On Friday, the Madras High Court came down heavy and issued a warning to Christian pastor Mohan C Lazarus for making reckless statements against Hindus and Hindu religion.
The Court while quashing the FIRs filed against the rabid evangelist pastor said that spewing venom against another religious faith and developing hatred among the followers of a particular religion against another defies the very purpose of religion.
The court observed that religious leaders must realize their responsibilities and be watchful while propagating their religion. It said that reckless statements made by such persons would only sow the seeds of hatred across people of different religions.
“The whole object of religion is to enable humans to evolve themselves into better beings….Unfortunately, in many instances, people get blindly attached to their religious beliefs and tend to make demeaning statements against other religions. They do not realise that spirituality is not a medium through which each religion competes with each other to show its superiority over the other,” Justice N Anand Venkatesh observed, as per the report by Bar and Bench.
Justice Venkatesh also said that the whole object of religion is to enable humans to evolve themselves into better beings.
Mohan Lazarus in an affidavit filed earlier this week had ‘expressed deep regrets and sincere remorse’ for his remarks. He had stated in his affidavit that ‘it was not his intention to hurt to defy either the sacred places of Hindus or their Gods or any other faith’ adding that he felt remorse that ‘his words had led to such kind of impressions among the Hindus’.
“I assure that I would take adequate care so as to avoid such occurrences in future.” he had stated in his affidavit.
The Court in its observation noted that Indian Secularism is not one that is anti-religious but one that gives equal freedom of conscience and religion to all its citizens.
Mohan C Lazarus is a problematic Christian evangelist who runs the missionary organization, Jesus Redeems, which receives funding from abroad through FCRA. He is known for his hate speech against Hindus. controversy by claiming that prostitution is rampant in temples. Mohan C Lazarus also said that Satan’s grip is tight only in Tamil Nadu as it is the state with the highest number of temples in India.
FIRs were filed against Mohan C Lazarus under Sections 153A (promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion etc.), 295A (deliberate and malicious acts, intended to outrage religious feelings) and 505 (public mischief) of the Indian Penal Code.
Few days back DMK declared that there is nothing called as Hinduism and Tamils are not Hindus. Thread to show who's propaganda they have taken up … #1 Mohan.C.Lazarus pic.twitter.com/fOBpmpbXgG
— Vishwatma 🇮🇳 (@HLKodo) August 10, 2020
Click here to subscribe to The Commune on Telegram and get the best stories of the day delivered to you personally.