Valentine's day Vandalism in India

Valentine's day is a celebration of love, while it is a meaningful day for most people around the world,  it is a day of harassment and vandalism for some in India.  As Indians should we feel embarrassed about it? Of course not! 

The Vandalism side of the story at - https://www.saddahaq.com/humaninterest/valentinesday/vandals-or-valentines-day

Pictures of Interfaith  couples followed by the positive side of the story and links to a few good romantic songs at - An album of interfaith couples will be set with your pictures of those couples who did not convert the one or the other. to their religious tradition. More about it at:  http://interfaithmarriages.blogspot.com/2015/02/future-of-valentines-day.html

King Akbar Married Jodabai - they remained Muslim and Hindu

 

If you are an interfaith couple and would like to share a picture, I will create an album for the same. Need to have it by 2/15 to be a part of the Album.

 Future of Valentine's day after the pictures:

Throughout the history of language, words have taken on new and expanded meanings; Valentine's Day is no exception.

From an exclusive meaningful rendezvous between two lovers, the Valentine's Day will morph into an all-inclusive romantic day. It will become a universal affection day within a decade.

Valentine’s Day is a universal expression of affection between two individuals. Love has no bounds; it is between two people in love, husband and wife, mother and son, father daughter, brother sister, brothers, sisters, friends, uncles, aunties, Grandpa and Grandma and any one you care about.

Please feel free to say happy valentine to your sister, mother, brother, daughter, dad, uncle or a friend. It is a much bigger word now than it started out to be. Take them out for dinner and send them flowers to let them know that you care if you are the only one for them at this point in life.

While we express it by presenting red roses to our loved ones, the Filipinos will break another record; the number of people kissing at the same time, Brazil will have another major festival on her beaches celebrating love. You are welcome to share other such expressions. Now there is a selfie competition going as well.

On the other side of the world, a few frustrated ones with life go to the other end. The right wingers among orthodox Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists, Jews and others will start giving religious tones to it instead of going to their place of worship and seeking God's love.

Sadly, some of you are going to feel lonely, if you miss the love in your life; you have an opportunity to fulfill it. There is plenty in you that you can give by feeding the homeless, visiting lonely patients in the hospitals or nursing homes, disadvantage women and children, our veterans... share whatever little you have with them including the time and just listening to them. When a homeless person asks, give whatever you can, that is the most affectionate thing to do, you will enrich yourselves far greater by sharing.

Whenever the word affection comes to mind, I picture my dad and recall the way he called out my Mother's name Khairun, it was filled with affection and I have always enjoyed the sound of that, it was simply soothing to hear.

I dedicate these three songs to people in love.  

Kenny Roger's, you decorated my life: I particularly like the line which says, there is no rhyme or reason that is what love is all about. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gJkPFSt326c

Ronnie Millsap’s, what a difference you made in my life, 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Ni1WPGEZtg&feature=fvst

Muhammad Rafi's ai Husn Zara Jaag in Urdu/ Hindi, 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2_qGtHjM6Oc

and Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan's, aap say mil kay in Urdu/Hindi
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ixRn65ImoRQ

My expressions would be incomplete without honoring the poet of love, Mirza Ghalib, one of the greatest romantic poets of all time who composed his poetry in Urdu/Hindi and Farsi.

Ishk per zor nahin, hai a o aatish ghalib
Ke lagaye na lege, bujhaye no bujhe.

Affection is that flame dear ole Ghalib,
it cannot be lit or extinguished,  it just happens.

If we can learn to respect the otherness of others and accept the God given uniqueness of each one of us, then conflicts fade and solutions emerge.

Be good to your fellow beings. 

Happy Valentine's Day 

Thank you
mike
Mike Ghouse
(214) 325-1916 text/talk
...............................................................................................................................
Mike Ghouse is a public speaker, thinker, writer and a commentator on Pluralism at work place, politics, religion, society, gender, race, culture, ethnicity, food and foreign policy. He is a staunch defender of human rights and his book standing up for others will be out soon, and a movie "Americans together" is in the making.  He is a frequent guest commentator on Fox News and syndicated Talk Radio shows and a writer at major news papers including Dallas Morning News and Huffington Post. All about him is listed in 63 links at www.MikeGhouse.net and his writings are atwww.TheGhousediary.com and 10 other blogs. He is committed to building cohesive societies and offers pluralistic solutions on issues of the day.

