Bosco wrote: > >Santosh - Your 7-point list of your views conforms to >what you've been saying for a decade - you are >pro-Science more than anything else. Everything has to >be logical. If not for the keywords 'harmful' and >'innocuous', I think your points 6 and 7 could be in >contradiction. Would it be possible to list the 5 most >harmful religious practices and 5 innocuous practices >for each of the 3 main religions in Goa. >
Hi Bosco, Thanks for your kindness. I appreciate the fairness you have shown in your independent rational assessment of my writings pertaining to religion over the last decade. You have correctly pin-pointed my emphasis on the words harmful and innocuous as they refer to our traditional practices. The only thing that I would point out in addition is my concern about both religious and non-religious practices (Please note that I have included both these words in points 6 and 7). The reference to non-religious has to do with such things as quackery in the name of alternative medicine, pseudoscience, paranormal beliefs, jingoism, nationalism, chauvinism, blind adherence to ideology and various New Age fads and practices. In reply to your request, here is a listing of harmful and innocuous practices of the two dominant religions of Goa, Hinduism and Roman Catholic Christianity. I am not providing you with a list on Islam because I am not sufficiently familiar with it in the Goan context. Instead of the innocuous, I have listed what I consider to be desirable practices of these religions. HINDUISM Harmful practices: 1. Caste system 2. Communalism and militant fundamentalism 3. Infusion of religion into politics and public affairs 4. Astrology 5. Unhygienic rituals, superstitions, divining rituals and paranormal beliefs 6. Worship of godmen and swamis 7. Belief in miracles Desirable practices: 1. Inclusive and tolerant philosophy, and heterodoxy 2. Yogic, meditative and spiritualist tradition 3. Festivals and ceremonies 4. Mythological literature 5. Devotional music 6. Fellowship and camaraderie 7. Prayer, hope and psychological support for those who need it. ROMAN CATHOLIC CHRISTIANITY Harmful practices: 1. Communalism, self-righteousness and intolerance of other beliefs and practices. 2. Infusion of religion into politics and public affairs 3. Belief in miracles and miracle business 4. Prohibition of contraception and sterilization 5. Opposition to human embryonic stem cell research, to treatments based on these cells, and to therapeutic abortion. 6. Discriminatory attitude towards homosexuals. 7. Prohibition of divorce. Desirable practices: 1. Support and promotion of literacy and higher education 2. Charitable work in health care, disaster relief and alleviation of poverty 3. Scholastic philosophy 4. Festivals and ceremonies 5. Religious literature and music 6. Fellowship and camaraderie 7. Prayer, hope and psychological support for those who need it. Cheers, Santosh _______________________________________________ Goanet mailing list Goanet@lists.goanet.org http://lists.goanet.org/listinfo.cgi/goanet-goanet.org