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Archive: Aseem Shukla
Humanist ads: less Santa more Scrooge
Believe in God, many Gods, a merciful God, a wrathful God, impersonal God, personal God, Goddess, or no God at all. The pluralism of of America guarantees you your space. Intensely personal or wear-it-on-your-sleeve, we express our faith or no faith with abandon and celebrate our choice in our homes and sometimes in public.
By Aseem Shukla | November 25, 2009; 12:16 AM ET | Comments (0)
Hope for pluralism in the military
When ministering turns to proselytizing and privileging one faith over another, and when the tens of thousands of Jews, Muslims, Hindus and Buddhists proudly serving their country are rendered the "other," highly imperative troop cohesion and morale is compromised.
By Aseem Shukla | November 11, 2009; 12:33 PM ET | Comments (7)
Random violence, shared responsibility
We grieve today as Americans, and we have added to our national debt gratitude to the brave American soldiers of Fort Hood and everywhere. Our sorrow is boundless. But fighting a just war in Afghanistan will entail more sacrifice; we can only pray that the madness of collateral damage measured in stress, grieving families, separated families, broken homes and senseless murder will soon end.
By Aseem Shukla | November 6, 2009; 01:15 AM ET | Comments (6)
Die with dignity or anguish: The choice is yours
We have built a narrative where not giving up, holding up hope is heroic, and capitulating to death is cowardly. And indeed, we must face disease courageously, trust our physicians, maintain a positive attitude and pray. But there is a time for battle, an age for battle, time for prayer and then an acceptance when the outcome is certain.
By Aseem Shukla | November 5, 2009; 05:16 PM ET | Comments (2)
Karma, Newton, good and evil
Essentially there can be no unity on what is "good" and what is "evil" as long as the definition is predicated completely on a literal, "because the Bible (or Koran or Torah or Vedas) says so."
By Aseem Shukla | October 28, 2009; 12:41 PM ET | Comments (3)
When the only motive is hate
When hate leads to crime--and hate is the only motivation--it seems clear that such a crime is particularly severe.
By Aseem Shukla | October 21, 2009; 04:31 PM ET | Comments (0)
Obama Lights White House Diwali Lamp
Never before had a sitting U.S. President personally celebrated the Diwali holiday, and with that one gesture, two million Hindu Americans felt a bit more like they belonged.
By Aseem Shukla | October 15, 2009; 12:13 PM ET | Comments (54)
To Know God, Taste the Sugar
Salvation is not attained by a club membership in my faith or another, or bought and sold in a transcendental marketplace of souls. Salvation is the most available of all commodities, there to be had for anyone whose mind is still and open to experience the divine.
By Aseem Shukla | October 9, 2009; 03:36 PM ET | Comments (9)
Our Mistakes Haunt Us In Afghanistan
In Afghanistan and Pakistan, pluralism is dead and buried. No modern society constructed on the foundation of religious law, Sharia in this case, ever avoided the trap of intolerance, persecution and hate.
By Aseem Shukla | October 7, 2009; 01:58 PM ET | Comments (3)
Our Children and Theirs
As a Hindu, the Divine in me instructs me to see the Divine in them and think that the democracies of Great Britain, America, France and India, well, they love their children. But does a godless despot in North Korea, a proliferating regime in Pakistan, an extremist, ideological lunatic in Iran love their children too? Do they love our children?
By Aseem Shukla | September 29, 2009; 10:39 AM ET | Comments (8)
Flirting with Violations of Religious Liberty
Partnering with faith-based charities in the delivery of crucial social services conceptually always flirted with basic violations of the First Amendment; execution of the concept went well beyond flirtation.
By Aseem Shukla | September 23, 2009; 12:29 PM ET | Comments (5)
Less Pluralism, More Dogmatism
Where pluralism rests comfortably in the gray, we are sadly becoming a nation that only sees in black and white.
By Aseem Shukla | September 16, 2009; 10:32 AM ET | Comments (21)
Only the Gods Should be Armed
When priests arm themselves as soldiers, vulgarity and farce share a sad stage and minimize real threats of terror that require entire societies to mobilize.
By Aseem Shukla | September 10, 2009; 09:20 AM ET | Comments (29)
Serious Flaws in Textbook Adoption Process
It is a fascinating study into the psyche of a movement in its symbolic last throes that the three right-wing consultants push for a narrative that sings of a Christian America, very different from the reality that we all know. America is in the midst of change, and the version of our country they long for is nothing more than a sepia-toned, portrait of a bygone era.
By Aseem Shukla | September 2, 2009; 12:22 AM ET | Comments (15)
Myopic Mercy Cannot Undo Bad Karma
Vindictive punishment by mere mortals can too saddle those inflicting punishment with negative karmas, even if they seem justified. Behold the importance of ahimsa, or non-violence, in the Hindu ethos.
By Aseem Shukla | August 26, 2009; 11:04 PM ET | Comments (4)
The Dharma of Health-Care Reform
As a Hindu, I do not subscribe to a Biblical injunction in rendering care to my patients, but I must abide by my dharma, my duty, to help others.
By Aseem Shukla | August 18, 2009; 01:15 PM ET | Comments (3)
Anti-Hindu Bias at U.S. Commission
Why did the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom put India on its watch list? It begins with bias.
By Aseem Shukla | August 14, 2009; 09:57 AM ET | Comments (41)
God is Listening
God is everywhere, in everything and every creation that man myopically calls his own. Whether it be Facebook, Orkut, Twitter or SMS, God is listening.
By Aseem Shukla | August 11, 2009; 11:02 PM ET | Comments (2)
God is Beyond Image--Diocese is Beyond Restrictions
To a Hindu, God--that omnipotent, omnipresent and immanent Presence in the universe--so transcends mere mortal minds, that limiting the Divine to a mere reflection of humanity actually reflects the banality of our own minds.
By Aseem Shukla | August 6, 2009; 12:05 PM ET | Comments (0)
Big Brother, Get Out of My Marriage!
I did not take vows in a church or temple, and my vows were taken in the names of several Gods. Would my evangelical Christian friends consider that a legitimate marriage? Who really does have the right to define what is a "marriage" or a "civil union?"
By Aseem Shukla | July 29, 2009; 12:29 AM ET | Comments (10)
Sacred Traditions Should be Gender Blind
Most Hindus see their religion as a living one, a faith whose revelatory power did not end millenia ago, but continues to this day. The modern spiritual masters, scores of whom are women, attest to this vivacity.
By Aseem Shukla | July 22, 2009; 09:40 PM ET | Comments (2)