Texas Faith: Who inspires you?

Published at Dallas Morning News and www.TheGhouseDiary.com

Pope Francis is my inspiration and my religious leader. Even though he is a Christian and I am a Muslim and observe different rituals, the essence of both the religions is same; to help develop an individual’s behavior to attain peace for oneself, and to live cohesively with what surrounds him; life and environment. - Mike Ghouse

Texas Faith column at Dallas Morning News, published by Rudolph Bush on February 10, 2015 6:09 pm

There are none of us who can walk alone very long. We need the hand and help of others to pick us up at times. And we need their thoughts to buttress us or to test our own. We need their company and their companionship to comfort us.

Last week, I had to scratch my head and admit to my friends who contribute to this blog that the well was dry. I had no questions that I thought were worth asking them. So I asked them to submit questions. And good friends that they are on our journey, several quickly chimed in.

I chose the first one over the transom, from Fr Joshua Whitfield at St. Rita Parish. It was an excellent question that I think gets to the heart of what we are trying to do here -to commune with one another over our beliefs and our common humanity.

Thanks Fr. Joshua. Here is your question.

“Who is someone from another faith tradition either another denomination or another faith altogether that has inspired you, shaped you, or formed you in your own faith? And why is it a good thing to read and study others outside your own faith tradition?”

MIKE GHOUSE, President, Foundation for Pluralism and speaker on interfaith matters, Dallas

Pope Francis is my inspiration and my religious leader. Even though he is a Christian and I am a Muslim and observe different rituals, the essence of both the religions is same; to help develop an individual’s behavior to attain peace for oneself, and to live cohesively with what surrounds him; life and environment.

Studying other religions is critical, as it removes the arrogance and claims of superiority of one’s faith over the others. Arrogance is the mother of all conflicts and destroys the relationships between individuals, communities and nations. Humility on the other hand builds bridges and is a core value in every religion. Most people get that right and few don’t.

On March 13, 2013 within minutes of his appointment, I wrote, “I hope he heralds a new beginning for building a better world. In behalf of the people of faith or no faith, and my faith Islam, I welcome the Pope and make myself available to jump at his call for creating peace and harmony in the world, where no human has to live in fear of the others, let the world be the new kingdom of heaven where we all feel safe and secure with each other. Amen”

There are a few deeply rooted conflicts among the Muslim-Christian, and Jewish-Christian communities that are the root cause of much of the conflict in the world, they have been simmering within the hearts and minds of the Christians, Muslims and Jews, and flare up now and then in difficult expressions.

The world needs a powerful personality to urge Muslims, Jews and Christians to learn to respect the otherness of the other without the temptation to correct the other. It needs a strong personality that can absolve Jews from the myths ascribed to them. It needs a pope who is a blessed peacemaker and extends his embrace to the Pagans, Hindus and all others who do not worship or worship God in their own way. He has got to initiate a dialogue on same sex marriage, women priesthood, birth control, intrafaith, and interfaith relations. We are all children of God and honoring each other is honoring the creator.

Indeed Pope Frances is working on all that, and has earned my adoration and admiration. He is an ideal human being that Prophet Muhammad taught one to be. He is my Pope, the ideal Muslim Pope. I have written over 15 articles about him including an interview by a Catholic News Paper. It is all at http://mikeghouse.net/PopeFrancis.asp

Pope Francis is a mercy to mankind, and it simply means his thoughts; talks and acts bring hope, security and relief to women, minorities, children, oppressed, powerless, the poor and the weak.

Pope Francis is my hero and my inspiration. He represents the values of pluralism espoused by Jesus Christ. That is respecting the otherness of others and accepting the God-given uniqueness of each one of his creation. No one falls out of his ambit of love, none at all. It is my dream to go see the Pope and be his ambassador and a blessed peace maker.

We pray that Pope Francis ushers us into a new era of dialogue and respect for each other, Amen.

Studying other religions is critical to world peace and harmony; it removes the baseness in us, and elevates us from animalistic beings (dominance and annihilation of the other) to humanistic beings (dialogue and co-existence).

God in Qur’an says he has intentionally created us into many tribes, communities and nations, and by extrapolation religions, culture, races and languages from a single couple. Had he wanted, he would have created every one of us to be exactly the same, but he chose to give us unique thumb prints, DNA, taste buds and other uniqueness. Then he adds, the best ones among you are those who will take the time to know each other, he knows that knowledge leads to understanding and understanding to acceptance and appreciation of different points of view for a well functioning cohesive world.

