Holy Crap: Burnside Spikes Kali Ma
I did not see this coming:
Angelo has a bit more, but I still have a hard time not checking the date to make sure it's not April 1:
I wrote about this a couple days ago--largely because I spent seven years studying Indian religion in college and grad school--but I'm shocked that Burnside's pulling the beer. If Zed is the only complainant, I would be a bit cautious here--he seems to be a serious self-promoter and self-appointed protector of Hinduism. It's always good to be sensitive to inadvertent offense--but I'm not sure Burnside has given anyone offense. Look more like they gave a random guy an opportunity to generate phony outrage to me. I encourage Burnside to contact some of these groups first before they make a decision based on the howls of one guy.
Upset Hindus have urged Portland (Oregon) based Burnside Brewing Company not to release its “Kali-Ma” beer proposed for May 15, calling it inappropriate. Hindu statesman Rajan Zed, in a statement in Nevada today, said that inappropriate usage of Hindu deities or concepts or symbols for commercial or other agenda was not okay as it hurt the devotees. Zed, who is president of Universal Society of Hinduism, stressed that Goddess Kali was highly revered in Hinduism and she was meant to be worshiped in temples and not to be used in selling beer for mercantile greed.