World Virgin Mary Statue Generates Controversy in India

[abujagirl]

A statue of the Virgin Mary dressed as a local tribal woman is in the eye of the storm in the eastern Indian state of Jharkhand. Church leaders installed the statue in Singhpur village, 15km outside the provincial capital of Ranchi in May, as a tribute to local traditions.

According to ALJAZEERA, the statue which depicts the Virgin Mary in a red-bordered white sari and red blouse, sporting a necklace, bangles and earrings, and holding baby Jesus in a cloth sling tied around her shoulder - has become a lightning rod of controversy.

Several Sarna religious groups have held protest rallies and demanded that the statue be removed.

Weeks ago, more than 10,000 protesters from local tribes marched down the streets of Singhpur. The agitated protesters are now threatening more aggressive action.

Bandhan Tigga, the head priest of Sarna Society, which represents Sarna tribal population of Jharkhand said,"The statue is a tool to convert more tribals to Christianity".

"Apart from she is wearing traditional Sarna dress of red-bordered sari, Mother Mary's complexion is also dark in the statue. She has been made to look like our goddess of Sarna Ma [Mother Nature]. If the statue remains in place, after some decades our future generations will get confused between our Sarna Ma and Mother Mary".

"The Christian priests consider our Sarna belief system inferior and uncivilised. We have begun our protest against the sari-clad Mother Mary statue to send out strong messages that we love our religion and culture, and we shall launch a more aggressive movement against their agenda of conversion".

The statue of Virgin Mary has further fueled the ongoing tug-of-war over faith. Prior to the setting up of the statue, Hindus have accused Christian missionaries of carrying out proselytism under the garb of social work a charge denied by the church.

Christian leaders are also against the removal of the statue.

"Following their demand, if we remove the statue today then tomorrow they will ask us to stop playing tribal musical instruments, or performing tribal dances, or for that matter speaking tribal languages. We are not going to give in to any of their unjustified demands".

Hindu groups have set a deadline of December 24 for the church for removing the statue. (NAN)

 

[Tannoy]

Christianity and its regular chameleon tendencies. It is basically what I detest the most about the religion. We have our saints with halos over their heads (in not-so-subtle deference to the sun-god; even the halo is undisguisedly a sun). The birth of Jesus was unashamedly shifted to the birthday of Ra (December 25th), and several roman pagan rites have found their way to the forefront of Christian tradition. And here we are, with a brown-skinned Mary with the native apparel.

Bunch of mindless people.