Nine other Panelists have responded with their own favorites, to read them all please visit Texas Faith Column at Dallas Morning News - http://dallasmorningviewsblog.dallasnews.com/2015/02/texas-faith-who-inspires-you.html/#more-51113

# # #

I have been writing for over 5 years now, and have written over 200 pieces.

Thank you
mike
Mike Ghouse
(214) 325-1916 text/talk
...............................................................................................................................

Mike Ghouse is a public speaker, thinker, writer and a commentator on Pluralism at work place, politics, religion, society, gender, race, culture, ethnicity, food and foreign policy. He is a staunch defender of human rights and his book standing up for others will be out soon, and a movie "Americans together" is in the making.  He is a frequent guest commentator on Fox News and syndicated Talk Radio shows and a writer at major news papers including Dallas Morning News and Huffington Post. All about him is listed in 63 links atwww.MikeGhouse.net and his writings are at www.TheGhousediary.com and 10 other blogs. He is committed to building cohesive societies and offers pluralistic solutions on issues of the day.  

India Elections: Congratulations to the people of Delhi for electing the Aam Aadmi Party

Congratulations to the Aam Aadmi Party for winning the elections for Delhi State, it is indeed a landslide victory, but not a good victory for the state. It is a slaughterous victory for democracy by giving 67 out of 70 seats to one party. My biggest disappointment is the future of this kind of democracy where there is no room for opposition.

If you look at the history of democracies be it India, Israel, UK or USA, all the evil wars and implementation of bad policies have been occurred with such majorities. We have got to create a movement where we give majority to a party in each house to cause debates before decisions are made. This will guarantee us the public that we do not have sheepish representatives, but the ones who debate the merits of a bill.

The entire BJP juggernaut was rejected by the Delhi Public. Never in the history of India, the entire national machinery, and 120 cabinet Ministers and the Prime Minister focused on winning the election in the state of Delhi.

Modi has failed the Indians – a lot is written about his inability to control the extremists in his party. This is the first sign of reality catching up with BJP. He cannot help himself, he is not trained to be an inclusive individual, he is trying hard but his RSS Madrasa education prevents him from being inclusive.

Meanwhile, Indians are getting sick of BJP - they promised to focus on prosperity but ended up messing up with social structure - 5 churches were burnt in New Delhi and forced conversions of Muslims is going on, and Mr. Modi has remained silent. This is a pay back and hope Mr. Modi learns.

The problem with Modi is he has got too many Chamchas (sycophants) who blindly praise and even worship him, and perhaps keep him misinformed. It will all accumulate to his ungraceful fall. What he needs is people who are critical of him, that will cause him to be on his toes and succeed in his sab ka sath sab ka vikas goal. On my part I will be critical of him and keep him on his toes. I may look bad to the Chamchas, but that is the right thing to do, than let him fall. If he succeeds, all of us will.

If Mr. Modi does not control the extremists in his party, he is doomed to lose more and the majority of Indians will not cry over it.

I am pleased to add the following incisive analysis by Dr. Amal Mukherjee. I urge Modi supporters to be critical. The greatest enemies of Modi are his Chamchas, defending him on everything he does without realizing its effects on the social cohesion of India. Chamchagiri is the ugliest thing one can do to a leader, be the best citizens of India and criticize where necessary and praise where it is deserved, if not he will fall ungracefully from the esteem you have given him.

==================
67/3 in Delhi, What went wrong for the BJP?
- Inadequate water and electricity in the Capital.
- Failure of law and order
- PM's inability to reign in the so-called fringe / extremist elements.
- Failure to improve the environmental quality of life .
- Ghar wapsi , forced conversions , church attacks .
- Perception-disconnect between the common man and the PM's personal life-style. ( I think this is a bit over-the-top , but the common man has his own notions + his vote ).
- More time spent with foreign dignitaries in India as well as in abroad and with the corporate honchos, less time with the common man on road.
- Name calling of the AAP leaders, especially of AK, by the BJP leaders - backfired on them.
- Hollow promises by BJP leaders (black money etc.), especially by NAMO, before the general election, not fulfilled, made it worse by Jaitley's song and dance.

It is time for BJP to do some serious introspection and soul searching. Basking in the glory of their general election win is gone. They need to break some new ground.
AAP must fulfill their commitments also otherwise soon they will be kicked out. Indian voters are very intelligent and cannot be fooled. Money cannot buy them anymore. Those days of Congress malpractice have long gone.

