RISING RESTRICTIONS ON RELIGION: WORLD STUDY

32% GLOBAL POPULATION EXPERIENCES
INCREASE OF RESTRICTIONS ON RELIGIOUS
Washington (AFP / CNN) - A third of the world - about 2.2 billion people - live in nations where restrictions on religion have substantially increased, according to a study just released by the Pew Research Center’s Forum on Religion & Public Life.  The study also shows increasing polarization: intolerant countries are growing more hostile to religious freedom, while tolerant countries are growing more accommodating. Brian Grim, the primary researcher, explains, “When you have one set of restrictions in place, then it’s easier to add on.”  The report culled data from 198 countries and territories from 2006 through 2009. Egypt, France, Algeria, Uganda and Malaysia were among the countries with the greatest increases in governmental religious restrictions; among those with the greatest easing of restrictions were Greece, Togo, Nicaragua, Republic of Macedonia and Guinea-Bissau. North Korea, one of the most repressive regimes, could not be included in the report for lack of reliable data.

The report also measured social hostility toward religious groups. Although religious freedom is scarcest in the Middle East and North Africa, Europe was found to have the largest proportion of countries with increased social hostilities related to religion. Muslims and Christians were reported to have suffered the most harassment based on their religion. Jews, representing less than one percent of the world’s people, were harassed in 75 countries.  Overall, about 70 percent of the world lives in nations with significant religious repression - a figure that matched that of a similar study Pew undertook two years ago. But the nations in which religious repression is increasing tend to be populous, the study’s authors noted.

Religious tolerance is in retreat and religious violence and abuse are growing globally.  More than 2.2 billion people of the world’s total population of 6.9 billion, live in countries where either government restrictions on religion or social hostilities involving religion rose substantially.  In general, these countries already had high or very high levels of restrictions or hostilities towards religions, according to a new study.   Krishna and Srimad-Bhagavatam teach us that tolerance is necessary not only to know that we are different from the body and mind, but also to see others as our sisters and brothers.



WHAT DO THE VEDIC TEACHINGS TELL US?
Q:- What are the favourable situations for chanting the name of the Lord ?
A:- At first we shall be freed from enviousness to the Vaishnavas because it causes misfortune in this material world as well as in the transcendental world. This material world is the testing place. We find here only sorrow. Tolerance, feeling insignificant and praising others are helpful for chanting the Lord’s name.
 
Q:-What quality should we possess to serve the Lord ?
A:- The things that are favourable in the line of serving the Lord are tolerance, feeling insignificant and praising others. Unless one has tolerance, one can not have strong faith in the Lord. Tolerance is the ornament of a Vaishnava. One can not praise another person unless one feels oneself to be inferior. So these are the attributes helpful in the line of serving the Lord.


Śrīla Bhakti Vaibhava Purī Mahārāj:
“A Brief History of Sri Srimad B.V. Puri Goswami Maharaj”
“Questions and Answers”
Śrī Krishna Chaitanya Mission - http://www.purimaharaj.com/

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TIBETAN MONK BURNS HIMSELF TO DEATH IN CHINA

IN CHINA TIBETAN MONK DIES
IN SELF-IMMOLATION PROTEST
Beijin (Reuters) - A Tibetan Buddhist monk burned himself to death on Monday in southwest China calling for the return of the Dalai Lama, the exiled spiritual leader condemned by Beijing as a separatist.  The Tibetan Buddhist monk protesting Chinese policies immolated himself publicly in a Tibetan area of Sichuan Province in southwest China on Monday, an outside advocacy group reported. It was the second such act in the area in the past five months and appeared to reflect resistance to increased Chinese repression of loyalty to Tibet’s exiled spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama.  The monk’s self-immolation could spark fresh tensions in heavily ethnic Tibetan parts of Sichuan, which neighbors the official Tibet region, following protests in March when a Tibetan monk there also burned himself to death.  The London-based Free Tibet organization said the latest immolation-protest was carried out by a 29-year-old monk, Tsewang Norbu, who was from a monastery in Tawu, about 150 km (93 miles) from where the last immolation happened. 

“Tsewang Norbu drank petrol, sprayed petrol on himself and then set himself on fire,” Free Tibet said in an emailed statement, citing an unnamed witness.  “He was heard calling out: ‘We Tibetan people want freedom’, ‘Long live the Dalai Lama’ and ‘Let the Dalai Lama Return to Tibet’. He is believed to have died at the scene,” the group said.  “I saw a monk lying on the ground and burning, he died right in front of the county government building. Before setting himself on fire, he was distributing leaflets,” a hotel receptionist near the scene told AFP over the phone.  Tensions over the fate of the exiled Dalai Lama and his calls for Tibetan self-determination have continued to dog the region, sometimes flaring into protests.



A 29-year-old Tibetan monk set himself on fire and died of his injuries on Monday in southwest China, months after another self-immolation in the restive area sparked a crackdown by authorities.  Before setting himself on fire he was distributing leaflets right in front of the county government building. He was heard calling out “We Tibetan people want freedom”, “Long live the Dalai Lama”, and “Let the Dalai Lama return to Tibet” before he died.  In the epic Ramayana, we read the story of Bharata who vowed to Rama that if he did not return immediately when the fourteen years had elapsed, he would give up his life by self-immolation.  


WHAT DO THE VEDIC TEACHINGS TELL US?
Lakshmana spoke this to Rama:  “Ushered by anguish Bharata must be practising ascesis in city with adoration to you.  On forsaking kingdom and pride of becoming the king of Ayodhya as well and varied and various pleasures too, he is in self-denial, and with his food regulated he sleeps on chilly surface of earth.  That lotus-petal eyed one with blue-black complexion, being the noblest he is knower of dharma thus an advocate of truth, and thus intolerant of ignominy, and as a self-restrained one he talks dearly and sweetly, and he is dextrous and an enemy-destroyer, such as he is, that Bharata on forgoing all of his various pleasures he is devoted to you, as you alone are his adorable brother.”  Whith these broodings Lakshmana is quickening Rama’s thinking to take some action to complete his mission in eradicating the demonic atrocities and quickly return to Ayodhya, lest time slips by and Bharata may self-immolate.




Valmiki Ramayana
“Aranya Kanda (in Prose) - Sarga 16”
http://www.giirvaani.net/giirvaani/vr/aranya/sarga16/aranya_16_prose.htm

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