Soren Svendsen

Vi lever i en verden, hvor rigtige mange mennesker tror mere eller mindre blindt på forskellige ting, som jeg personligt ville anse som absurditeter.

Jeg vil i denne lille løbende sektion komme på nogle eksempler på hvordan religion påvirker verden og dens borgere. Selvsagt kan det være sig både positivt og negativt, men jeg vil forbeholde mig retten til at være lidt selektiv og vise eksempler på episoder eller udviklinger jeg finder ganske uhørt eller bare groteske, måske ligefrem humoristiske.

Den hellige ko

Forskellige interesser støder hårdt mod hinanden; hinduer mod dyrevelfærdsaktivister

“Horsham, UK - Hindu monks clad in saffron robes served legal papers on Britain’s leading animal welfare charity on Friday in protest at the slaughter of one of their sacred cows.“

“Mother Gangotri,” a 13-year-old Belgian Blue-Jersey cross, was put down by the RSPCA (Royal Society for the Protection of Cruelty to Animals) on December 13 last year in what the charity called a mercy killing

 Således er en ko blevet dræbt. Skismaet er opstået på baggrund om koen havde det godt. Dyrevelfærdsgruppen mente således at koen måtte aflives. Men ikke alle var enige i det.

“The RSPCA unlawfully trespassed on temple property and unlawfully trespassed on the life of a cow,” said Gauri Das, president at Bhaktivedanta Manor.“

“The cow was under veterinary care and was recovering. There was absolutely no reason for her to be killed. The way they carried out this act on the sacred premises of a temple with no dialogue was completely unacceptable”

Munkene vil således trække aktivisterne i retten for mordet på den hellige ko

Bhaktivedanta Manor runs the Cow Protection Project, which cares for old cows and bulls, and allows them to die naturally.

“The RSPCA denies the claims, saying it informed staff at the temple of what they were going to do, and avoided killing the cow during prayers.“

“We believe we acted properly, within the law, but clearly they are of a different opinion,” said John Rolls, RSPCA director of animal welfare promotion

Nej ingen religiøs marihuana

En mand i USA har fået at vide at han ikke må ryge det forbudte stof på trods af at det er en del af hans religion

“New London, USA - A judge has ruled that while she respects a Norwich man’s Rastafarian religion which endorses the use of marijuana, the law is the law and she has sent him to prison for 30 months.“

Den 42-årige Vernon Smith har således fået frataget sit “wisdom weed”

“Forty-two-year-old Vernon Smith had pleaded guilty to possession of marijuana with intent to sell after police found him with more than 20 pounds of the drug earlier this year.“

His lawyer Thursday argued that a Rastafarian believes that selling, trading and possessing marijuana, or “wisdom weed,” is “a God-given right.” He sought a reduction in the prison time

Men dommeren mente ikke at den gudgivet ret var nok til at undskylde at have et ulovligt stof på sig og at planer om at sælge det videre

“Judge Susan B. Handy said she had respect for Smith’s religion, but that he could not use it to hide his criminal behavior“

 Ingen homoseksuel Jesus tak

Der er åbenbart grænser for hvad folk synes er morsomt. Således er der nogen der er blevet lidt mobset over et skuespil hvor Jesus fremstilles som havende homoseksuelle tendenser

“Sydney, Austrailia - A controversial play that depicts Jesus being seduced by Judas and conducting a gay marriage for two apostles has been condemned by church leaders ahead of its opening in Sydney“

Jesus og Judas har altså en hed lille affære og det får tilgengæld andre op af stolene.

The Anglican Bishop of South Sydney, Robert Forsyth, expressed his outrage at the plot of “Corpus Christi” on Sunday, calling the play “historical nonsense”.

“It is deliberately, not innocently, offensive and they’re obviously having a laugh about it,” he told the Sun-Herald newspaper. “I wouldn’t want to go and see it. Life’s too short.”

Men det er åbenbart ingenting i forhold til tidligere reaktioner på stykket i USA og England

“Set to open on February 7 as part of Sydney’s annual Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras festival, “Corpus Christi” depicts Jesus and his followers as gay, and ends with Jesus being crucified.

Despite critical acclaim, the play provoked protests and bomb threats when it was performed in the United States

Playwright Terrence McNally received a death edict, or fatwa, from a UK-based Islamic group, which declared it blasphemous when the play ran in London in 1999“

Rammerne virker til at være mere afslappet denne gang

“Sydney Mardi Gras organizers describe it on the festival Web site as “a play that speaks out against inhumanity by providing a witty, contemporary interpretation of Jesus’ life” . Director Leigh Romney, who is staging the work in Australia, rejected accusations the play mocks Christ.
Rowney said that as a Christian himself, he was keen to provoke debate.“

“I wanted this play in the hands of a Christian person like myself to give it dignity but still open it up to answering questions about Christianity as a faith system,” Rowney said

Det var så hvad jeg valgte at vise af herligheder fra den religiøse verden for denne gang

Kilde: http://www.wwrn.org/index.php

Vi lever i en verden, hvor rigtige mange mennesker tror mere eller mindre blindt på forskellige ting, som jeg personligt ville anse som absurditeter.