Amal
==================

Disappointment

As an Indian deeply committed to democracy in India, I am disappointed that we do not have a strong opposition. A strong opposition keeps the government on its toes, and at least somewhat accountable. Fascism takes root when the government has huge majority and huge mandate; it is the most dangerous thing for a nation to give full powers to a single party.

Now that AAP has this mandate, from here on I will be extremely critical of them, that is the patriotic thing to do to prevent the nation from going to dogs. I will be Critical of Modi government as well, even though I spoke favarobly about Modi in the beginning, listening to his thoughtful speeches. I urge Modi supporters to be critical, if not he will fall ungracefully from the esteem he has earned. Modi should speak out against radicalism from his party, and not be a goonga.

About Modi - still to be updated. http://mikeghouse.net/NarendraModi.asp

If Mr. Modi does not control the extremists in his party, he is doomed to lose more and the majority of Indians will not cry over it.

Mike Ghouse
www.MikeGhouse.net

 About Modi - still to be updated. http://mikeghouse.net/NarendraModi.asp

Nirankari Mission with Dr. Rajan Sachdeva

Religion and the right religious teaching is beautiful, most people get that right and a few don’t. We witness that daily in our lives in class rooms, family, place of worship, social gathering, sports or any endeavor. In class rooms, a majority of the students pass; a few will not make it even though it was the same teacher and the same books for all.  

I have a deep fascination for religion. I see the wisdom and beauty in each one of them and have come to respect and love them all, equally yes, unequivocally.

His introduction of Dr. Sachdeva is one of the best intros I have seen

So, I went to hear about the Nirankari Mission. "Unity Vs Uniformity - The need is not to dwell in uniformity but to able to exist with diverse styles and bring synergy in what we do together. Each individual is unique as created by divinity, it would be against divine nature if we force individuals to think and do alike. We should be able to think differently and yet leverage the formless link to bring synergy and prosperity. www.Nirankari.org .

This is precisely the definition of Pluralism we have put forth - respecting the otherness of others and accepting the God given uniqueness of each one of us. You are who you are, and I am who I am and we have to figure how to live cohesively. www.Foundationforpluralism.com 

Dr. Rajan Sachdeva, the guru representing the Mission and I had a conversation a day earlier at a dinner at Gurdev Singh’s home.  We connected instantly. One of the statements he made was that they don’t believe in conversions, but share the truth about us and our connection with God. Indeed, my work in Pluralism parallels that, you are who you are and I am who I am, and let’s figure a way to live with least conflicts and tensions. Everyone should have right to freely choose any religion they want any time.

I gave a short talk on the source of conflict and the need for us to know each other. Knowledge leads to understanding, and understanding to acceptance and appreciation of another point of view. Indeed, if we can learn to respect the otherness of others and accept the God given uniqueness of each one of us, then conflicts fade and solutions emerge.

Dr. Rajan Sachdeva’s key note address was about how we find God. The key is in seeing the truth and majesty of his creation with humility and he said God is within each one of us and everywhere.

He started with the story of the Elephant and the blind men.

The following is copied from his blog, “No one can really know anybody, however much we may claim to know them. We can only look at things from a certain angle. We can never see anything as whole, in totality, at any given time. We see and judge everything according to our own perceptions. We label people as we see or happen to know them in certain situations. We can never know anyone completely because of our own limitations.

The wise looks from every angle and knows that no one is all good or all bad; completely righteous or completely evil. Knowing that no one is perfect, they do not pass judgment.

Remember the ancient story of six blind men and the elephant told by Buddha? The same story has been told with small variations, in almost every cultural tradition.”

The full Elephant story is at http://rajansachdev.blogspot.com/2015/02/no-one-really-knows-anyone-blind-men.html

He narrated a story about a man tells his friends that he has the largest home in New Delhi, and his friends were concerned that the man had nothing else to talk other than his biggest house. Then one of the children pulls an Atlas, and asks the man to find India on the large world map, which was about two inches in size compared to the world, then the kid asks him to find New Delhi in it, and there it was, a small dot in the world Map, and then he asks, uncle where is your house in there?  The man got the message.

