Holy Cow! Boolatry!
©Lucio J. Mascarenhas.
We have the rudiculous spectacle of the Hindus elevating the cow to the status of divinity, and of simultaneously robbing their fellow human beings of their humanity and degrading them to a level lower than the lowest beast: the Achut.
But this is not all: The Hindus consider that the dung of the cow is holy and purifying. They worship the cow by kissing its arse — because, according to their mythologies, the Cow Goddess had destroyed the Asuras (demons) when they had attempted to enter her from that route, in their war against the Devas, the gods, who had taken refuge in it, entering it by way of its mouth!
They consider its urine as holy and the drinking of it as purifying!
Nothing exasperates and enrages them as much as the slaying of kine and the consumption of its flesh, for they look upon it as their spriritual mother.
So much so that the government of the Indian Union has banned the slaying and consumption of the flesh of kine!
But from the Christian viewpoint, there is nothing moral or immoral in consumming cow's flesh: It is a morally indifferent act, and Christians are in no manner obliged by the supposed 'law,' because it is not based on the common good, but on gross superstition.
What is sinful is robbing and degrading one's fellow human beings of their humanity.
What is sinful is to commit idolatry by worshiping a mere creature, and one so inferior even to ourselves, that by doing so we debase ourselves!
Therefore, it is better to eat the cow, than to kiss its arse!
Hindus urge their Christian and Muslim neighbours not to eat of the flesh of kine, as being offensive to them. However their offense is false and misplaced. It should really be directed against the unspeakable situation of their Dalit victims, whom they have dehumanised.
As far as the eating of beef is concerned, Christians, while not being obliged, as a matter of religion, to partake of it, must nevertheless remember that, if they refuse to do so, they risk the danger of encouraging their pagan neighbours in their gross and inhuman superstitions!
No less a personage than the great demagogue and dissembler, the Mahatma Sophaster, articulated the Hindu offense at Christians consuming beef. He said, "There is a verse in the New Testament that bids Christians avoid meat, if it would offend their neighbours."
Christians, it is true, are obliged to avoid giving scandal to their neighbours that could lead them into compromise of their faith, even if this scandal is merely apparent and not real. However, what we are discussing here is not legitimage scandal, apparent or real, but purely false, cultivated scandal, the type called "Pharisaical scandal." Avoiding this scandal leads one unerringly into the maws of hell, and contradicts another teaching of the New Testament, that of avoiding any act that can lead the spectator to consider idolatry as legitimate.
Christianity does not entail, in any manner, least of all, sacramental, the eating of beef, and Christians are within their rights in refusing to eat any food as long as they do not err into heresy by believing that that food is illegitimate and unholy. However, in the Indian context, avoiding beef is tantamount to confirming the Hindus in their superstition that cows are divine! This is a greater evil than the supposed and false evil of Pharisaical scandal to our Hindu neighbours that we provide by consuming beef!
Please forgive me for using the "a" word, which is not usually employed in polite language. However, there is no other way to convey this truth, other than by using the correct word.
©Lucio J. Mascarenhas.