Catholics pursue man for pointing out leaky plumbing responsible for "miracle"

[TigerBoy]

When water started trickling down a statue of Jesus Christ at a Catholic church in Mumbai earlier this year, locals were quick to declare a miracle. Some began collecting the holy water and the Church of Our Lady of Velankanni began to promote it as a site of pilgrimage.

So when Sanal Edamaruku arrived and established that this was not holy water so much as holey plumbing, the backlash was severe. The renowned rationalist was accused of blasphemy, charged with offences that carry a three-year prison sentence and eventually, after receiving death threats, had to seek exile in Finland.

When the state "miracle" was pronounced, he went to Mumbai and found that the dripping water was due to clogged drainage pipes behind the wall where it stood. His revelation provoked death threats from religious zealots and ultimately charges of blasphemy under the Indian penal code in the Mumbai high court.

He has spurned an offer from a senior Indian Catholic bishop to apologise for the exposure of the "miracle".

"The Catholic archbishop of Bombay, Oswald, Cardinal Gracias, has said that if I apologise for the 'offence' I have caused he will see to it that the charges are dropped. This shows that he has influence in the situation but he will not use it unless I apologise, which I will not do as I have done nothing wrong," he said.

Full article in the guardian. (http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/nov/23/india-blasphemy-jesus-tears?INTCMP=SRCH)

[Jess]

Utterly ridiculous. The charges against him need to be dropped.

[nice]

This is like really stupid. I understand some people take religion and stuff very serious but this is just stupid and unnecessary the charges need to be dropped.

[Noirtier]

This is just moronic, really. The thing that surprised me was that it was the Catholic church in India that did this, and the courts are allowing it. I would have thought that they would more or less be opposed to that, considering the country's highly Hindu population/leanings. For charges to actually be brought against him, just makes me want to facepalm at today's society more and more.

[FreeFall]

I hope he high tails it out of there and finds safety before we hear of "Man killed in Mumbai for point out a leaky drain". I'm so baffled.

[Foamy]

I can't comprehend how stupid this is. I would go over there and put a big dent in it to prove a point but I can't so i'll just sit here and criticize the Indian court systems. They need to drop the charges.

[Jules97]

Sounds like urban myth to me.

[TigerBoy]

Sounds like urban myth to me.

Why? Even if you don't know that the Guardian newspaper this is sourced from is one of the major UK papers, a simple google search will give you:


details on Sanal Edamaruku (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sanal_Edamaruku)
corroborative articles in Huffington Post (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/11/28/sanal-edamaruku-indian-rationalist-weeping-christ-miracle-hoax-faces-jail_n_2201897.html) ; New Scientist (http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg21428714.000-miracle-buster-why-i-traced-holy-water-to-leaky-drain.html) and here's the Change.org petition to clear him (https://www.change.org/en-GB/petitions/we-call-on-the-catholic-archdiocese-of-bombay-to-encourage-the-withdrawal-of-complaints-against-indian-rationalist-sanal-edamaruku) which I'll be signing now.

[CharlieFinley]

This is utter trash. I understand if you want something to be a miracle, but if it's not actually a miracle, arresting the guy won't make it one.