Jeg vil i denne lille løbende sektion komme på nogle eksempler på hvordan religion påvirker verden og dens borgere. Selvsagt kan det være sig både positivt og negativt, men jeg vil forbeholde mig retten til at være lidt selektiv og vise eksempler på episoder eller udviklinger jeg finder ganske uhørt eller bare groteske, måske ligefrem humoristiske.

Alternativ og ‘effektiv’ bekæmpelse af H5N1

I Benin har en lokal traditionalistisk voodoo-præst fundet ud af hvordan man bekæmper den farlige globale virus H5N1

Sacrificing chickens in a spray of blood, Benin’s traditional priests celebrated Voodoo Day on Thursday and declared their ancient religion would protect them from risk of infection by the deadly H5N1 bird flu virus.

The small West African state, home of the Voodoo rituals carried by slaves to the Americas, last month announced at least two cases of bird flu in poultry which tests in Europe confirmed were of the deadly H5N1 strain that can be fatal to humans.

Selvom at det for nogen mennesker måske kunne virke med den modsatte effekt er præsten(erne) overbevist at religionen nok skal beskytte

“It’s not a question of religion … the unprotected manipulation of poultry is dangerous,” Julien Toessi, director of health promotion at the Health Ministry, told Reuters.

Voodoo practitioners, spurning the protective suits, gloves and masks recommended for handling suspect birds, declared their faith would shield them from infection during ceremonies in which sacrificed chickens’ blood is sprayed over the faithful and the ground to “purify” them and gain favor from the gods.

“If you buy a chicken to sacrifice it to your God, he will not let you buy an infected bird,” said Dah Aligbonon, a Voodoo priest from Abomey, the former capital of the ancient African kingdom of Dahomey.

…

“We don’t fear infection from bird flu … because there is a divine power that accompanies our sacrifice,” Aligbonon added.”

Lige meget hvad man synes om denne indstilling, må man da håbe at tilfældighederne tilsmiler disse mennesker og at de ikke bliver smittet under en såkaldt ’forebyggende’ sceance.

Sikring af en god turnering

Det er snart tid til den traditionsrige fodboldturnering Copa America og det har fået heksedoktorer på banen

Eight witch doctors from across the continent called on the spirits to bring luck to the dozen teams in the Copa America yesterday, a day before the South American tournament opener.

Dressed in a multi-coloured poncho, rainbow-striped pants and a felt fedora, lead shaman Juan Osco blew mouthfuls of scented cane liquor and threw petals on a soccer ball bearing the teams’ crests.

Dette skulle således gerne sikre at tilskuere verden over vil få en god turnering at se med en masse god fodbold. Som entusiast kan jeg kun glæde mig over doktorernes gode bidrag

“With flowers, good perfumes and good wishes we are asking the protective gods that no misfortune befall any player and that above all there are good matches,” intoned Osco, Peru’s self-proclaimed “Shaman of the Andes.”

Blodstranfusion er yderst farligt for religionen

En mand i Vestbengalen, en delstat i Indien, har måtte stå til ansvar for sin beslutning

A man in West Bengal who refused to provide a blood transfusion to his critically ill daughter because his religion forbade it has been arrested.

Sanjay Lakra is a follower of the group Jehovah’s Witnesses, who believe that blood transfusions are a sin. So when doctors told him that his two-year-old daughter would die unless she was given a blood transfusion, he refused to allow it.

Jehovas Vidner har som eksemplificeret her tilhængere over det meste af Jorden og man kan således diskutere om det er en velsignelse eller ej, men i tilfældet var det det formentligt ikke for den stakkels lille pige

On Tuesday, the child was admitted in the North Bengal Medical College Hospital where doctors said she was suffering from acute renal failure, anaemia as well as bacillary dysentery and needed a transfusion urgently.

But Lakra withdrew the girl from hospital and took her to Bagdogra Rural Hospital to find out if alternative treatment was possible. Ranjit Bhagat of the hospital told HT: “I explained to him that only an immediate blood transfusion would save his child, but he took her away.”

Hvad der helt præcist skete med den lille pige fremgår dog ikke, men man kan næsten kun frygte det værste

Det var så hvad jeg valgte at vise af herligheder fra den religiøse verden for denne gang

Kilde: http://www.wwrn.org/index.php

Vi lever i en verden, hvor rigtige mange mennesker tror mere eller mindre blindt på forskellige ting, som jeg personligt ville anse som absurditeter.

