Word: hindu
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...Hamad said Christmas in Bethlehem makes him lonely. Religion made me lonely. One of my parents was a Hindu, the other a Catholic. I went to services of both faiths from time to time. My ex-wife persuaded me to become a Presbyterian, and now I am an agnostic. Religion has become a tool of intolerance, and extremism is now the norm. Humanism has been forgotten. Robert R. Mittoo, Calgary, Canada
...violence that has wracked India's eastern state of Orissa over the past few days seems, at first glance, to be purely religious. On Christmas Eve and Christmas day, Hindu nationalists in the Kandhamal area attacked churches and convents and set fire to houses belonging to Christians, killing one person and injuring at least two dozen more. Since then, more than forty Christian houses have been set ablaze despite curfews and increased police patrols. Local Hindus say the violence began after Christians attacked a Hindu leader. Christians say the attacks - the latest in several bouts of religious violence that have...
...Orissa is predominantly Hindu, with a small Christian minority. Over the past few years, though, thousands of Hindus have converted to Christianity. Many converts, and the churches they join, say conversion is a way to escape their place in the complex social hierarchy of Hindu caste. While discrimination based on caste has been officially barred for years, it lives on in many parts of society. For groups such as the Dalits, or "untouchables", occupying the lowest rung of the caste ladder, it can mean a life of hardship; unsurprisingly, it is this group that accounts for the most converts...
...India's right-wing Hindu groups and political parties allege that Christian groups are forcing Hindus to convert against their will, in an effort to change the nature of India. "They want to convert people to Christianity and convert the country into a Christian land," Swami Laxmananand Saraswati, head of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (World Hindu Council), one of India's biggest Hindu nationalist groups, told Indian reporters. "We are opposed to that and that is the source of all disputes and fights." Other low-caste groups and so-called "tribals" - ethnic minorities who stand outside the caste system...
...hard-liners' main frustrations is the fact that Hinduism is inherently tolerant of other religions and allows that they too could be valid alternative paths to enlightenment. Proselytizing as Christians and Muslims do is, by its nature, un-Hindu, which makes a looming battle for Indians' souls look "very asymmetrical," says Nandy. For Hindu nationalists, the fear of Hindu conversions to Christianity "is a kind of humiliation that is being rubbed in," he says. Ironically, of course, Hinduism's acceptance of other religions is used by extremists as an excuse for hostility towards other religions. "The source of tolerance...