The Wild Hunt (https://wildhunt.org/tag/india)
Although my trip companions think that the driving in Delhi, Dharamsala, and Agra is horrible, and that I’m crazy for even considering driving here, my heart salivates over the opportunity. I think of you and wonder whether you’d be up to renting scooters in Dharamsala or Delhi and taking a turn or two.
In direct contrast to the supposedly universal “golden rule” and the “turn the other cheek” message of Christ, Odin teaches that we have no responsibility to be love our enemies. That particular Heathen teaching is a large part of what leads someone like me to be uncomfortable with some of Martin Luther King’s principles, but it does not mean that the embrace of violence is the answer.”
The annual report by the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom has few surprises. The report highlights challenges around the world that remain and calls out China, Cuba, Russia, and India.
Here is the lesson. Without positive action, comparative mythology is (at best) a dry academic amusement and (at worst) an exercise in colonialist cultural appropriation. Rather than taking from Hinduism and calling it Heathenry, I suggest that we learn from a closely related tradition that has much to teach us.
The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom released its annual report last week noting that the conditions for religious freedom are “worsening” around the world.