Jeg vil i denne lille løbende sektion komme på nogle eksempler på hvordan religion påvirker verden og dens borgere. Selvsagt kan det være sig både positivt og negativt, men jeg vil forbeholde mig retten til at være lidt selektiv og vise eksempler på episoder eller udviklinger jeg finder ganske uhørt eller bare groteske, måske ligefrem humoristiske.

Vil ikke på foto

Det kan engang imellem være problematisk med den teknologiske udvikling fx for amish-folk

“When Frank Christner and others from his Mennonite community near Sedalia moved their families here seven years ago, they planned to lay down roots and raise up their children.

They built homes, a church and a school. Leo Kempf opened a meat processing plant; Christner started an excavating business; and his brother, Doug, set up a cabinetmaking shop. The Mennonites created a community along this rural stretch of roadway eight miles southwest of Huntsville. This was to be the promised land.

Plans have changed. A new state law that would force them to have their pictures taken to get a driver’s license has led them to sell their homes. Mennonites believe the Bible forbids them from posing for photographs, so they’re moving to Arkansas.”

Så familien må søge videre for en fotoløs oase, som de imidlertidigt kan finde i Arkansas. For selvom om de gerne vil adlyde den gudsbenåede stat, så svarer de først og fremmest til “the chief”

“Fifteen families have decided to pull up stakes and move to Arkansas, where state law offers Mennonites an exemption from having a photograph on their driver’s license. He said Missouri’s six other Mennonite communities are considering a similar move.

“We aren’t down on the government,” said 40-year-old Kempf, who is raising seven children with his wife, Pam. “We believe the government is ordained by God, and we believe we should follow what they say as long as it is not against the word of God. God comes first.”"

Og så slipper de for at trodse den gamle mand og lever lykkeligt til deres ende og heldigvis uden billeder.

Skilmisse over sms

Hvad med en hurtig og smertefri skilsmisse. Skrive en sms-besked, derefter gentage den to gange og voilá, så er du en ‘fri’ mand igen

After missing a call from her husband on her mobile phone, Iqbal Abul Nasr received a text message from him saying, “I divorce you because you didn’t answer your husband,” Al-Akhbar said.

In line with Sharia (Islamic law) men do not need to go to court to file for divorce. A unilateral declaration of divorce by a man, repeated three times, formally ends a marriage.

 Det er dog ikke sikkert at det er så nemt. Sagen her tages nemlig i retten for at blive testet for præcedens.

“It was the third time Abul Nasr, an engineer from Cairo, received a divorce SMS from her husband, prompting her to seek a legal decision from a family court on the status of her marriage.

If the court declares the couple divorced, it would be the first reported case of divorce by SMS in Egypt.

The subject of divorce by SMS has been highly debated across the Muslim world and some Islamic countries like Malaysia have banned the practice.

According to Egypt’s state-run statistics bureau, a couple files for divorce every six minutes in Egypt.”

Spændende med hvad der sker på den front. 

 Man putter da ikke tøj på en statue

 Nogen folks religiøse følelser er åbenbart meget sarte og igen skal vi til en tur til Indien, men denne gang skal vi have bekendtskab med Hari Krishna, men Krishna har egentlig også forbindelse med den generelle hinduisme.

Vrindavan, India - The caretaker of the Banke Bihari temple Jugal Goswami was relieved from all the responsibilities of the temple on Monday after he dressed the Lord Krishna idol in jeans and T-shirts.

Goswami, at the request of some fun-loving devotees, gave the deity on Thursday a “modern look” complete with jeans and a shirt and wielding a mobile phone.

The western dressing of the idol had led to strong protests in the holy town and raised a public outrage.

Activists of groups like Bajrang Dal and Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) termed the move blasphemy and burnt effigies of the priests. They demanded that “those who defiled the sanctity of the temple” be punished.

 Det er således en yderst stor provokation at give en statue af Krishna tøj på. Det kan i hvert fald ødelægge nogens gode humør og en eventuel god dag

But the exit of Goswami seemed very imminent since morning as Gokal Behari Das, Mahant of the temple said, “This is a shameful work. Lord Krishna was wearing T-shirt and a jean is really insulting. We want that the people who are involved in this degrading crime should be arrested”,

The incident of Lord Krishna idol being dressed in jeans and T-shirt in Banke Bihari temple created a furore.

Vi håber at de få sat sig ned og mediteret lidt. Man må bare håbe at al den meditation ikke undertrykker nogle lagre af frustrationer, der vil kunne komme til at gå ud over en en stakkels lille præst med lidt god humor og smag. 

 Det var hvad jeg valgte at vise af herligheder fra den religiøse verden for denne gang

Kilde: http://www.wwrn.org/index.php
http://www.alarabiya.net/articles/2008/01/03/43733.html