US Religion

One Million Moms is a christian morality campaign. The group had a whinge about a new US TV programme saying:

ABC's newest sitcom The Real O'Neals is described as: just your typical all-American, Catholic, divorcing, disgraced, law breaking, gay family and continues on to say their family is a perfect mess.

It is now airing on Tuesday evenings at 8:30/7:30 p.m. CT.

The Real O'Neals mocks Christianity and insults Catholicism. 1MM recognizes this show ridicules people of faith, and Christians across America are offended by it.

It is almost impossible to describe the depth of depravity found in the sitcom The Real O'Neals. It is impossible to list them all, so here are a few scenes from this TV -- PG - D rated show:

• Jesus appears where only the gay son can see and talk to Him, and He is annoyed by the mom's strict guidelines for her family.
• The daughter steals money she is supposedly raising for charity.
• The daughter "attempts to prove" that there is no God in a science fair project.
• ABC network refers to this highly dysfunctional family as "the perfect Irish-Catholic family."
• A statue of Mary is kept above the O'Neal's toilet to remind the boys to put the seat down.
• The first jab at Jesus comes only 52 seconds into the first episode.
• The mother encourages her 16-year-old gay son to "try sex" with a girl.
• Vulgar language (ex. Vagina).
• The mom makes pancakes shaped like the face of Jesus to guilt trip her anorexic son into eating.
• One of the show's producers is anti-Christian bigot Dan Savage, and the show is said to be loosely based on his life.

Rajan Zed has criticized Coldplay's music-video featuring Beyoncé titled Hymn For The Weekend , claiming it trivializes Hinduism.

Zed aid that this party-anthem/club-song music-video unnecessarily dragged sacred Hindu concepts and symbols with no linkage to the lyrics/storyline. He wrote:

What was the connection of--depicting one person dressed as Lord Shiva holding a trishul and sitting on the pavement; three persons dressed as Hanumans and standing with gadas leaning against their shoulders; two saffron-clad sadhus (with one on the ground and another high on a bamboo stick holding a mala) sitting on the roadside, as if meditating, with incense burning in front of them--with the lyrics in the video like drink from me ?

Rajan Zed pointed out that Hindus understood that the purpose of Coldplay-Beyoncé in this case apparently was not to denigrate Hinduism, but casual flirting sometimes resulted in pillaging serious spiritual doctrines and revered symbols and hurting the devotees.

Zed said that Hindus were for free artistic expression and speech as much as anybody else if not more . BUT... faith was something sacred and attempts at trivializing it were disturbing for the followers.

Perenial hindu whinger Rajan Zed has taken 'offence' at the cover of the January international edition of American business magazine Fortune which juxtaposes image of Amazon.com President Jeffrey P. Bezos as the likeness of the religious character Lord Vishnu.

Zed's usual copy and paste news release said that Lord Vishnu was a highly revered major deity in Hinduism meant to be worshipped in temples or home shrines and not to be used indecorously or thrown around loosely in reimagined versions for dramatic effects.

Zed, calling it an unnecessary dragging of a Hindu deity to prove their point of view, urged Fortune to publish a disclaimer about this on its website and the next issue with proper explanation of Lord Vishnu and Hinduism; in addition to a formal signed apology by all involved at Time Inc.

Zed further said that Hindus welcomed media to immerse in Hinduism but taking it seriously and respectfully and not just for improper showing of Hindu symbols and concepts to advance their commercial or other agenda. Hindus were for free speech as much as anybody else if not more ...BUT... faith was something sacred and attempts at misusing it hurt the devotees. Media should be more sensitive while handling faith related subjects and sacred symbols.

Update: Apologies

14th January 2016.  See  article from rajanzed.org

American business magazine Fortune has apologized for juxtaposing image of Amazon.com President Jeff Bezos as the likeness of the religious character Lord Vishnu. Alan Murray, editor of Fortune Magazine said:

The cover of Fortune's January 2016 international edition featured an illustration of Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos as a Hindu deity. Neither the artist nor the editors of Fortune had any intention of parodying a particular deity or of offending members of the Hindu faith. It is clear that we erred and for that, we apologize.

Rajan Zed thankedMurray for showing maturity and responsibility and understanding the feelings of the community. but was pushing his luck a little by suggesting that Fortune and other media companies worldwide to send their senior executives and editors for training in religious and cultural sensitivity so that they had an understanding of the feelings of the customers and communities.