The Hindu community abroad is becoming increasingly watchful about how their religion is portrayed by the mass media. In early May, a Hindu cultural society from the U.K. wrote to the press complaints commission in London, charging that The Independent, published from London, was guilty of denigrating their religion. The offensive report in the daily had described Lord Krishna as "the lover god whose most famous exertions are devoted to satisfying the sexual appetites of the gopis, his cowherd mistresses." The same report went on to describe Hinduism as "a baggy aggregation of rites, superstitions, texts and practices, with little internal consistency." At the same time, groups like the Overseas Friends of the BJP have taken it upon themselves to defend the party of their choice against western journalists who portray the BJP party and government in a negative light.Some feel that the BJP’s rise to power has created a new surge of awareness and pride among the NRI Hindus about their religion.

The Pakistan government has reacted sharply to the apprehension voiced by some in the West that with Pakistan having become the first Islamic state to successfully conduct a nuclear test, there was a danger that it might share its nuclear prowess with other Muslim countries. It emphatically stated its bombs had nothing to do with religion. But many mullahs of Pakistan believe otherwise. Within days of the nuclear tests conducted by the BJP–led government in India, Maulana Akhtar Mohammadi, the senior deputy chief of the Jamaat Ahl–e–Hadith, Pakistan, issued a fatwa, ruling that Pakistan was in the circumstances bound by Islamic law to conduct a nuclear test. In support of his fatwa, the maulana quoted a verse from the Quran which directs Muslims to keep their "strength and horses ready to frighten the enemies of Allah." The cleric added, "Maintaining preparedness which kept the enemy in fear was a duty enjoined by the Shariah." The fatwa was also endorsed by other Islamic scholars, including the leading Islamic theologian from Pakistan, Maulana Asad Thanvi.

Following a public outcry, the Thai government was forced to appeal to the country’s supreme Buddhist council in the last week of May, urging action against monks and temples who refuse to perform rituals for the poor. A fruit vendor complained through the news media that the Lad Prao temple in Bangkok had refused to perform funeral rituals for her father because she could not afford the money being demanded. A report in the Bangkok Post said the temple priests were demanding 1,700 baht (approx. Rs.1,750) to perform a service and 3,400 baht (Rs.3,500) for use of the crematorium. Coffins, flowers and food were charged extra. The fruit vendors complaint was the latest in a series of scandals highlighting the fact that the increasingly money–minded Buddhist clergy discriminates against poor people. Following the outcry, the deputy abbot of the Lad Prao temple was dismissed but the government directed its religious affairs department to take further steps against the extortion of the poor.

IN President Mohammed Khatami, Iran may have found a moderate, even a reformist of sorts and a woman may be the country’s vice–president. But despite serious reverses at the polls, in the courts and the streets, Iran’s male supremists have not given up yet. In the second week of May, conservative members of the Majlis (Iran’s Islamic consultative assembly) were busy finalising two bills which sought to reverse the limited rights women have gained in the recent period. The proposed legislation would outlaw media coverage of domestic violence, contain criticism of laws adversely affecting women and segregate medical services. Khatami’s culture minister, Ataollah Mohajerani said the government could not do much to stop the bill, adding, "The reforms will not break. They have the support of the entire nation; they are like a waterfall". Women’s rights activists have decried the attempt to create a parallel health system for the two sexes. Elaborating on the implications of the proposed legal changes, one woman lawyer said, " If I am blinded by something in my eye, the male doctor will not see me". In practice this will mean no medical care for a woman in urgent need as there are very few female eye doctors in the country. Similarly, the press bill proposes to outlaw coverage of domestic violence and "the creation of conflicts between men and women by propagating women’s rights outside the legal and Islamic framework". President Khatami, a moderate cleric, received an impressive 70 per cent of the votes a year ago.

IN England, beware, of the "excessive use of the Christian symbol". That’s the message the bereaved parents of a seven-year-old girl who died recently got from the local council of Lincolnshire town in England. After burying their daughter in a public cemetery, Patricia and Carl Gearing temporarily placed a Cross on the grave intending to replace it with a headstone later. But to their shock, they got a missive from the local authorities ordering them to remove the cross immediately because the local rule says: "Crosses are discouraged, as excessive use of the supreme Christian symbol is undesirable." To add to the outrage of the parents, the local authorities refused to meet the parents or even entertain the complaint on telephone. Subsequently, the Gearings were told they could put a Mickey Mouse headstone instead of the Cross, if they so wished!

Every now and then, the freedom of expression idea raises difficult questions. One such recent example was a cultural festival in early June at the Historika Museet (Historical Museum) in Stockholm, Sweden, one of the highlights being a photographic exhibition of nude children. The exhibition, which was a major attraction for paedophiles (people who like sex with young children), drew howls of protest from editors of newspapers, art critics and children’s rights organisations like Save the Children. The photographs were apparently taken by an American porn–photographer Donald Mader who managed to hide some of his dubious work when the Dutch police raided his studio while he was staying in Holland. Faced with the outrage, Stockholm’s commissioner for culture, Maria–Paz Acciardo, ordered an "immediate and thorough" police inquiry into the sordid episode. "What disturbs me greatly", she said, "is that the children in the pictures may well have been sexually exploited". Ironically, the exhibition would not have been possible in the first place without her consent. Ms. Acciardo agreed that "exhibiting these pictures is cruelty to children" but added that she did not agree that "the pictures should be pulled down". Asked how she could defend her position, she said, "Freedom of expression is for me the foremost goal of cultural politics. Therefore, it has to be proved beyond doubt that these boys have been sexually exploited before I can take steps against the exhibition".

IN the days of apartheid many Black people from South Africa would give their children English names. In other instances, the White supremists who found it was too much effort to spell or pronounce ‘complicated’, ‘foreign’ and ‘heathen’ names, ‘re–Christianed’ the Blacks, giving them names they were more familiar with. Cultural subjugation, in short. Thus, Rolihlahla (meaning trouble-maker) Mandela was renamed Nelson because his school teacher in Transkei decided to give all his Black pupils a new name. Similarly, most Black South Africans ended up with a traditional first name and a White Christian name. But with the change of political climate since 1994, this is no longer so. Signalling a return to roots, the preferred names now are not Jack or Jill but Kgomotso, Sokhaya or Mnyamezeli. Westerners are learning in the process that the traditional Black logic by which the name of a child gets determined is different from their own.