Continuing this interesting discussion further, let me point out how a
religious loyalty/political campaign in Goan forums has propagated the
following falsehoods, either explicitly or by implication:
1. That the dripping statue was never claimed to be an unexplained miraculous
phenomenon at any time by the people who filed the criminal law suit against
Sanal.
2. That Sanal's offense was not his blasphemy of exposing the fake miracle,
but the hurt feelings from some unproven extraneous statements that he has
alleged to have made.
3. Those who file a criminal complaint under this law mean to use it, not as a
blasphemy law, but as a hate speech law.
The following direct quote of the general secretary of the CSF, which has filed
one of the criminal lawsuits, and mass emailed that crappy disingenuous
newsletter that was recycled in this forum over and over again by one of its
apologists, clearly demonstrates that this guy believed that the dripping
statue was an abnormal phenomenon with no plausible explanation just because it
was captured on TV, and providing a natural scientific explanation for it was
therefore blasphemy.
QUOTE
Joseph Dias, from the Catholic-Christian Secular Forum, a national activist
community group, has labeled his statements on the statue intolerable.
His remarks were blatantly false, Dias said. The abnormal phenomenon was
captured live on TV and the media for two days and no plausible explanation
could be found as to why the crucifix was dripping with water. This was
blasphemy, lies and defamation.
UNQUOTE
Please
see: http://www.myfoxdfw.com/story/18431327/genuine-miracle-or-just-bad-plumbing-weeping-jesus-statue-stirs-up-blasphemy-row-in-india
Cheers,
Santosh
- Original Message -
From: J. Colaco jc cola...@gmail.com
To: goa...@goanet.org
Cc:
Sent: Sunday, May 20, 2012 11:57 AM
Subject: Re: [Goanet] Sanal ani CSF (final I hope)
Preface: I hope that this will mark the end of this thread. Not that the
discussion was not interesting, BUT because it was tangential, unworthy of
being called a discussion (because of the intransigent positions taken by
individuals who differed with each other) and truly AWFULLY FORMATTED for
anyone to follow without Panadol..
As far as I am concerned, the discussion was totally useless and was doing
nothing to bring about any understanding.
Allow me please to (very briefly) restate my points:
1: Individuals like Sanal, Salazare and organizations like the CSF are very
useful for the purposes of keeping people (besides themselves) in check.
2: These useful but unaccountable folks should NEVER be allowed to
supersede those individuals (i.e. govt officials incl judges elected
officials) who are answerable to the population by way of Judicial Review
or Electoral Approval/Rejection.
3: Any other way, and we have a recipe for unaccountable nutty folks
running amok - and the resultant breakdown of a democratic system.
4: IF Sanal has accused the clergy of presenting this miracle for
the
purpose of funds (I am paraphrasing here), he needs to provide the proof
for this OR withdraw it. The ENTRAPMENT claim ignored the principle
of
balance of power between a normally powerful state authority and an
individual with limited or zero authority.
5: Even if Sanal refuses to withdraw it, the members of the Church would do
well to move ahead. Are you not the folks who preach turn the other
cheek? Practise it.
6: This business about suing this one and that one, not only gives
unwarranted attention to a veritable nut (even one with with good
intentions), it also brings the Church into the sewage (pun intended). The
only folks who gain anything are the lawyers.
7: Please (and I am speaking to reasonable folks), Please allow free
speech. ...The more you ignore it, the more comfortable you will be.
and the more miserable the NUTS will be.
8: Pay NO mind to these so called 'blasphemy laws'. Remember that these
types of 'unreasonable' laws can and WILL come back to bite
us in strange
places. You like to play with such toys, feel free.
So much from me
jc
