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RATIONALIST INTERNATIONAL Bulletin # 50 (3 October, 2000)
IN THIS ISSUE:
THE DANGER OF PROMOTING FALUN GONG Sanal Edamaruku
Is Falun Gong a harmless crazy sect spreading meaningless spiritual gibberish and recommending slow motion exercises on which the repressive Chinese government cracks down brutally? Is the sort of pseudo-science it propagates tolerable nonsense only? The reports that appear in western media about the Falun Gong give the impression that the group is treated as a convenient political alternative fit to be promoted to tackle China and what China represents. For those who remember the days when progressive forces all over the world supported the movement of Ayatollah Khomeini against the repressive Shah of Iran, the present consensus of the west in its support of the Falun Gong movement is spine chilling. The outcome, if it finds its goals, may be disastrous in the history of human civilization.
Falun Gong has wider dimensions than the Jim Jones cult in Guyana, assorted bearded Indian gurus in the U S with fleets of Rolls Royce or the Texas based Branch Davidians. Falun Gong claims about 100 million followers worldwide. It discourages modern medical treatment or consultation with physicians. If the figures provided by the Chinese government are to be believed, more than 1500 people have already died unnecessarily as a result of spurning proper medical treatment. The claims of Falun Gong to win the gullible are amazing. Magical cures from recovery from advanced terminal cancer to deferring menopause are claimed and believed. There are reports that Falun believers have been coerced into slitting open their stomachs to look for the ‘wheel of law’.
Falun Gong gets its name from Fa Lun Da Fa, which is the precise name of the sect meaning "Law Wheel Big Way". The gullible falling in the trap of Falun Gong cut across several sections of Chinese population. The sect has long lunatic fringe and strange beliefs. The moon, for example, for the followers of Falun Gong, was constructed as an observation post for moon-making beings that live inside the moon closer to the back, and often fly out to watch earthings’ activities.
The leader of Falun Gong, Li Hongzhi, lives in New York. In 1992 Hongzhi developed a cosmic theory which reads like a fine blend of Book of Revelations and Star Wars. High level beings that represent the sinister are on one side. Dafa, the positive force is represented terrestrially by Hongzhi and his followers. Dafa has boundless inner meanings and has created everything at each level of the cosmos. Hongzhi periodically proclaims the imminence of the Consummation, an apocalypse that will cleanse the cosmos of vile forces and create a utopia for those who remain. He has also written about his ability to fly, powers of X-ray vision and other supernatural powers.
Falun Gong is much more than the crazy claims of a phony sect leader. Such movements can have more dangerous influence than one can imagine. China itself had the history of an apocalyptic cult taking millions of people for a ride. During the Qing dynasty in the 19th century, Hong Xiuquan, a peasant, claimed that he was the younger brother of Jesus and gathered an army of god-worshipping faithful. The rebellion led by him swept northwards and established a base for its putative New Jerusalem in Nanjing. They remained in control from 1853 to 1864 until a combined force of Qing and foreign troops overthrew them. Till then, more than 20 million people had lost their lives through battle or starvation.
Despite the political differences with China, civilization demands that China be helped to handle the Falun Gong crisis. China too should understand that suppression, banning or brutality are not the ways to face the challenge of this dangerous sect. Scientific education and the promotion of scientific temper are the tools in this fight against spiritual craziness. China deserves the support of the progressive world in this endeavor. Falun Gong is a threat against common sense and the achievements of modern civilization. USA: CHRISTIAN GROUPS AGAINST RU-486 A Catholic priest has been arrested In Rockford, Illinois, after crashing with his car into an abortion clinic and then smashing the entrance door with an axe. A guard, firing warning shots at the maniac, could stop him from entering the clinic.
The incident happened in the wake of a milestone decision of the federal drug admission of the USA, which approved the use of the so-called "mornig-after" contraceptive pill Ru-486 or mifepristone last week. The decision inflamed the public debate about abortion and medical practitioners and abortion clinics fear it may unleash a new wave of violent attacks by Christian fundamentalists. The authorities are worried that it may disturb next month’s presidential elections.
After the announcement of Italy to authorize the sale of Ru-486, the Roman Catholic church has launched a massive attack on the government for loopholing abortion laws and a heated debate is snowballing through the media. Despite protest of the churches, Ru-486 has started to conquer the world - with official permissions or on the gray market. The "morning after" contraceptive pill is a hormone modulated drug containing mifepristone, a chemical that stops the secretion of the pregnancy promoting hormone progesterone and terminates pregnancy up to the eighth week. It allows personal, convenient and discrete handling by the pregnant woman without anybody’s interference or legal hurdles and marks a leap forward on way to women’s self-determination. Since its first introduction nearly forty years have passed.
