{"id":119673,"date":"2017-03-09T12:44:54","date_gmt":"2017-03-09T07:14:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/globalpress.hinduismnow.org\/?p=46392"},"modified":"2017-03-09T12:44:54","modified_gmt":"2017-03-09T07:14:54","slug":"us%e2%80%89lawmaker-tulsi-gabbard-criticises-cnn-negative-portrayal-hinduism-hindustan-times-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/globalpress-new.hinduismnow.org\/?p=119673","title":{"rendered":"US\u2009lawmaker Tulsi Gabbard criticises CNN over \u2018negative\u2019 portrayal of Hinduism | Hindustan Times"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Tulsi Gabbard, the first and only Hindu lawmaker in the US Congress, on Wednesday accused CNN of \u201csensational and false\u201d reporting about religions after it aired a show which allegedly portrayed Hinduism in a negative light.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cCNN on Sunday aired the first episode of a new series called \u2018Believer\u2019 hosted by Reza Aslan. For this episode, Aslan apparently sought to find sensationalist and absurd ways to portray Hinduism,\u201d Gabbard, the Democratic lawmaker from Hawaii, wrote on Facebook.<\/p>\n<p>The show explores the facts and myths behind the Aghori, a mystical Hindu sect known for extreme rituals.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAslan and CNN did not just throw a harsh light on a sect of wandering ascetics to create shocking visuals\u2014as if touring a zoo\u2014but repeated false stereotypes about caste, karma and reincarnation that Hindus have been combating tirelessly,\u201d she alleged.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cCNN promotional materials and trailers that included a scene showing a group of Hindus under a caption, \u2018CANNIBALS\u2019, perpetuated bizarre and ugly impressions of Hindus and their religion,\u201d she charged.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">&quot;I didn&#39;t know I had to bring a chicken.&quot; Check out this hilarious deleted scene from <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/Believer?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#Believer<\/a> with the Aghori guru I ran for my life from. <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/qcCU5Pmzsr\">pic.twitter.com\/qcCU5Pmzsr<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Dr. Reza Aslan (@rezaaslan) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/rezaaslan\/status\/838594402608115713?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">March 6, 2017<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<div class=\"SandboxRoot env-bp-350\" data-twitter-event-id=\"0\"><\/div>\n<p>The three-term Congresswoman, said while good people across the country are working hard to increase mutual understanding and respect between people of different religions, she is \u201cvery disturbed\u201d that CNN is using its power and influence to increase people\u2019s misunderstanding and fear of Hinduism.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cCNN knows well that sensational, and even false reporting about religions only fosters ignorance that can lead to terrible consequences,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<div id=\"inarticle_wrapper_div\"><\/div>\n<p>\u201cIndeed, Hindus are still reeling after witnessing terrible hate crimes in the last few weeks alone. Our nation celebrates religious pluralism and diversity, and CNN must do more to foster greater respect for people of different religions,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<p>Gabbard hoped that CNN and Aslan will engage with the Hindu community moving forward to resolve the pain and outrage that the \u2018Believer\u2019 episode has engendered in the community.<\/p>\n<p>In a statement, Overseas Friends of BJP (OFBJP) &#8211; USA strongly condemned the airing of the show.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cDocumentaries like these are a threat to religious harmony in this country. CNN chose to air this blasphemous story despite nationwide request from the community to stop airing,\u201d it said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe show by Reza Alsan is an affront on the ethos of Hinduism and without understanding the foundational aspect of the religion, the anchor only sought to denigrate the religion by showing Cannibalism and talks about a fringe sect called Aghoris in India,\u201dOFBJP said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe story \u2018Believer\u2019 reflects poor understanding of Hinduism on host and sends wrong message to the viewers about Hinduism and its philosophy,\u201d it said.<\/p>\n<p>However, an eminent Indian American Muslim alleged that certain Hindu groups are \u201cdistorting the contents\u201d of the documentary.<\/p>\n<p>The Hindu Student Council (HSC) said the documentary focused on the rare Aghora sect, which uses ritual practices with physical objects to invoke Divine grace.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Tulsi Gabbard, the first and only Hindu lawmaker in the US Congress, on Wednesday accused CNN of \u201csensational and false\u201d reporting about religions after it aired a show which allegedly portrayed Hinduism in a negative light. \u201cCNN on Sunday aired the first episode of a new series called \u2018Believer\u2019 hosted by Reza Aslan. For this [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":19,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/globalpress-new.hinduismnow.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/119673"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/globalpress-new.hinduismnow.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/globalpress-new.hinduismnow.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalpress-new.hinduismnow.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/19"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalpress-new.hinduismnow.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=119673"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/globalpress-new.hinduismnow.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/119673\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/globalpress-new.hinduismnow.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=119673"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalpress-new.hinduismnow.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=119673"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalpress-new.hinduismnow.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=119673"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}