http://compassdirect.org/en/display.php?page=news&lang=en&length=long&idelement=4900 This is surprising and disturbing to me. When the gurus first came to America they all said Hinduism was accepting of all religions, and Hinduism as I knew it then was. But in recent years extremists have sprung up persecuting Christians across India. Yet another of the many cases of organized religions not walking the walk and resorting to violence instead of love and peace.
I am against all forms of intimidation in the name of religion, but I must also say that the christian missionaries in India are also not angels, and they have been involved in India for centuries vilifying the dharmic faiths, which has been talked about by Gandhi and Vivekananda. The Goa inquisition perpetrated by the portuguese missionaries is famous in India. HIndus were forbidden from practicing their faith, tortured brutally, and burned at the stake as well. In Europe, the Goa Inquisition became notorious for its cruelty and use of torture, and the French philosopher Voltaire wrote "Goa is sadly famous for its inquisition, which is contrary to humanity as much as to commerce. The Portuguese monks deluded us into believing that the Indian populace was worshipping The Devil, while it is they who served him." Use of torture Hindus who were arrested for repeated violations of the laws were taken in by the inquisition to the "Palace of the Goa Inquisition" for "confessions". The confessions were attained by various torture techniques. Techniques included Hindus being tied up and having their feet burned slowly with sulphur, water torture techniques and racks to which the victims were manacled and their joints slowly dislocated by stretching. [dubious — see talk page] This "strappado" method was a particular favorite among the inquisitors. Thumb-screws and leg-crushers called "Spanish boots" were also employed. Often, boiling oil was poured on their legs and sulphur dropped on their bodies with lighted candles held beneath their armpits. [dubious — see talk page] Another technique involved fixing the victims to revolving tables and whirling them round until they were nauseous. These techniques were applied to the victims until they were weakened to the point of being persuaded to "convert" to Christianity and "confess" Executions Those who "confessed" were strangled to death and their corpses burned. Those who did not were burned alive at the stake. All the victims of the inquisition eventually had their shirts steeped in sulphur. Those who did not confess had their shirts painted with flames pointing upward. Those who did had their shirts painted with flamed pointing downward. They were taken from the palace to the Church during Sunday mass. Then, they were subjected to ridicule by the Christian parishioners. Once that ritual was complete, the confessors were strangled and their corpses, together with the living non-confessers, were "conducted to the Campo Sancto Lazaro" and burned at the stake in the presence of onlookers. Many hindu temples were destroyed , and christian churches were built in their place, and many hindu religious texts too were burnt. Most notably, the Kama Sutra increased in infamy with its "lewd" alternatives to the endorsed Missionary position. Not only the hindus, but the jews and the muslims too were slaughtered by the portuguese christians in large numbers. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goa_Inquisition http://www.christianaggression.org/item_display.php?type=ARTICLES&id=1111142225 http://s-g-v-mani.sulekha.com/blog/post/2007/06/something-to-think-about-02.htm http://www.indpride.com/portuguese%20invasion.html http://mahavansa.blogspot.com/ historian, Dr. T. R. de Souza "The Goan inquisition is regarded by all contemporary portrayals as the most violent inquisition ever executed by the Portuguese Catholic Church. It lasted from 1560 to 1812........... So harsh and notorious was the inquisition in Goa, that word of its brutality and horrors reached Lisbon but nothing was done to stop this notoriety and escalating barbarity and it continued for two hundred more years. Nobody knows the exact number of Goans subjected to these diabolical tortures, but perhaps it runs into hundreds of thousands, may be even more. ........... Dr. Trasta Breganka Kunha, a Catholic citizen of Goa writes, "Inspite of all the mutilations and concealment of history, it remains an undoubted fact that religious conversion of Goans is due to methods of force adopted by the Portuguese to establish their rule. As a result of this violence the character of our people was destroyed. The propagation of Christian sect in Goa came about not by religious preaching but through the methods of violence and pressure." “ "Historians consider the Goa Inquisition the most merciless and cruel ever" Excerpts from interview with Richard Zimler, author of Guardian of the Dawn, by Lindsay Pereira of Rediff.com (14 SEP 2005) . And the so-called christians in India and the catholic church have not yet apologized for the barbaric atrocities and the slaughter of thousands they committed in India.