The Dr. Sachdeva goes on to share that if we go further and further out into the expanse of the universe, the whole earth is smaller than that dot which represented New Delhi. There is someone bigger than all of us, and we are merely a speck as Carl Sagan had put it. Humility indeed builds bridges and relationships and arrogance destroys it. When we realize our role in scheme of the universe, we become a part of the whole bringing harmony.

Indeed, on my facebook I wrote a few days ago, who am I? And wrote the following, “The ideal spiritual achievement is realized 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 and 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.

Dr. Rajan Sachdeva has a Phd in Music and has a great command over Hindi, Urdu, Sanskrit and has a working knowledge of Arabic and Farsi. A scholar in Guru Granth Saheb and Vedas. 

It was a joy to hear him and when I get some time, I will expand my understanding of his teaching. It was a joy to listen. There were a lot of things we had in common in our understanding of religion and God.  

A side note: Although it is an Indian tradition to express humility by touching the feet of the learned, I have felt the humility comes from respecting the knowledge of others rather than bowing. In my note about my fascination with religion, I must say, that I stopped going to the Mahabodhi society in Bangalore when the priest insisted that I do not shake hands with him but touch his feet. That was the last day I set foot in that temple.

 

Thank you
mike
Mike Ghouse
(214) 325-1916 text/talk
............................................................................................................................... Mike Ghouse is a public speaker, thinker, writer and a commentator on Pluralism at work place, politics, religion, society, gender, race, culture, ethnicity, food and foreign policy. He is a staunch defender of human rights and his book standing up for others will be out soon, and a movie "Americans together" is in the making.  He is a frequent guest commentator on Fox News and syndicated Talk Radio shows and a writer at major news papers including Dallas Morning News and Huffington Post. All about him is listed in 63 links atwww.MikeGhouse.net and his writings are at www.TheGhousediary.com and 10 other blogs. He is committed to building cohesive societies and offers pluralistic solutions on issues of the day. 

Religion - My fascination with religions

www.TheGhousediary.com - My Fascination with religions

Religions fascinate me, although I was an Agnostic-Atheist for nearly 30 years of my life, I was respectful of religions and attended religious rituals of almost all religions.

In the last sixties and early seventies, I was a big fan of Dr. Abraham Kovoor, the father of modern Atheism, and also followed the writings of Mahatma Gandhi, Sir Syed Ahmed Khan, Swami Vivekananda, Allama Iqbal, Jiddu Krishnamurthy, Rumi, Dale Carnegie, and a German Scholar who wrote the book Man and Religion.

Some day, I will elaborate on this, but for now, here is the summary.

I am grateful to my father for opening the windows of knowledge to me. He was always kind and respectful to me. Except once, he never hit me or belittled me. I hope my kids can say the same about me.

On the day of Ramadan Eid celebrations,  the Muslims in my town (Yelahanka) gather near the mosque, and walk a mile to the outdoor Mosque by the cemetery to pray and pay respects to the buried ones; a beautiful Muslim tradition that I have come to respect even when I was an atheist.

On that particular Eid, I refused to go to prayers as I did not believe in God or the prayers. My father looked me over, I had dared him. He gave me a short lecture and explained – "One day, I will be dead and gone, and you will be living in this town and have to live with others. No one will trust or do business with you, including my Hindu friends if you do not follow a system. Religion is a part of the society and it is up to you what you do with your life… God doesn't need your prayers, but you have to live with others"…. of course, I went to the Mosque, had he pushed me, I would not have gone and would probably have hated religion. I wish all parents treat their kids in that fashion, particularly the rebellious ones.

Thanks to my parents, they had friends from many religious traditions and have carried on conversations with them in the most civil manner I can imagine. My mother had weekly conversations with the only Zoroastrian lady in town, whom we called ‘Parsiamma” Behramji and chatted with our neighbor Sugalchand, a Jain family.  

My 5th or 6th grade social studies book has never left me, it created a positive life time impression about religions. There was a page dedicated to each one of the great religious teachers including Krishna, Rama, Buddha, Mahavir, Jesus, Moses, Prophet Muhammad, Zoroaster and Nanak, and the there was a two page summary of each one of the faiths. Top it up with my parents consistent reminders from Quran - that each faith is beautiful to its believer and that we must acknowledge it. Faith is like a mother to the believer.  

Most of my friends that I knew and grew up with have a similar respectful attitude towards religions, including every member of my family. I will have to find that dream book, and see if it is still there, and if not why not?

