Source: blogs.abc.net.au
MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA, December 13, 2009: (by Margaret Coffey) I think back on the Hindu Convocation and its production of a Hindu Statement for Copenhagen. Key people in the organization and management of that final “Om” [chanted to mark that those present were in agreement with the Hindu Manifesto on Climate Change] are associated with the journal [magazine] Hinduism Today, published out of Hawaii.
The Journal makes telling reading. It proffers a narrative of renascent Hinduism, the “most venerable and vibrant of religious traditions,” that inserts it neatly into a contemporary template. Thus, its current issue includes a history lesson: “… the lesson explores India’s history between 1100 and 1850, a time of vicious Muslim attacks and greed-driven British conquest … Most historians gloss over the massive slaughters, the brutal reign of outsiders who had no love of Hinduism. Our lesson does the impossible: tells the true story fairly, without demeaning the aggressors. Plus, it focuses on the armed resistance and spiritual resolve that made it possible for India to survive such dark days into modern times, while virtually every other ancient society succumbed to similar forces and disappeared.”