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   alt.religion.roman-catholic      Jonah is the original Jaws story...      1,366 messages   

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   Message 504 of 1,366   
   Stray Dog to Dr. Jai Maharaj   
   Alert on extreme anti-Christian propagan   
   06 Jun 09 14:08:51   
   
   XPost: alt.fan.jai-maharaj, alt.computer.consultants, soc.culture.indian   
   XPost: science.research.careers, alt.religion.christian   
   From: qcwa150@sdf.lonestar.org   
      
     This message is in MIME format.  The first part should be readable text,   
     while the remaining parts are likely unreadable without MIME-aware tools.   
      
   This post is about a Mr. "Jai Maharaj (aka Jay Stevens)" who claims he is    
   an Indian/Hindu and promotes "Vedic Hinduism" but for the last many months    
   has been posting many quotes from news media on sexual abuse by only    
   Christian clergy and staff (and no reports of similar misbehavior by    
   Hindu priests althought such reports can easily be found even in    
   Indian/Hindu media).   
      
   You, can easily find these posts on these newsgroups:   
      
   alt.computer.consultants,soc.culture.indian, and alt.fan.jai-maharaj   
      
   This represents demonization of Christianity and you may want to consider    
   a response. I am not a Christian and do not go to church, but I believe in    
   freedom of religion and that every person should tollerate people who    
   follow other religions (especially if they are also tollerant).   
      
   There are at least three different FAQs on Jai Maharaj (aka Jay Stevens)    
   and none of them are very flattering.   
      
   A copy of each of the three will be found below....   
      
   ------------   
      
      
   New JAI MAHARAJ FAQ   
      
   (this, fourth draft, May 28,2009)   
   (third draft, May 14, 2009)   
      
   The Problems of "Jai Maharaj" (aka Jay Stevens)   
      
   (In the public interest)   
   -----------------   
      
   BACKGROUND: The author of this document became interested in "Jai Maharaj"   
   in the Spring of 2009 when large numbers of posts from him (email address   
   given as "usenet@mantra.com") appeared on a number of newsgroups (eg.   
   alt.computer.consultants, alt.fan.jai-maharaj, etc). From one newsserver   
   carrying alt.fan.jai-maharaj there were a total of about 3,600 posts from   
   3/9/09 to 5/12/09, a period of slightly more than two months. Out of those,   
   he posted 1,453, or about 40% (At various times, there cold be 10-15 other   
   regular posters making up the other 60% of the posts).   
      
   A careful review of 190 of his posts from Mar 9, 2009, to Mar 23, 2009   
   (about two weeks) shows the following categories:   
      
   Informational (variety of topics):	41 posts   
   Anti-Christian (sexual abuse reports):	36 posts   
   Commentary (dialog, response):		25 posts   
   Regional politics (S. Asia, etc):	18 posts   
   Anti-Obama:				17 posts   
   Pro-Hindu:				12 posts   
   Anti-Islam/Muslim:			11 posts   
   Anti-West/Anti-America:			10 posts   
   Other: 					20 posts   
      
   All of the above posts except the "Commentary" posts were primarily composed   
   of text made by "copy-and-paste" of parts or all of material from other   
   websites and mostly from "freerepublic.com" and followed by a "fair use"   
   claim for exemption from copyright protection.   
      
   News item coverage was therefore biased and prejudiced along sectarian and    
   political lines.   
      
   A Google search on "Jai Maharaj" easily brings up two FAQs on him (and they   
   were not written by myself) but they were clearly annoyed by his behavior   
   and posting practices on USENET.   
      
   The content of his posts give rise to the seven questions below.   
      
   --------------   
      
   Q1. Does "Jai Maharaj" (aka Jay Stevens) display offensive intollerant   
    	religious prejudice?   
      
    	Origin: He has posted a large number of "copy and paste" articles   
    		from the media which mention crimes and misbehavior   
    		(including sexual abuse) of only Christians and Christian   
    		clergy (early-mid 2009, some of these NGs). In samples of   
    		his posts, the only exceptions are rare mentions of similar   
    		problems with Muslims/Jews but not Hindu clergy. He   
    		portrays himself as an "advocate" for Vedic Hinduism, but,   
    		among samples of his posts, one finds no reports of   
    		these crimes or misbehaviors among Hindus or Hindu clergy,   
    		despite the fact that Google searches easily find reports   
    		even in the mainstream media of India. Several other   
    		authors of posts, including myself, on these NGs have also   
    		pointed this out to him but they received no   
    		acknowledgement.   
      
    		He has quoted three sentences from the Bible, out of   
    		context, and without the benefit of interpretation, to   
    		condemn Jesus Christ, and declare in other posts that he   
    		is a terrorist.   
      
    		He is also concerned, understandably, about terrorism but   
    		places all of the emphasis on Muslims/Islam when, in fact,   
    		there is also a significant amount of terrorism that does   
    		not involve Muslms/Islam, but we get no qualification on   
    		his anti-Muslim/Islam position.   
      
    	Advice: In connection with the issue of offensive intollerance,   
    		Maharaj's posts represent bias and prejudice that fall   
    		under the jurisdiction of "hate crimes" (Google on   
    		"hate crimes" for many links). In connection with fairness   
    		and justice, Mr. Maharaj would be investing his time more   
    		productively and more purposefully if he were to simply   
    		lobby for laws (more possible in India, his favored   
    		country?) to outlaw or discriminate against non-Hindus,   
    		or work for laws and enforcements to resolve religious   
    		conflict (in India, which is one of his favorite topics).   
    		The problem with his preoccupation with the preservation   
    		and promotion of Hindu culture needs to be re-examined in   
    		the context that various religions are known to have evolved   
    		over time and even among Hindus in India there is a range   
    		of politics/culture today (eg. Google on "hindu   
    		nationalists"   
    		and "hindu fascists" for large numbers of links for strong   
    		political interests beyond tollerance, fairness, and   
    		inclusiveness and which involve national debate about what   
    		it means to be a Hindu)   
      
    	In sympathy to those who are persecuted because of their religion:   
    		It is advised that you consider the concept of "freedom of   
    		religion" which means that YOU should be free to practice   
    		whatever religion you are most comfortable with and your   
    		neighbors should be free to practice whatever religion   
    		they are comfortable with even if it is different from   
    		YOURS and as long as everyone tollerates each other's   
    		peaceful practices. The desireable answer to strife is to   
    		create tollerance laws and enforce laws against violence   
    		and crimes with local police and judicial processes.   
      
   Q2. Does "Jai Maharaj" (aka Jay Stevens) have significant anti-American   
    	and anti-white attitudes?   
      
    	Origin: He often posts copies and pasts only negative news about   
    		life in the US, and never posts any positive news about   
    		any redeming qualities about the USA. He has made   
    		reference in at least one of the sampled posts to   
    		anti-white sentiments.   
      
    	Advice: The absence, or relative absence, of posts involving   
    		negative information/reports/events among Hindus or in   
      
   [continued in next message]   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)   

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