Is Hinduism a religion of violence?

Where are the moderate Hindus? If the moderate Hindus don’t speak up, shamefully Hinduism will be slapped with the label of religion of violence.  In the last year and half, India has witnessed relentless harassment of the Dalits, Muslims and Christians. This week a man is mercilessly beaten to death by a mob with bricks for supposedly eating beef, which he did not per the police.

India had a glorious civilization and the extremist among Hindus cannot mess with it, unless we let them.  Our past was made up of respecting the otherness of others, but today, we are going in the opposite direction.

Was our civilization bad? 

Eating beef has been made a crime in India now. If unchecked, India will regress and the glorious past will be equated with stupidity for forcing and harassing people to obedience as the ISIS brutes do.   Our civilization was a great civilization and we cannot let a few misguided ones ruin India's pluralistic ethos. 

I like to see an India where one has the freedom to eat, drink, breath, wear or believe whatever the hell he or she wants.

I do expect Americans of Indian origin to speak up, hoping that they have learned the value of freedom in America, where we mind our own business and eat whatever we want to. 

Mike Ghouse
http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2015/09/30/a-mob-in-india-just-dragged-a-man-from-his-home-and-beat-him-to-death-for-eating-beef/?tid=sm_fb

Thank you

Mike Ghouse, Consultant
(214) 325-1916 text/talk

Dr. Mike Ghouse is a social scientist, thinker, writer and a speaker on Islam, Pluralism, Interfaith, politics, foreign policy and building cohesive societies. Mike offers pluralistic solutions on issues of the day. More about him in 63 links at www.MikeGhouse.net and his writings are at TheGhousediary.com   

Who am I ?

In progressive Zionism, someone wrote that my friendship limit is up - I responded, no not yet, it should be 7.3 Billion; the entire humanity. He meant Facebook - but I quoted him my Google profile.

The ideal spiritual achievement is when we become one with nature (God), meaning we believe and act as part of the web, and not outside the web. The others parts and us make the whole. It will be a cohesive, interconnected, interdependent world for all of us. What kills this harmony? Arrogance prompted by selfishness and insecurities. How do we work towards it? We accomplish that by respecting the otherness of others and accepting the God given uniqueness of each one of us.

Think about it, no matter how much we argue and disagree, we are still inhabitants of one earth, to a Martian; we are all one and the same.

I don't consider anyone to be my enemy, although I do get death threats, I see the problems in communication, and if we see each other’s point of view, half the battle is won.

I do not run away from any one. I am committed to do my share of building cohesive societies and I intend to connect with everyone as humanly possible as I can.

Tomorrow, if I sit with Bush and have a conversation, it does not mean I am with him. If I sit with Netanyahu, it sure does not mean I am on his side and if I am meeting Modi it does not mean I agree with all of what he says or does. When I am with SeanHannity, we don’t agree but still carry a conversation. A year ago, he said something profound – You are the only Muslim I can talk with. Yes, everyone can talk with me.

A few people have a problem when I am with people they don’t agree with, and I am comfortable with the entire spectrum from left to moderate to extreme right. The problems we have in the world are the result of not talking with and listening to each other.

Pluralism does not mean yielding and making up, it means advocating force (in case of ISIS) to stop the wrong doers from killing other people. Pluralism does not mean I have to agree with you, it means that I see you as a fellow human with your own ambitions, aspirations, apprehension and have to figure out how both of us can live.

Please don’t judge me for who I am with, as I have no barriers between me and the 7. 3 billion people on this earth. I will disagree with you but will not hate you, condemn you or belittle you, it also does not mean I will take the crap from you.

Mike Ghouse