Riazat Butt (The Guardian)
Don't take away our yoga! Or our Xmas presents! (James Wilson/Flickr)Hinduism attempts to reclaim yoga, the omnipresent Rajan Zed, and putting the "Christ" in Christmas.
Someone on the [Divine Dispatches] thread last week wanted to know why I never wrote about Hindus. After some pondering and discussion, one of the main reasons is that People of the Book are a fantastically noisy, attention-seeking bunch of folks who convey a sense of entitlement that overwhelms others.
The Hindu American Foundation wants people to be more aware of yoga's debt to Hindu tradition, that's all (Strdel/AFP/Getty Images).
I don't know that Hindus -- or Buddhists, Sikhs, Baha'is, Rastafarians, Zoroastrians -- are not also any of these things. But they certainly have a lower profile than POTB. I can see a T-shirt already: "Feel Manic? You're Abrahamic!" Welcome to Divine Dispatches, an extended edition -- because you're worth it.
- Reclaiming yoga: Read the story, and draw your own conclusions. US Hindus have launched a fightback to reclaim yoga. According to the New York Times, "Take Back Yoga" does not ask yoga fans to convert...
- Is Nevada's Rajan Zed the busiest man in Hinduism? He has commented on everything from yoga to the Catholic University to the Church of England's laborious wrangling over women bishops...
- Speaking of defenders of the faith. The former archbishop of Canterbury is backing a campaign to put the Christ back in Christmas...
- In the US a federal judge has blocked a ban on courts from considering Islamic law in their judgments. Channel 4 carried this report on how voters were given the choice of banning sharia law in Oklahoma...
- The [Pope] Joseph Ratzinger-Benedict XVI Foundation, set up earlier this year to "promote research and studies on the thinking of Professor Joseph Ratzinger," is creating a "Nobel prize" for theology... And let's move on from condoms because what the pope said about the priesthood is more interesting. It was a busy month.
