On Friday 13 Jul 2007 11:45 am, Charles Haynes wrote: > Are there not Hindus who believe Hinduism is under attack and needs > active protection by humans? It certainly appears so from here. I > would certainly call the destruction of the Babri Masjid "active."
That doesn't change the fact that the faiths Hinduism and Buddhism do not ask for active protection as a dogma, and as a result, are not actively protected by the vast majority of followers. To recap - the idea that the Sri Lankan conflict is a Hindu vs Buddhist affair is IMO a simplistic belief that I believe stems from an extrapolation of the dogma that led to conflicts between Christianity and Islam. This mistaken impression is usually voiced by people who grow up in the the ostensibly secular west, but which in practice, I believe, provides a Christian outlook on life because of the fact that Christianity is the predominant faith. If you practise Hinduism or Buddhism, you might want to kill people for all sorts of reasons, but protecting the faith is not a sustainable reason based on the religious beliefs encouraged by these faiths. People who are killing in the name of Hinduism will not be able to provide a religious justification for that. The usual justification I see is "tit for tat". It is important to note that nothing in Hinduism specifically says that you must not kill in the name of God. What you do is your karma. By all means kill. By all means claim that you are doing it for Hinduism, but the karma you sow will catch up with you. Sooner or later. Hinduism prescribes some things. Protection of the faith is not one of them. Look for reasons for murder and mayhem under "Other titles/chapters" Whatever the history of Hindus and Hinduism, there has never been much of a bar to introducing new thought if convenient. The idea that Hindus somehow represent "non violence" was Gandhi's sleight of hand. That is in fact going, as is the "Hindu tolerance" bogey. I believe that there is an increasing tendency for Hindus to feel that violence and murder are necessary because Hindus seem to be walking around with a huge chip on their shoulders thinking that they have been given a raw deal. But there is virtually no sentiment among Hindus that says that Buddhists have given them a raw deal. Islam is topmost on the Hindu hit list. Christianity comes second. shiv
