Comments on: Some world headlines

By: Allison Hill

Allison Hill — Fri, 23 Jul 2010 01:15:20 +0000

the religion of my grandfather is Hinduism and he says that it is a great religion.’;`

By: Gracie Parker

Gracie Parker — Fri, 09 Jul 2010 06:43:21 +0000

Hinduism is a cool religion that is also oriented towards peace and prosperity..:.

By: SHOKO ASAHARA

SHOKO ASAHARA — Wed, 17 Jan 2007 14:58:23 +0000

Will you lead a better life if you put Asahara to death?

Did you ever wonder that made-up image of the mass media might be wrong and predetermined the results of the trial? They force us to not think like that…
However, how all is actually?
We suggest to your attention the books of two notable Japanese lawyers about outrageous violations of law during Shoko Asaharaâ€™s trial…

By: Phil

Phil — Thu, 21 Sep 2006 04:11:21 +0000

Aum was not Buddhist. It may have used some Buddhist ideas, but essentially it was a new religion, including elements of Hindu and Tao teachings as well. The goal of destroying the world is fundamentally opposed to Buddhism.

I am not a Buddhist, or even a sympathiser, but I think you are completely wrong that it is “as open to abuse as any faith.” A violent interpretation of Islam results not from abuse of the faith, but from interpreting the Qu’ran literally. Christianity, Judaism and Hinduism are far more open to violence than Buddhism.

Again, there are no Buddhist terrorists.

Phra Kittiwutho’s ideas seem fairly reasonable to me, and he wasn’t a terrorist. In the context of Thailand, rocked by a bloody Communist insurgency, in a South-East Asia devastated by Communist attacks, his views on killing Communists are understandable.

By: Chris

Chris — Thu, 21 Sep 2006 03:37:36 +0000

Phil,

just because you do not consider Aum (now Aleph) to be Buddhist, does not make it so.

Asahara drew heavily on Tantric theories, and built his legitimacy on trips to Tibet and associations with the Dalai Lama. His followers practiced (chemically and technologically enhanced) meditation, and Aum places of worship contained Hindu-Buddhist icons.

Buddhism is as open to abuse as any faith (Google Phra Kittiwuttho).

By: Phil

Phil — Tue, 19 Sep 2006 01:05:51 +0000

Hmmm. Jordan tells me he has prepared some kind of groundbreaking piece of investigative journalism. Now we just have to make him post it

By: Sophia

Sophia — Mon, 18 Sep 2006 21:24:25 +0000

I demand Jordan post something!

By: Phil

Phil — Mon, 18 Sep 2006 07:10:34 +0000

Well, there has been a lot written about the potential for cults to develop in the Third World – the rise of Pentecostalism in Latin America, or militant Christian groups in Africa (like the savage Lord’s Resistance Army), and so on. But there is potential in Western countries too. Cults often appear in times of chaos or uncertainty, and these are uncertain times. The thing about cults is that they tend to be invisible until a tragedy occurs, so their numbers may be underestimated.

That said, I don’t necessarily think that numbers of cults are increasing. NZ last saw murderous cults in the 1860s, and in the US some of the worst were decades ago (Charles Manson’s “family”…). What is changing is their effectiveness, and that’s a result of technology and globalization. Manson never had chemical weapons, for example!

Warren Jeff’s group was rumoured to have a doctrine about executing apostates. They also had a massive surplus of undersexed young men as a result of polygamy, and that’s a recipe for disaster if ever there was one…

Lastly, of course Islam is the main threat. But it is extremist sects, some rather cult-like, that are driving the violence. Religions are not equal – Christianity has produced terrorism (anti-abortion, anti-homosexual, racist…) and so has Judaism (against British occupiers and Palestinians) but few of their attacks produced casualties on the scale of successful Islamist attacks. Hinduism has produced terrorists, but you won’t find any terrorists motivated by Buddhism (contra an ignorant Religious Studies professor who told us otherwise in a class on Islam. And I don’t count Aum as Buddhist). My point is simply that in the future, we will see threats from unexpected directions, and we shouldn’t just assume that Islam is the only threat.

By: Luke

Luke — Sun, 17 Sep 2006 23:50:12 +0000

Phil, I don’t quite see why you think there is “potential for more cults to develop in Western countries”. We are seeing a general decline in church attendance in all Western countries, and incidents with freaky cults like Koresh’s group have been very rare in recent years. Warren Jeff’s group wasn’t planning any terrorist action, they were just sucked into the sick, twisted cult mind-trap. The same mind-trap that more and more people know about thanks to high-profile cults like Aum Shinrikyo and Koresh’s nutters. With increased awareness, hopefully cults in Western countries will find it harder to get members.

I would have thought you would argue that a more likely source of new terrorist groups is immigrants who belong to existing religions, who can then drift towards established extremist groups (I won’t mention any names