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Peel
Dec 3, 2007

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/aug/25/fears-unrest-indian-guru-convicted-rape-ram-rahim-singh-panchkula

graun posted:

At least 30 people have died in riots and arson attacks that have broken out across two states in northern India after a flamboyant spiritual leader was convicted of raping two of his female followers.

The Indian army was deployed in the city of Panchkula on Friday shortly after the court found Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh guilty of sexual assault. The self-styled “godman” and leader of the Dera Sacha Sauda sect has been taken into custody and will reportedly be flown by helicopter to a jail in Haryana state before sentencing on Monday.

Authorities told the Hindustan Times that at least 30 people had been killed across the region, with a further 250 injured.

Electricity supplies, mobile internet and cable television had been cut in parts of Haryana and Punjab states before the verdict as up to 200,000 members of the sect massed in Panchkula in a show of defiance and support.

Television footage on Friday afternoon showed smoke billowing above a railway station and petrol pump in Punjab that was allegedly set alight by supporters of Singh.



quote:

In the decade that the rape trial has been running, Singh has continued courting both followers and controversy.

In 2014 he starred – encrusted in rhinestones – in the first of two hagiographic films about his life, in which he was credited for 30 roles including director, producer and choreographer.

Ticket sales were initially strong – more than 150,000 attended the first film’s premiere – but reportedly flagged after the CBI went public with accusations that Singh had been organising “mass castrations” of his followers since at least 2000. He denies this.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=scuWiXG5bh8
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2OxIWWcPgxc
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2z_T5ZLD7AI
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ZZcc22tZRo

this thread is for talking about how Saint Dr. Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh Ji Insan has changed ur life

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Peel
Dec 3, 2007

(the third trailer is the best but it's best to watch them in order)

rudatron
May 31, 2011

by Fluffdaddy
at last, the messiah has arrived

Sheng-Ji Yang
Mar 5, 2014


yeah he rules (except for the rape)

Peel
Dec 3, 2007

safely sodomized posted:

yeah he rules (except for the rape)

trump thinks he's a big shot but has he started his own religion? i don't think so

Fallen Hamprince
Nov 12, 2016

guys i think this insane megalomaniacal rapist cult leader might not be such a great guy


but enough about the President

Sheng-Ji Yang
Mar 5, 2014


if trump had half the style of our good Saint Doctor i'd be a full pepe

jBrereton
May 30, 2013
Grimey Drawer

Peel posted:

trump thinks he's a big shot but has he started his own religion? i don't think so
It's called "The Art of the Deal" and it is a truly syncretic faith

Sheng-Ji Yang
Mar 5, 2014


lol this dudes sect has 60 million followers. he leads a cult 4 times larger than judaism

Fallen Hamprince
Nov 12, 2016

safely sodomized posted:

lol this dudes sect has 60 million followers. he leads a cult 4 times larger than judaism

are u sure it's not like how scientology is totally the fastest growing religion ever (according to scientologists)

jBrereton
May 30, 2013
Grimey Drawer

Fallen Hamprince posted:

are u sure it's not like how scientology is totally the fastest growing religion ever (according to scientologists)
Lot of people certainly turned up to be real fuckin mad that he was prosecuted for rape.

Fallen Hamprince
Nov 12, 2016

jBrereton posted:

Lot of people certainly turned up to be real fuckin mad that he was prosecuted for rape.

yeah but 60 million is around a twentieth of the population of India

Sheng-Ji Yang
Mar 5, 2014


yeah i just got that from the wiki page but it appears the source doesn't actually give that number if im reading it right, and then later in the page it says they only have 1 million followers so yeah

Peel
Dec 3, 2007

he has 60 million followers & is the most versatile person in the history of world cinema

Trumps Baby Hands
Mar 27, 2016

Silent white light filled the world. And the righteous and unrighteous alike were consumed in that holy fire.
that third one looks cool as hell

More cult leaders should spend the millions of dollars they've fleeced off their victims to finance insane vanity sci-fi films

Sheng-Ji Yang
Mar 5, 2014


Trumps Baby Hands posted:

that third one looks cool as hell

More cult leaders should spend the millions of dollars they've fleeced off their victims to finance insane vanity sci-fi films

uh but then you get battlefield earth

Pener Kropoopkin
Jan 30, 2013

Don't let Squizzle see any of these trailers or he'll convert to his weird Sentai religion.

safely sodomized posted:

uh but then you get battlefield earth

Battlefield Earth rules lmao

Pener Kropoopkin
Jan 30, 2013

Those trailers are all fun and games until the hard right turn into Hindu fascism in Lion Heart 2.

Peel
Dec 3, 2007

saint dr. gurmeet ram 'godman' rahim singh has defeated demonic cults and alien invasions, but can he defeat... pakistan???

Sheng-Ji Yang
Mar 5, 2014


Pener Kropoopkin posted:

Those trailers are all fun and games until the hard right turn into Hindu fascism in Lion Heart 2.

unsurprisingly hes a big BJP backer so yeah

Peel
Dec 3, 2007

i was about to say, he openly backed modi

Sheng-Ji Yang
Mar 5, 2014


can an indian PM pardon? lol

Jose
Jul 24, 2007

Adrian Chiles is a broadcaster and writer
so what do his followers actually believe

Zeroisanumber
Oct 23, 2010

Nap Ghost
Today I discovered that you can be a crazed rapist cult leader and still halfway win me over if you star in really gonzo movies about your life.

