Stabbed US preacher flees India state

BBC On-Line | Wednesday, 22 January,2003 | staff writer

[yankeedame]

Wednesday, 22 January, 2003, 10:39 GMT

Stabbed US preacher flees India state

Police gave Mr Cooper seven days to leave India

An American preacher stabbed last week by right-wing Hindus in Kerala in southern India has fled the state. Bishop Joseph Cooper reportedly flew to Bombay, also known as Mumbai, as a court in Kerala was considering a petition barring him from leaving India.

Cooper's violation of visa rules does not absolve the attackers of their crime

Kerala Chief Minister AK Antony

Right-wing Hindus want Mr Cooper, 68, charged with denigrating Hindus in his sermons.

On Monday, police gave Mr Cooper seven days to leave the country.

They said he had violated the terms of his tourist visa by indulging in religious preaching.

Heading for US

Police spokesperson TK Vinod Kumar said: ''Joseph Cooper left the state of Kerala a few hours back. We do not know where he has gone or what his ultimate destination would be.''

Sources close to Mr Cooper said he had taken a scheduled flight to Bombay and would head home to the US from there.

Bombay: Mr Cooper's gateway to the US? Mr Cooper, an ordained bishop of the New Jerusalem church from Pennsylvania, was discharged from a hospital in the state capital, Trivandrum, on Tuesday after undergoing surgery for a deep cut on his right hand.

Chief Minister of Kerala, AK Antony, vowed that the case against Mr Cooper's attackers would ''take the normal course in law''.

''Cooper's violation of visa rules does not absolve the attackers of their crime,'' he said.

Sticks and bars

Mr Cooper was attacked on the outskirts of Trivandrum on 13 January.

Eyewitnesses said he was surrounded by an armed gang of 10 people as he was returning from a gospel convention organised by the Protestant Friends of the Bible Church.

The assailants used swords, sticks and iron bars.

A local pastor, his wife and two children and one other person were also injured.

Police have arrested 10 members of the hardline Hindu Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) over the attack.

The RSS denies involvement.

Following the police notice of deportation, a complaint was filed by K Sugathan, a local leader of the right-wing Vishwa Hindu Parishad, a religious affiliate of Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee's Bharatiya Janata Party.

It called for Mr Coopers to be prosecuted under the Indian penal code for making derogatory remarks against Hindus.

A magistrate's court in Trivandrum will decide on Wednesday whether to charge Mr Cooper.

Lawyers told the BBC the preacher could face up to three years in jail if found guilty.

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[Steel and Fire and Stone]

As I sit here surrounded by nearly 100 Indians from every religious stripe (except, of course, my own Christian beliefs) working beside me in the U.S., I have a lot to contemplate. We've been told our jobs will be gone in a few months because they are moving either off shore, or to other states where H1B Technology workers either work for less, or have guaranteed jobs. We have Muslim guy in here from a Middle Eastern location who's first name is synomomous with a terrorist/"state" leader (just go down the list and pick one: Sadam, Momamar, etc.). Speaks absolutely flawless English too....

If I express my faith in these other countries, I could be both killed and criminally prosecuted. Yet my job is being "sold" by my governments to citizens of these countries with the liberal U.S. VISA program, or is being exported wholesale by U.S. corporations.

These folks hate everything I stand for, yet stand in line to take my job. I guess I'm just not multiculturally educated enough to understand all this. I have such "racist" type feelings of hate, not towards the immigrates, but to the U.S. politicians who have created this current state of affairs. They ..

1. Won't defend my country

2. Won't defend religious liberty (unless you're NOT a Christian)

3. Won't defend U.S. workers and our economic way of life (in fact, they willingly sell us out), and

4. Blame middle age Americans like me for not embracing my fate.

The world is turned upside down.

SFS

[CindyDawg]

PING

[USMMA_83]

This preecher broke Indian Laws by preaching (India and Israel have laws against preeching and conversions). He was asked to leave because he broke visa laws.

[cookcounty]

" This preecher broke Indian Laws by preaching (India and Israel have laws against preaching and conversions)."

Conversion and preaching are both legal in Israel, though street preaching is somewhat limited.

[Steel and Fire and Stone]

This preecher broke Indian Laws by preaching (India and Israel have laws against preeching and conversions). He was asked to leave because he broke visa laws.

I missed your point here.

