Hindu group condemns labelling tsunami God's vengeance

newkerala.com ^ | Dec 28, 2004 | Indo-Asian News Service

[Destro]

Hindu group condemns labelling tsunami God's vengeance:

[World News]: New York, Dec 28 : A Michigan-based Hindu group has condemned labelling Sunday's tsunami tragedy a "vengeful act of God" and asked the global Hindu community to contribute generously to assist victims of the catastrophe.

The group, Navya Shastra, in a statement condemned organisations in India that described the tsunami as "divine retribution" for the arrest of the Kanchi Shankracharya on murder and other charges.

"Hindus should not ascribe the disaster to divine retribution", the statement quoted Rajarathina Bhattar, Navya Shastra advisor and a Houston priest, as saying.

"At times like these, sane voices must prevail," he said.

The organisation also called on the global Hindu community to contribute generously to assist the victims of the tragedy, which has claimed nearly 25,000 lives in South and Southeast Asia, including about 6,000 in India.

"Our religious ideals, enshrined in the Vedas and the Thirukkural, exhort us to give to those in need", said V.C. Vijayaraghavan, a Navya Shastra member from London.

"This is all the more important because so many of the victims were innocent children," he added.

Indo-Asian News Service

[sassbox]

smart of them. it is tempting when something like this happens to find a purpose for it, especially a divine purpose. but there's no evidence that the people of Sumatra, Thailand, and Sri Lanka were worse sinners than anyone else in the world. And most victims were children. Sounds like one arbitrary cruel "god" to me. Ultimately chalking it up to "divine vengeance" just demonizes the victims who need our help and prayers right now.

[Destro]

It scares the faithful though.

[peter the great]

First of all who is Kanchi Shankacharya? Second of all wasn't it last week that we read about a Church getting destroyed in Sri Lanka? Also a few days ago I was listening to Art Bell's old program, I was contemplating getting up and starting my day, and a caller called in and brought up this very subject and went on to point out that many of the spots that were hit by this thing were prime destinations of sex tour operators so you never know.