Catholic Church vs. Sanal Edamaruku
May 9, 2012 (English)
**RATIONALIST INTERNATIONAL BULLETIN**
http://www.rationalistinternational.net*Catholic Church versus Sanal Edamaruku:*
The noose is tightening at Mumbai
****
It is more than three weeks now that agents of the Catholic Church
pressed multiple blasphemy charges against Sanal Edamaruku to avenge
him for exposing their “miracle” of the water-dripping cross as a
job for the plumber. While the threat keeps looming over Sanal’s
head, ready to hit anytime, the Catholic Church is unleashing the
“/dogs of the Lord/”*). In a widely circulated public statement, a
fanatic Catholic group tries to invoke fatwa power and calls Sanal a
case for mental asylum.
/*) “Dogs of the Lord” (Latin: Domini canes) was the name, the
Dominicans loved to call themselves after the Vatican put them in
charge of the Inquisiton in the 13th century. In a Papal Bull, a Pope
with the endearing name “Innocent” (No. IV) gave them officially a
free hand to torture. This is a classical division of work./
On 11th of April, charges under Section 295 A, Indian Penal Code, have
been filed against Sanal Edamaruku in at least three Mumbai police
stations: in Juhu, in MIDC and in Andheri. Strangely, he did not
receive any official document about these cases up to now. The Mumbai
police refuse flatly to send copies of the complaints to Delhi – an
unusual violation of the standard procedure. Sanal did not receive any
summons either. Till today, there is nothing official about it -
except the phone calls of an inspector from Juhu police station, who
urges Sanal to come and get arrested. Recently, he calls every night.
What looks like a nightmare /a la/ Franz Kafka, is a simple strategy:
As long as the allegations against Sanal are not available in black
and white, he will not be able to file a reply. Thus the stage is set
for his arrest. In fact, that arrest – not any clarification – is
on the police agenda, has already been spilled by the inspector from
Juhu. Call it intimidation, attrition policy. This set-up aims at
restricting Sanal’s movements and paralyzing his work.
Enormous worldwide response
Sanal’s harassment for exposing a Catholic wannabe miracle has
caused an enormous worldwide response. It is reported and discussed in
many newspapers, TV and radio programs in India and abroad. It keeps
snowballing through thousands of blogs in various languages around the
globe. People in USA, Canada, Germany, Switzerland, France, Italy,
Poland, Russia, Brazil, Japan and even Vietnam are expressing their
solidarity with Sanal’s courageous position *in the controversial TV
discussion*
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TfJ6_ftih0s that followed his *exposure of the dripping cross*
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kUqhq9MuRG8. In the light of this great public attention, Sanal’s detractors
may have considered it advisable to slow down their moves for a while.
But now, things are warming up.
The Catholic Church is orchestrating the background music for the
countdown. It’s the rather nasty noise of the “dogs of the Lord”
yapping themselves hoarse. With a great smear campaign, a fanatic
Catholic group tries to stir up hatred against Sanal, branding his
arguments in the TV-9 debate as “anti-Catholic venom”. They try to
invoke fatwa power: Kindling the imagination how fanatic Islamists
might deal with such a blasphemer, they leave the decision if Sanal
“should be allowed to go scot free” to the mob. Finally they
propose that “one needn’t send such a person to jail, but rather
to a mental asylum...”
While his lawyers are preparing to defend his right to promote reason
and scientific temper and to expose fraudulent claims of
“miracles” of any – including Catholic – origin, Sanal
Edamaruku has made it clear that as a law-abiding citizen he was ready
to address the charges brought against him in front of any court of
law or investigating officer – provided a proper summons was issued
against him. However, he absolutely refused to comply with the
bishop’s demand and apologize or withdraw any of his statements made
in the TV-9 debate.
Instead he proposed that the authorities of the church of Velankanni
at Mumbai should publicly apologize for distributing the dirty
drainage water that was dripping from the cross to hundreds of
gullible people. Advertising a natural phenomenon as a “miracle”
to attract devotees and promoting them to drink unchecked dirty water
claiming it had curative properties is an irresponsible act - and
should be a punishable offence, too.
Unstoppable and in full swing:
Sanal’s new campaign against faith healers
Meantime Sanal Edamaruku is active in toppling the empires of Indian
faith healers of different religious origin. He initiated a systematic
campaign against one Nirmal Baba - once a failed business man from
Uttar Pradesh, who acquired “divine powers” and a “third eye”
and started a flourishing career as a godman. Nirmal invites devotees
to buy expensive tickets for his huge mass assemblies, during which he
would allegedly solve the problems of those who pay an exorbitant
extra sum. He would give them some simple exercises (making small
amendments to their diet plans or donating small amounts to strangers
etc.) and claim that would cure their chronic diseases or instantly
boost their broke business. A parade of fake witnesses – all being
paid for their services - would “prove” the baba’s success.
