The Chinese Government is frowning upon the Tibetan monks who are helping the recent earthquake victims in Qinghai province. They’ve been helping dig through the rubbles brought survivors food and also helped erecting tents. The government which has a long history of suspicion and antagonism towards religion in general and Tibetan Buddhism in particular has now ordered the monks out of the area.
In another area of the world the Iranian government seems to be going along with those clerics who predict that a deadly quake will soon hit Tehran as punishment from god. The religious leaders are asking people to repent. The capital, inhabited by 12 million people sits on the intersection of two major tectonic plates. According to The Washington Post President Ahmadinejad has noted in a recent speech that such an earthquake was unavoidable. As a result plans are being drawn to relocate some 5 million in the coming years and there is talk to move the headquarters of several state institutions. What adds to the picture of what looks like the flight of common sense is that there is also an email circulated by anti-government forces. The email warns that an earthquake will come not as god’s punishment but triggered by Iran’s leaders who believe that such an earthquake would deter the United States from attacking them, for who would attack a country hit by a natural disaster?
It would be easy to make light of all this Still, one can’t help feel compassion for the people affected.
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