I am concerned about the future of India, I wish Prime Minister Modi was taught in a similar school as I did. I went to a public Urdu Medium school,  and he went to RSS Madrasa where exclusivity is taught, and no mention of other faiths and traditions, had he gone to a school like mine, his language would have been inclusive and he would have wished festival greetings to Muslims, Christians and others.  
Of course, the leaders in Pakistan, Malaysia and other Muslim nations do not greet their Hindu, Christian and other minorities either. Do we want to be like them?  Or do we want to set a new standard of inclusion for them to emulate us? Are we leaders?

As a young man I attended the Mahabodhi (Buddhist) Society every Wednesday in Bangalore and went to Friday prayers in a nearby Mosque (I went to different Mosques) and joined the Bhajan Mandir across my home on Saturday evenings to chant the Hindu Kirtans. I enjoyed my lengthy conversations with Sikhs who came from the Air force base to our Flour Mill on Sundays, and like wise, I learned a lot about the Adivasis (native Indian tribals) and Banjaray who made it to our mill on Sundays.  

I listened to hours of conversation between my father Abdul Rahman, maternal grandfather Shaikh Hussain and a Shia scholar Hussain Sahib. My English Teacher Rama Chandra was a big Sai Baba devotee and my friend Fakhru Bhai was a Muslim Sufi, the three of us would spend Saturdays discussing religion. I grew up with our Christian neighbors Robert and Swaran Latha since I was three or four years old. The last time I met them was upon my mothers’ death in 2001.

We did not have any Jews and Baha’is’ in our town; if not more than likely we would have attended their festivities as we did with others. However, I made it up with Jews, here is that part of my story; Holocaust and the Muslim guy. and also with Bahai's as I am closest to being a Bahai and perfectly align with Unitarian Universalist. My father was a Mayor of the town and his friends were mainly Hindus, and Bellur Muniyappa was the closest of them.   They discussed politics every day, yes every day in the evenings. 

While I was in Saudi Arabia, I had the greatest exposure to people from 40 different cultures and nationalities. I was the Chief Cashier with Fluor corporation, and every one of the group leaders came to me with bills for reimbursement in Shedgum, Saudi Arabia. I learned about each one of them, and additionally, I developed my abilities to understand English in just about every accent.

Coming back to Dallas, I published a paper called Asian News (1993-2001) and the information about all religions and festivals became a major item. In 1996, I started the first commercial radio for the Asian community called Asian news Radio, and again religion was a major part of it.

Between 2004 and 2005, I did 520 hours of Radio show, an hour a day, 5 days a week and it was called “Wisdom of religion, all the beautiful religions of the world” and did 100 hours each of Christianity, Islam and Hinduism and 50 hours on all other religions including Atheism. We completed Torah, Bible, Quran, Bhagvad Gita and other books on the show. 

In 2005 and 2006 two sets of three hour workshops were done for 13 traditions from Atheist to Zoroastrians and everyone in between.

In 2009 I camped out for a whole 9 days at the Parliament of World’s religions in Melbourne and attended every possible religious event I can. I moderated a few Panels and presented a few papers.  I danced with the Pagans, animists, and spent time with the Native Australians and their Museum.

Here in Dallas, I have been to most places of worship, and took my children to them as well.

Thanks to Huffington Post and other news papers I continue to write the essence of festivals, all the major festivals of the world and God willing I will continue the work. The work is also logged at www.FoundationforPluralism.blogspot.com and www.TheGhousediary.com

The Foundation for Pluralism came into being, when my application to be a member of Thanksgiving Square was rejected in mid Nineties, because I did not fit into a pigeon hole, at that time, I was a Humanist (another name for Atheist) and was told to belong to some religion. I said to myself, we need an organization that includes all humanity, thus the Foundation for Pluralism was officially born, even though it was in practice since 1993.

Ironically, I my application was rejected in an Atheist group in 2006, when I wanted to become a member and include them in our Unity Day program.

Presently, I am a member in most of the religious groups. Do you know God is a life member of every religious group I belong to? LOL!
I regret not completing my PhD in religion, but pleased with the amount of work I have done on religions, all the beautiful religions.