These stage-managed shows are filmed and run daily for hours as paid
advertisements on some 40 TV channels.
Now, Sanal’s campaign against Nirmal Baba broke the spell. Suddenly
TV channels that otherwise run his well paid ads zoomed in on the
millionaire godman’s fraudulent activities and the legal cases that
he is facing in several Indian states. During the last two weeks,
Sanal debated in sixteen live programs on various TV channels against
this charlatan. Nirmal’s daily collection that used to cross one
crore Rupees (about US $ 180,000) has come down to a few thousand
Rupees as a result of the campaign that Sanal lead.
Meantime Sanal is focusing public attention on Paul Dinakaran, one of
the most successful Christian faith healers in India. Dinakaran claims
to be in constant contact with Jesus Christ. Imitating his US
counterparts, he organizes huge gatherings and offers blessings for a
price. Good results in entrance exams, resolving of a business crisis,
instant health solutions (including, of course: making the deaf hear
and the lame walk) - everything has its tag. Thousands of people are
lured with dramatic music and Paul’s hammy theatric displays of
great feelings to come to his Prayer Tower in Chennai or join
Christian faith healing festivals which draw crowds up to 500000
people in many cities of India.
When Sanal Edamaruku started exposing Paul Dinakaran on one of the big
national Hindi channels, a live program scheduled for thirty minutes
was extended to three hours as the viewership numbers hit record
heights. The discussion was watched by millions, when Sanal draw the
line to Dinakaran’s Vatican backed competitors in the Divine Retreat
Centre at Muringoor in Kerala and to the Catholic Church’s
unparalleled track record of miracle mongering throughout history. He
also spoke about his exposure of the dripping cross at Mumbai and of
the harassment that he is currently facing from the revengeful
Catholic authorities and their henchmen. The campaign against
Christian faith healers will continue in various TV channels. Sanal
has already committed his participation in panel discussions in all
major TV channels during the coming days.
Various Catholic organizations are stepping up efforts to stop
Sanal’s hugely influential national campaigns against miracle
mongering. They want to silence him and to bankrupt the Indian
Rationalist Association with multiple cases.
We request you to support Sanal Edamaruku’s campaigns and to help
defending him against all legal and extra legal attacks.
You can support Sanal in two ways.
Spread the videos and the information about the cases where ever you
can.
Support the *Sanal Edamaruku Defence Fund* with a donation.
*[ Click here
http://www.rationalistinternational.net/defence_fund]*
Links to some new articles that appeared about the Sanal Edamaruku
Blasphemy Case:
The Hindu (7 May 2012): India's god laws fail the test of reason
http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/lead/article3391109.ece Hindustan Times: Batting for reason in a land of faith
http://www.hindustantimes.com/India-news/Mumbai/Batting-for-reason-in-a-land-of-faith/Article1-851455.aspx Financial Chronicle: Life is the greatest of all miracles
http://www.mydigitalfc.com/2012/life-greatest-all-miracles The Sunday Indian: Cross Connections
http://www.thesundayindian.com/article_print.php?article_id=34385 Assorted articles: Batting for reason in a land of faith
http://www.silobreaker.com/batting-for-reason-in-a-land-of-faith-5_2265674953569337379---------------------------------------------------------------------
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*RATIONALIST INTERNATIONAL*
*President:*
Sanal Edamaruku
*Honorary Associates:*
Dr. Pieter Admiraal (The Netherlands)
Prof. Mike Archer (Australia)
Katsuaki Asai (Japan)
Prof. Colin Blakemore (UK)
Dr. Bill Cooke (New Zealand)
Dr. Helena Cronin (UK)
Prof. Richard Dawkins (UK)
Jan Loeb Eisler (USA)
Tom Flynn (USA)
Jim Herrick (UK)
Ellen Johnson (USA),
Prof. Paul Kurtz (USA)
Lavanam (India)
Dr. Richard Leakey (Kenya)
Iain Middleton (New Zealand)
Dr. Henry Morgentaler (Canada)
Dr.Taslima Nasreen (Bangladesh)
Steinar Nilsen (Norway)
Prof. Jean-Claude Pecker (France)
James Randi (USA)
Prof. Ajoy Roy (Bangladesh)
Dr. Younus Shaikh (Pakistan)
Barbara Smoker (UK)
Richard Stallman (USA)
Prof. Rob Tielman (The Netherlands)
David Tribe (Australien)
K Veeramani (India)
Bary Williams (Australia)
Prof. Richard Wiseman (UK) and
Prof. Lewis Wolpert (UK)