TALIBAN IS ANTI-ISLAMIC, SAY LEADING ISLAMIC CLERICS
Leading ulema Maulana Kalbe Sadiq, vice-president of All India Muslim Personal Law Board and considered to be an authority on Islamic literature, is a globe-trotter and in constant touch with top Muslim clerics around the world. All of them agree, he said in an interview given to The Pioneer last week, that the Taliban have "disgraced Islam". "Taliban’s activities are anti-Islamic. It’s not a matter of Shia or Sunni. What the Taliban are doing is against the basic principles of Islam." It is for the first time that leading ulema is bluntly criticizing the Taliban. Islamic clerics in the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Kuwait, Iraq, Qatar, Oman and even in south east Asia, in Iran and Turkmenistan, are against the Taliban, Maulana Sadiq said. "It’s only a handful of fundamentalists in Saudi Arabia and Pakistan who are backing Taliban for their own interests", he said. Pakistan’s junta government may hope that Taliban could help them to reach the oil fields in Central Asia, but even in Pakistan the majority is against Taliban. "The Taliban militia is bound to collapse", Sadique said, "It’s a matter of time".
BEIJING/VATICAN: CRIMINALS AMONG 120 NEW CHINESE SAINTS I n a blatant provocation against the Chinese government, the Pope on Sunday declared 87 Chinese Catholics and 33 foreign missionaries who had been killed during the last 500 years in China martyrs and bestowed sainthood on them. Most of the 120 newly canonized died in the anti-Western Boxer rebellion a century ago. The date chosen for the canonization was 1st October, China’s national day marking the 51st anniversary of the Communist government. The Chinese foreign ministry expressed utmost indignation about the offending act. The leader of the official Catholic church of China, Bishop Fu Tieshan, called the canonization a "public humiliation" and "intolerable". The event will further freeze the relations between China and Vatican, which do not have diplomatic ties. Last year the Chinese government declined to allow the Pope to visit China.
The Chinese government clarified in a press statement that some of the new "saints" had been guilty of severe crimes against the Chinese people like looting and raping. As two examples the Italian missionary Albericus Crescitelli and the French missionary Auguste Chapdelaine were named. Crescitelli, who died in the Boxer rebellion, had been notorius for taking the ‘right of the first night’ of each bride under his diocese. Chapdelaine was convicted and executed as a criminal by the Chinese. France used his death in 1857 as a pretext for attacks on China.
The Pope reacted to the massive protest by stating that "the celebration is not the time to make judgements" and that he only intended to recognize the martyrs "as example of courage and coherence for all of us" and to "give honor to the noble Chinese people". The recipients of Rationalist International Bulletin # 50 may publish, post, forward or reproduce articles and reports from this bulletin, acknowledging the source, Rationalist International Bulletin # 50. If you wish to invite your rationalist friends to receive Rationalist International Bulletin (it’s free), please ask them to send a blank message from their address to Rationalist-subscribe@egroups.com or you may send their email address to HQ@rationalistinternational.net How to contact Rationalist International? Postal address: Rationalist International, P O Box 9110, New Delhi 110091, India. Phone: +91-11-2253255, Fax: +91-11-914456201 (please note the change in fax number), Email: info@rationalistinternational.netHonorary Associates: (alphabetically) Katsuaki Asai (Japan), Prof. Colin Blakemore (UK), Prof. Vern Bullough (USA), Dr Bill Cooke (New Zealand), Helena Cronin (UK), Prof. Richard Dawkins (UK), Joseph Edamaruku (India), Jim Herrick (UK), Christopher Hitchens (USA), Lavanam (India), Prof. Paul Kurtz (USA), Taslima Nasreen (Bangladesh), Steinar Nilsen (Norway), Prof. Jean-Claude Pecker (France), James Randi (USA), Dr G N Jyoti Shankar (meanwhile deceased) (USA), Prof. Harry Stopes-Roe (UK), Prof. Rob Tielman (The Netherlands), Jane Wynne Willson (UK), Prof. Lewis Wolpert (UK). Sanal Edamaruku, President of Rationalist International, can be contacted at Edamaruku@rationalistinternational.net |