{"id":4102,"date":"2012-09-06T16:13:27","date_gmt":"2012-09-06T15:13:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.christianvoice.org.uk\/?p=4102"},"modified":"2025-08-26T15:43:54","modified_gmt":"2025-08-26T14:43:54","slug":"back-to-school-beware-of-diwali-term","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.christianvoice.org.uk\/index.php\/back-to-school-beware-of-diwali-term\/","title":{"rendered":"Back to School but Beware of ‘Diwali Term’"},"content":{"rendered":"
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A girl and her mother\u00a0light a Diwali lamp or ‘diya’ as part of a swastika pattern for Hindu ‘puja’<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

It\u2019s that time of year when schools are gearing up to promote the Hindu festival ‘Diwali’ with shrines to elephant gods and marks on foreheads.\u00a0<\/p>\n

A new Christian Voice resource for parents, school governors, pastors and leaders strips away the mask to reveal the darkness behind the Diwali lights.<\/p>\n

We are giving away free copies of Diwali \u2013 a parents\u2019 guide<\/strong><\/em> to everyone joining Christian Voice from September to November.\u00a0 Get this resource now, before the diyas are lit and the puja (that’s Hindi for worship) begins.<\/p>\n

The idea behind modern multi-cultural religious education is that all faiths are valid paths to the same God or god.\u00a0 Since light is an element of many faiths, different festivals of ‘light’ or ‘lights’ are used to show that the different religions are really just the same.<\/p>\n

The truth behind Diwali – the ‘festival of lights’<\/strong><\/p>\n

Diwali celebrates the mythical home-coming of Rama and Sita in which the people lit diyas to show them the way.<\/p>\n

According to one Hindu source we quote in Diwali \u2013 a parents\u2019 guide<\/strong><\/em>, “Diwali symbolises the destruction of evil and the return of peace and happiness … a celebration of the triumph of good over evil.”<\/p>\n

As the children sit by their shrines to the elephant god in classrooms up and down the land, their parents\u00a0won’t be told that Rama, according to the Hindu scriptures, went on to marry many other women as well as Sita, mutilated and tortured women, called his father a fool and an idiot and burnt the Dravidians of Sri Lanka alive.\u00a0 So much for peace and happiness.<\/p>\n

Hinduism’s social darkness<\/strong><\/p>\n

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The demon goddess Durga is depicted with lethal weapons in her ten hands, and is said to delight in ‘wine, flesh and sacrifice’.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Nor will they be told, as their children\u00a0paint red tilak dots on each others’ foreheads,\u00a0about the Hindu caste system which keeps millions of families in permanent bondage, about dowry murders of young brides, about female infanticide nor about the ritual slaughter of buffalo and horses to appease the Hindu goddess Durga.<\/p>\n

In all the talk of light, no school will own up to the darkness of Hindu violence over the thousands of Dalits (or ‘Untouchables’) converting to Christianity nor about how the idea of reincarnation and ‘karma’ means that beggars must be left to suffer for their sins in a previous life.<\/p>\n

But we’ll tell you, in Diwali – a parents’ guide<\/em>.<\/strong><\/p>\n

We’ll give you all the background to the Diwali festival, set out the Hindu belief system with its demonic ‘trinity’, explain how the caste system keeps one racial group in permanent ascendancy, and show you how the Hindu faith works out in practice.<\/p>\n

Armed with this information, parents, grandparents, school governors, ministers of the Gospel, pastors and leaders can help support teachers refuse to celebrate Diwali.\u00a0 And if a school persists with the festival, parents have the right to take their children out of lessons.\u00a0 And if you are a teacher – or just interested in religious education – you need this valuable resource.<\/p>\n

Diwali – a parents’ guide<\/em><\/strong> is free when you join Christian Voice from September to November 2012.<\/p>\n

Or read an online version HERE<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

Read our aims and stament of faith and find out how you can join Christian Voice here (clicking on the link below does not commit you to joining):<\/strong><\/p>\n

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<\/strong>\u00a0<\/p>\n

Just two of the many relevant scriptures we quote in Diwali – a parents’ guide<\/em>:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Exod 20:4 Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth: 5 Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them. <\/strong><\/p>\n

John 8:12: Then spake Jesus again unto them, saying, I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.\u00a0 <\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/strong>\u00a0<\/p>\n

Please note that persons wishing to comment on this story must enter a valid email address.\u00a0 Comments from persons leaving fictitious email addresses will be trashed.<\/strong><\/div>\n

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It\u2019s that time of year when schools are gearing up to promote the Hindu festival ‘Diwali’ with shrines to elephant gods and marks on foreheads.\u00a0 A new Christian Voice resource for parents, school governors, pastors and leaders strips away the mask to reveal the darkness behind the Diwali lights. We are giving away free copies […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":4103,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1035],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4102","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-education-children"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t