This "preacher" was physically assaulted for speaking about his religion. The Indian government's primary interest after that assault was in constructing a rationale whereby the victim could be prosecuted, because he's both Christian and American. Yet American's are expected to show great tolerance for the faiths, beliefs, and culture of Indians. We're supposed to welcome them here in America with open arms, and be happy when our careers are destroyed by their economic migrants as well. I've had so many arrogant Indian's preaching to me about how ignorant we American's are about the world, that I'm fed up with the caste-driven ingrates.

I've traveled the world. I could not do in India what Indian's can do in the U.S., whether it was living my faith, or making a living. I would be physically attacked and ostracized.

In fact, an American will have a tough time keeping a job in America if the manager is Indian. Indian's hire Indians, and usually from their own caste. I have over 15 years of consulting experience with Indian's to prove it. (I count many Indian's, South African's, European, Filipino, Austrailians and other nationals as my friends. Some even agree with me, that the US Government has sold our birthright cheaply, and that the anti-Christian bias we have here would cause riots in places like India, if the religion in question was Sikh or Hindu.)

So, India has "laws". Hitler had laws, too, and millions died. What again, is the point of your moral equivalence, other than the fact you tacitly agree that his American perhaps "had it coming to him". Or, is it just that you hate Christians??

[USMMA_83]

Don't hate christians, starting to hate you...though...idiot!

[atc]

Missionary ‘was not’ target
R. Suryamurthy
Tribune News Service

New Delhi, January 17
The probe by the National Commission for Minorities (NCM) has revealed startling facts about the attack on US missionary Rev Joseph Cooper in Kerala. The report stated that the attack was not pre-planned but was a public outcry against the “wrongdoings and immoral acts by Rev Sam’s family in the area” and the US missionary was an unwitting victim.

The probe by Mr John Joseph, member of the NCM, revealed that the “real target of attack by the public at the Gospel Convention, Kilimanoor, Trivandrum, was one Benson and not the American missionary.”

The attack on Benson was as a result of the alleged immoral acts committed by him and he was a civil contractor working for Trivandrum Bible College and was not a preacher or a pastor, as stated in the section of the media, the report said.

Benson and his family members were attacked by a mob on his way back from the Gospel Convention on January 13. Unfortunately, the American missionary, who was also present there was inadvertantly attacked by the mob whose main target was Benson, the report stated.

The report prepared by the Christian member of the NCM has been sent to the National Human Rights Commission. Media reports had indicated that the attack had been carried out by suspected RSS members. Political parties had condemned the violence and had stated that this was the continued attack on the Christian community by members of the Sangh Parivar.

The probe by the NCM stated that a local girl had allegedly been sexually abused and harassed for four months at the Bible Christian Centre.

Non-bailable case against Rev P K Sam and his son was registered by the police. While the entire family of Rev P.K. Sam went into hiding fearing arrest, all of them except Benson took anticipatory bail. Since October, 2002, Benson has been in hiding.

The report by Mr John Joseph said the wrongdoings of Rev Sam’s family had been reported widely in the local media and residents of the area had held dharnas for their arrests.

When Benson all of a sudden surfaced in the eyes of the public at a Gospel Convention along with Rev Joseph Cooper, who is one of the financier for Rev Sam’s missionary work in the country, the probe report stated that “it spontaneously aroused the fury of some who knew about the misdeeds of Benson.”

http://www.tribuneindia.com/2003/20030118/nation.htm#3

[Steel and Fire and Stone]

I don't consider the NCM or the Tribune of India to be reliable sources of information.

[atc]

That is understandable, after all they are Indian sources/entities.

[Steel and Fire and Stone]

"AEROSMITH", and "USMMA_83":

Ignorance? Stupidity? Idiot?? Hmm, such big words. Are you sure you quite understand what they mean?

Try another big word: "ad hominem" , as in the logical fallacy (abusive). Plainly defined (because I'm certain from your eloquent response that you'd understand little else), it means attacking a person instead of his argument.

When a person descends into an ad hominem argument, he or she is knowingly or ignorantly admitting that he has nothing intelligent to say about the subject.

All of which is to say, your post proved your point about stupidity, but not quite in the manner you intended.

Get an education, partner. It will improve both your ability for deductive reasoning, as well as your literary skills.

You might want to review the term "TOS" as well.

Freegards... SFS