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Showing posts from July, 2018

Import of Sabarimala Case and its bearings on temple control in India

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The Sabarimala Shrine of Lord Ayyappa The Sabarimala case concerning the entry of women into the inner sanctum of the temple took a dramatic turn today, with the Indic Collective's J Sai Deepak, Ayyappa Seva Sangham's Kailashanatha Pillai and a bevy of others arguing effectively on the question of the custom's validity, constitutional rights of the living deity and the peculiar nature of Kerala society and the reasons why this entire case stands no ground. Suffice to say, the question of equality, morality and what constitutes right to freedom of religion has been fundamentally shaken in terms of the judges' core belief, and this will cast a long shadow on future judgments in matters related to administration and the jurisprudence of Hindu temple and matha traditions. While the final judgment is yet to be announced, the entire case has brought back into light the role of several vested stakeholders, especially the state controlled organizations running temples a

The Missionaries of Charity Case and the Duplicity of Media Narrative

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Source: Zee News The shocking case of the sale of babies recorded in the Missionaries of Charity centre in Jharkhand is the latest in a series of cases of frauds perpetuated by organizations representing 'Christian interests' coming into limelight. There was an even more shocking case of St James 'hospice' in Tamil Nadu that was selling organs by literally killing off old people, recording more than one thousand patient deaths in less than 2 years time. Much water has flown under the bridge, and yet, the media does not have time to discuss the ghastly nature of such a case and many others; instead, efforts are found to say how these are mere aberrations in the otherwise holy, saintly efforts of a community and its clergy to uplift the poor downtrodden unwashed masses of India. There have been so many instances where several evangelical organizations in India have been allowed to become bigger than the law in more than one way. Various Church denominations o