I must say, pluralism runs in my veins. Please feel free to read my yet to be updated profile as pluralism speaker at: http://www.mikeghouse.net/InterfaithSpeaker_MikeGhouse.asp

Thank you

Mike Ghouse
(214) 325-1916 text/talk
............................................................................................................................... Mike Ghouse is a public speaker, thinker, writer and a commentator on Pluralism at work place, politics, religion, society, gender, race, culture, ethnicity, food and foreign policy. He is a staunch defender of human rights and his book standing up for others will be out soon, and a movie "Americans together" is in the making.  He is a frequent guest commentator on Fox News and syndicated Talk Radio shows and a writer at major news papers including Dallas Morning News and Huffington Post. All about him is listed in 63 links atwww.MikeGhouse.net and his writings are at www.TheGhousediary.com and 10 other blogs. He is committed to building cohesive societies and offers pluralistic solutions on issues of the day. 

Burning people alive.

We were horrified by the way the the ISIS guys burned a man alive, and I said quite a few nasty things.  Some one reminded me of my own writing, "For every Muslim ass, there is a Hindu, Buddhist, Christian and Jewish ass."

Religions do not teach any one to kill, but every religion has a  percentage of rogues who are ruthless. We cannot call Buddhism and Hinduism peaceful religions any more, they join the crowd of Judaism, Christianity and Islam.

Information pulled from different sources - there is a hell of a lot more out there, but suffice it to see that for every Muslim ass, there is a Hindu, Buddhist, Christian and Jewish ass. We the good people need to speak up or be called good for nothing. 


Buddhist burning a Muslim alive and watching.

'No water for him. Let him die': Horrifying moment Burmese Buddhists set fire to Muslim man in riots which left 43 dead

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2312807/Burma-riots-Horrifying-moment-Buddhists-set-Muslim-man.html#ixzz3R80fy1Qt 

Bride Burning in India
Wiki, Time and CNN

Bride-burning occurs when a young woman is murdered by her husband or his family for her family's refusal to pay additional dowry. The wife is typically doused with kerosene, gasoline, or other flammable liquid, and set alight, leading to death by fire.^[1][2] Kerosene is most often used as the fuel.^[3] It is most common in India and has been a major problem there since at least 1993.^[4]

This crime has been treated as culpable homicide and, if proven, is usually accordingly punished by up to lifelong imprisonment or death.^[1] Bride burning has been recognized as an important public health problem in India,^[5] accounting for around 2,500 deaths per year in the country.^[5] In 1995, Time Magazine reported that dowry deaths in India increased from around 400 a year in the early 1980s to around 5,800 a year by the middle of the 1990s.^[6] A year later, CNN ran a story saying that every year police receive more than 2,500 reports of bride burning.^[7] According to Indian National Crime Record Bureau, there were 1,948 convictions and 3,876 acquittals in dowry death cases in 2008.<sup>[8]

Dr. Graham Stuart Staines (1941 – 22 January 1999) was an Australian Christianmissionary who, along with his two sons Philip (aged 10) and Timothy (aged 6), was burnt to death by a gang while sleeping in his station wagon at Manoharpur village inKeonjhar district in Odisha, India on 22 January 1999. In 2003, a Bajrang Dal activist,Dara Singh, was convicted of leading the gang that murdered Graham Staines and his sons, and was sentenced to life in prison.[1]</sup> 

Godhra Train Burning

The Godhra train burning was an incident that occurred on the morning of 27 February 2002, in which 59 people, including 25 women and 15 children, died in a fire inside the Sabarmati Express train near the Godhra railway station in the Indian state of Gujarat.[1] The victims were mainly Hindu pilgrims and activists who were returning from the city of Ayodhya after a religious ceremony at the disputed Babri Masjid site.[2] The commission set up by the government of Gujarat to investigate the train burning spent 6 years going over the details of the case, and concluded that the fire was arson committed by a mob of 1000-2000 people.[3] A commission appointed by the central government, whose appointment was later held to be unconstitutional, stated that the fire had been an accident.[4] A court convicted 31 Muslims for the incident and the conspiracy for the crime,[5] although the actual causes of the fire have yet to be proven conclusively.[6][7]

Three Israelis confess burning Palestinian teenager a

http://au.ibtimes.com/three-israeli-jews-confess-burning-palestinian-teenager-alive-1347078

^{Bill Moyers writes:The Fiery Cage and the Lynching Tree, Brutality’s Never Far Away}

February 5, 2015

by Bill Moyers



A Palestinian hold a poster with a picture of slain Jordanian pilot, Lt. Muath al-Kaseasbeh during a protest in front of the Jordanian embassy, in the West Bank City of Ramallah, Wednesday, Feb. 4, 2015. (AP Photo/Majdi Mohammed)

They burned him alive in an iron cage, and as he screamed and writhed in the agony of hell they made a sport of his death.

