kirpan, an element of Sikh religious expression, was a “weapon” and suspended him. Today, after the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty intervened in his case, Amandeep received a letter from School Superintendent Josephine Moffett expunging his record of the suspension and allowing him to wear his kirpan at school.

The Becket Fund–an international, interfaith, public- interest law firm that protects the free expression of all religious traditions–worked with the international civil rights organization United Sikhs to convince the school to obey the requirements of the First Amendment and allow the kirpan.

…
Amandeep agreed to wear a smaller kirpan of two inches in length that would be securely fastened under his clothes in a cloth pouch. He also agreed to allow school officials to make reasonable inspections to confirm his adherence to the conditions. The school agreed to expunge Amandeep’s record of the suspension and to ensure that no disciplinary action remains on his record. Today, Superintendent Josephine Moffett gave her final approval to the agreement.

“It’s a shame that a student, rather than the school, had to deliver a lesson on respecting the values of the Free Exercise Clause,” said Gaubatz. “But we applaud the school for eventually recognizing that sensible school policies that protect student safety need not–and must not, consistent with the First Amendment–compromise the religious beliefs of their students.”

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A Muslim Lawyer who “claims she has been meeting Lord Shiva off and on in her dreams for the past six years” has built a Hindu temple for the “libertarian” deity;

Noor Fatima, who laid the foundation for the Shiva Temple, claimed that Shiva had visited her in her dream, prompting her to build the temple. Although Fatima’s faith strictly prohibits idol worship, she decided to build the temple out of respect and tolerance for Hinduism.

The paradigm of secular harmony started her project in Varanasi with a mere five thousand rupees, but others pitched in to make her dream come true.

The temple opened a few days ago (March 5) for Maha Shivratri.

P.S. Thanks Pooja, for the tip 🙂 Continue reading →

Tipster Suresh V. points us to this post on Instapundit. Within the post, an ill-informed commenter compares Lord Shiva’s destructive tendencies to those of whack-jobs like Mao, Stalin, and Pol Pot. Before we could set the record straight by posting a critique on this site, an Instapundit reader named Srikanth Bellalacheruvu did so in a rather unusual manner:

Shiva is not simply a “destroyer”, and if he was, Indians wouldn’t worship him. They have several million Gods to choose from – it’s a free market out there.

Shiva is, to be accurate, the “Renewer”. Shiva destroys a world when it is beyond all hope of reform, in order to allow creative energies to build a better world. His anger is that of a righteousness, not that of hatred.

And Vishnu is not a “creator”. To be accurate, he “maintains order” in world that already exists.

If we were to use business terminology, Shiva’s rage would be “gales of creative destruction” and Vishnu would be a brilliant CEO adding to shareholder value.

If this analogy holds then that means Vinod is going to Heaven and I’m going to Hell.

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