Author:
Publication: Mosnews.Com
Date: August 31, 2004
URL: http://www.mosnews.com/news/2004/08/31/krishna.shtml
[Note from Hindu Vivek Kendra:
When Hindus protest similar tactics of the Christian missionaries,
not only the missionaries but also the allegedly secular Hindus consider
the protest as mean-minded. But when the Christian missionaries
protest...?]
The Inter-religious Council of Russia
has denounced a recent "Food of Life" campaign organized by Russia's Hare
Krishna community where members handed out vegetarian sweets to veterans
and the disabled in a Moscow district.
The council, an affiliate of the
World Conference of Religions for Peace, is an independent organization
that has pledged to "enrich the age-old traditions of interreligious cooperation,"
its site reads.
The council's executive secretary
Roman Silantyev, however, has called the Hare Krishna community a "destructive
sect" that is offering food under the guise of humanitarian aide, Interfax
quoted him as saying.
The food, since it is dedicated
to "pagan gods", could "harm the spiritual health of Christians, Muslims,
and Jews."
He expressed regret that there were
no legislative means to "apprehend such provocations" and called on special
labeling of Hare Krishna products, indicating that they were "inappropriate
as food for Christians, Muslims, and Jews."
He also called on the Federal Epidemiological
Control Center to test its products for traces of cow urine and excrement,
since the "sect members" come in contact with these substances "when they
wash their idols," Interfax quoted him as saying.
Silantyev stressed that that Hare
Krishna's campaigns have already been denounced by "all traditional spiritual
leaders as an especially cynical and prevocational form of proselytizing."
