Hindus Fight Discrimination In California Textbooks - 2

In my earlier article, ?Hindus fight discrimination in California textbooks - 1,? I had pointed out how anti-Hindu ideologues, led by Professor Michael Witzel of Harvard, are intent on denying Hindu girls in California an opportunity to take justifiable pride in the achievements of females among their ancestors.

In my earlier article, ?Hindus fight discrimination in California textbooks - 1,? I had pointed out how anti-Hindu ideologues, led by Professor Michael Witzel of Harvard, are intent on denying Hindu girls in California an opportunity to take justifiable pride in the achievements of females among their ancestors.

In this article, I will focus on Witzel?s aversion to astronomical evidence. Hindu Education Foundation [HEF], in their review of Glencoe/McGraw-Hill textbook [pp. 238-240], had suggested the inclusion of a phrase that internal astronomical evidences from the Rig Veda suggest a date anterior to 3000 BCE for its compilation [Ref.: State of California, Curriculum Development and Supplemental Materials Commission?s Memorandum, dated November 22, 2005, edits 95 and 96].

Koenraad Elst has pointed out that many independent observers have reached similar conclusions, with sound reasons.

Witzel et al, during their review, haughtily dismissed this HEF suggestion, writing:

?Do not include the phrase - astronomical evidence in the Rig Veda suggests a date earlier than 3000 B.C. for the Rig Veda.?

Witzel et al did not provide any reason for this dismissal. Did Witzel et al dismiss this suggestion because it threatens their fantastic hypothesis that the Rig Veda was compiled after 1500 BCE? It is worth noting that Witzel et al are not qualified to evaluate astronomical evidence. It is shocking that CDE should allow people without credentials to dismiss scientific data pertaining to the dating of texts.

In any event, it is worth noting that Abbe Dubois, a rabid fundamentalist, and a Hindu-hating Christian missionary, who first propounded the proto-version of Aryan Invasion Theory [AIT]/Aryan Migration Theory [AMT], too dismissed astronomical data. In his book, Hindu Manners, Customs and Ceremonies [p. 99 ? manuscript completed in 1806 CE], Abbe Dubois writes:

?Astronomy has played an important part in the history of almost all idolatrous nations; and of all false creeds it certainly is the least unreasonable, and has survived the longest.?

I would like to know if Witzel et al dismissed astronomical evidence because Dubois called astronomy a false creed. I would like to know if CDE too, by allowing Witzel et al to subvert the process, considers astronomy a false creed. It may be worth noting that Max Muller, who wrote a glowing preface to a later edition of Dubois? book, borrowed AIT from Dubois. It is also worth noting that Max Muller also invoked philological arguments to dismiss Darwin?s theory of evolution. [Letter to Charles Darwin, 7 Jan 1875, Life and Letters of the Rt. Hon. Friedrich Max Muller, vol. 1, p. 503.*] Subsequently, German supremacists posited the superiority of Aryan race.

In ?Hindus fight discrimination in California textbooks - 1,? I had pointed out that a cosignatory on Witzel?s anti-Hindu petition had sought the support of Christian fundamentalists, and that others implicitly supported that. Is it a mere coincidence that Witzel et al dismiss astronomical evidence just as the Christian fundamentalist Dubois earlier had? Did not a recent report reveal that Stanley Wolpert and James Heitzman, who reviewed the Hindu suggestions along with Witzel, are believers or propagandists of Christian ?miracles? and myths?

A textbook teaches that Jesus Christ was born around 4 BCE and that he was crucified later [Prentice Hall, Medieval and Early Modern Times, pp. 25-39]. Historically, as I pointed out earlier, there is no evidence that Jesus existed. Yet, CDE has no problem allowing such beliefs to be presented as history. The distinguished Lutheran theologian, Norman Beck, has summarized over 450 anti-Semitic verses from merely five of the books that constitute the Christian Bible. Any presentation of Jesus? crucifixion as a historical fact implies Jewish guilt in deicide. This false accusation culminated in the Holocaust. Despite this, CDE has no problem presenting Christian belief as history.

On the other hand, CDE allows anti-Hindu ideologues to dismiss astronomical [and archeological] evidence, and historicize the origins of Hinduism according to racist, colonial and hostile Christian missionary perspectives. Why this discrimination against Hindus? Does CDE think that what is sauce for the goose is not sauce for the gander?