Peel
Dec 3, 2007

Jose posted:

so what do his followers actually believe

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dera_Sacha_Sauda#Teachings

don't drink or sleep around (lol), also the guru is the union of hinduism, sikhism, islam and christianity (lol x2)


supposedly the sect gets its money from industries and property rather than fleecing adherents, im not convinced

Trumps Baby Hands
Mar 27, 2016

Silent white light filled the world. And the righteous and unrighteous alike were consumed in that holy fire.

Peel posted:

supposedly the sect gets its money from industries and property rather than fleecing adherents, im not convinced

can't say w/r/t this particular group, but a lot of organizations like this will staff their front-facing business with "volunteers" who are told they're increasing their heavenly reward/karma/space harems/etc by providing that labor for free. Saves a hell of a lot on costs.

Pener Kropoopkin
Jan 30, 2013

Peel posted:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dera_Sacha_Sauda#Teachings

don't drink or sleep around (lol), also the guru is the union of hinduism, sikhism, islam and christianity (lol x2)


supposedly the sect gets its money from industries and property rather than fleecing adherents, im not convinced

Syncretic religion seems nice at first glance, but almost all actually existing syncretic religions are goofy scams and deeply reactionary.

Mariana Horchata
Jun 30, 2008

College Slice
they should sever his privates and use them to make a curry to feed the elephants with op

Byolante
Mar 23, 2008

by Cyrano4747
How is the 'allegations he has been performing mass castrations' flown under the radar

Scrub-Niggurath
Nov 27, 2007

Byolante posted:

How is the 'allegations he has been performing mass castrations' flown under the radar

India is super weird sometimes

byob historian
Nov 5, 2008

I'm an animal abusing piece of shit! I deliberately poisoned my dog to death and think it's funny! I'm an irredeemable sack of human shit!
rapists go to hell :colbert:

Peel
Dec 3, 2007

Pener Kropoopkin posted:

Syncretic religion seems nice at first glance, but almost all actually existing syncretic religions are goofy scams and deeply reactionary.

my guess is real religions have deep theological fissures not easily papered over by vague spiritual mumbo-jumbo, so syncretist leaders tend to be pretty superficial and either outright scammers or easily susceptible to falling into scammery

jBrereton
May 30, 2013
Grimey Drawer

Peel posted:

my guess is real religions have deep theological fissures not easily papered over by vague spiritual mumbo-jumbo, so syncretist leaders tend to be pretty superficial and either outright scammers or easily susceptible to falling into scammery
lol

Fallen Hamprince
Nov 12, 2016

Pener Kropoopkin posted:

Syncretic religion seems nice at first glance, but almost all actually existing syncretic religions are goofy scams and deeply reactionary.

eh, a few established religions are syncretic to some extent. islam identifies itself as a purified form of judaism and incorporates elements of christianity, baha'i draws on those two plus islam. when you're fusing hinduism and islam tho it's p obvious you're making poo poo up

jBrereton
May 30, 2013
Grimey Drawer
*theologically impeccably*

Although Islam and Christianity are theologically incompatible, up to and including the role and fate of Christ himself, that's legit, unlike a mixture of Islam and Hinduism.

Fallen Hamprince
Nov 12, 2016

obviously christianity and islam are theologically incompatible, that's why islam is it's own religion and not a sect of christianity. but both are (for example) monotheistic religions based around revelatory knowledge given by/to a human founder. it's significantly different from claiming to bridge a fundamentally monotheistic religion like islam with an overwhelmingly polytheistic one like hinduism

Lawman 0
Aug 17, 2010

Fallen Hamprince posted:

obviously christianity and islam are theologically incompatible, that's why islam is it's own religion and not a sect of christianity. but both are (for example) monotheistic religions based around revelatory knowledge given by/to a human founder. it's significantly different from claiming to bridge a fundamentally monotheistic religion like islam with an overwhelmingly polytheistic one like hinduism

Some forms of Hinduism are monotheistic
But again it's really not a single religion

Pener Kropoopkin
Jan 30, 2013

Fallen Hamprince posted:

eh, a few established religions are syncretic to some extent. islam identifies itself as a purified form of judaism and incorporates elements of christianity, baha'i draws on those two plus islam. when you're fusing hinduism and islam tho it's p obvious you're making poo poo up

Islam as an Abrahamic tradition isn't truly syncretic, because it's a development within that family of tradition. To be truly syncretic would mean Islam would have to incorporate paganist traditions of the Arab world with Judaism & Christianity, but Mohammed's primary goal was smashing all forms of paganism and overturning centuries of its inhumane traditions. Syncretic religions draw from multiple traditions that have nothing to do with each other to try and form some new tradition, which is almost invariably an elaborate reactionary scam.

Pener Kropoopkin
Jan 30, 2013

One of my favorite failures of syncretism was when cult leader Frithjof Schuon, late in life, became enamored with the traditions of American Plains Indians. He did a pow-wow with some chief and jived on the mumbo jumbo. Then the chief, appreciating that this Swiss weirdo had taken such a keen interest in their traditional religion, gifted Schuon a beautifully carved peace pipe. Schuon then returned the favor by gifting back the chief a gaudy mass produced piece of crap "peace pipe" that he bought from a gift shop. Then he got butthurt when the chief was mad that his valuable gift infused with meaning and tradition, was reciprocated with some white man's kitschy piece of poo poo.

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Squizzle
Apr 24, 2008




Pener Kropoopkin posted:

Don't let Squizzle see any of these trailers or he'll convert to his weird Sentai religion.


Battlefield Earth rules lmao

im quite comfortable w my own sentai religion tyvm

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