 

After listening to one newscast after another rightly condemn the barbaric killing of that Jordanian air force pilot at the bloody hands of ISIS, I couldn’t sleep. My mind kept roaming the past trying to retrieve a vaguely remembered photograph that I had seen long ago in the archives of a college library in Texas.

Suddenly, around two in the morning, the image materialized in my head. I made my way down the hall to my computer and typed in: “Waco, Texas. Lynching.”

Sure enough, there it was: the charred corpse of a young black man, tied to a blistered tree in the heart of the Texas Bible Belt.

Sure enough, there it was: the charred corpse of a young black man, tied to a blistered tree in the heart of the Texas Bible Belt. Next to the burned body, young white men can be seen smiling and grinning, seemingly jubilant at their front-row seats in a carnival of death. One of them sent a picture postcard home: “This is the barbeque we had last night. My picture is to the left with a cross over it. Your son, Joe.”

 

The victim’s name was Jesse Washington. The year was 1916. America would soon go to war in Europe “to make the world safe for democracy.” My father was twelve, my mother eight. I was born 18 years later, at a time, I would come to learn, when local white folks still talked about Washington’s execution as if it were only yesterday. This was not medieval Europe. Not the Inquisition. Not a heretic burned at the stake by some ecclesiastical authority in the Old World. This was Texas, and the white people in that photograph were farmers, laborers, shopkeepers, some of them respectable congregants from local churches in and around the growing town of Waco.

Large crowd looking at the burned body of Jesse Washington, 18 year-old African-American, lynched in Waco, Texas, May 15, 1916. (Library of Congress)

Here is the photograph. Take a good look at Jesse Washington’s stiffened body tied to the tree. He had been sentenced to death for the murder of a white woman. No witnesses saw the crime; he allegedly confessed but the truth of the allegations would never be tested. The grand jury took just four minutes to return a guilty verdict, but there was no appeal, no review, no prison time. Instead, a courtroom mob dragged him outside, pinned him to the ground, and cut off his testicles. A bonfire was quickly built and lit. For two hours, Jesse Washington — alive — was raised and lowered over the flames. Again and again and again. City officials and police stood by, approvingly. According to some estimates, the crowd grew to as many as 15,000. There were taunts, cheers and laughter. Reporters described hearing “shouts of delight.”

 

When the flames died away, Washington’s body was torn apart and the pieces were sold as souvenirs. The party was over.

Many years later, as a young man, I visited Waco’s Baylor University, often referred to as the Texas Baptist Vatican. I had been offered a teaching position there. I sat for a while in the school’s Armstrong Browning Library, one of the most beautiful in America, containing not only the works of Robert and Elizabeth Barrett Browning, the acclaimed Victorian poets, but also stained glass windows, marble columns, and elegant ceilings that bring to mind the gorgeous interior of Michelangelo’s Laurentian library in Florence.

Sitting there, I found it hard to reconcile the beauty and quiet of that sanctuary with the photograph that I had been shown earlier by a man named Harry Provence, publisher of the local newspaper. Seeing it, I realized that as young Jesse Washington was being tortured, students his own age, some of them studying for the ministry, were just finishing their spring semester. In 1905, when another black man had been lynched in Waco, Baylor’s president became a leader of the anti-lynching movement. But ugly memories still divided the town.

Jesse Washington was just one black man to die horribly at the hands of white death squads. Between 1882 and 1968 — 1968! — there were 4,743 recorded lynchings in the US. About a quarter of them were white people, many of whom had been killed for sympathizing with black folks. My father, who was born in 1904 near Paris, Texas, kept in a drawer that newspaper photograph from back when he was a boy of thousands of people gathered as if at a picnic to feast on the torture and hanging of a black man in the center of town. On a journey tracing our roots many years later, my father choked and grew silent as we stood near the spot where it had happened.

Yes, it was hard to get back to sleep the night we heard the news of the Jordanian pilot’s horrendous end. ISIS be damned! I thought. But with the next breath I could only think that our own barbarians did not have to wait at any gate. They were insiders. Home grown. Godly. Our neighbors, friends, and kin. People like us.

Bill Moyers is the managing editor of Moyers & Company and BillMoyers.com.

MIke Ghouse
www.MikeGhouse.net