US Religion

The full time whinger Rajan Zed is upset at Fate/Grand Order (FGO) mobile role-playing video game, developed by Japan's Delightworks, for reportedly introducing goddess Parvati as one of the new servants; saying it trivializes a highly revered Hindu deity.

Hindu statesman Rajan Zed urged Delightworks to withdraw the character of goddess Parvati in its free-to-play FGO video game.

Zed, who is President of Universal Society of Hinduism, said that in this mobile game set-up, the player became the Master who summoned and commanded servants controlling their movements, including goddess Parvati; while in reality the devotees put the destinies of themselves in the hands of their deities.

Moreover, goddess Parvati depicted in FGO appeared more like a belly-dancer than the Hindu deity devotees were used to seeing, Rajan Zed pointed out, and termed it as incredibly disrespectful.

Rajan Zed further said that Hindus were for free speech as much as anybody else if not more. .. BUT... faith was something sacred and attempts at belittling it hurt the devotees. Video game makers should be more sensitive while handling faith related subjects, as these games left lasting impact on the minds of highly impressionable children, teens and other young people, Zed added.

A US religious morality group is campaigning against a a 45-foot steel statue of a nude woman on the National Mall in Washington DC.

Concerned Americans with Tradition, Family and Property (TFP) launched a petition urging the National Park Service in Washington, D.C., to deny a final permit for the artwork.

The statue has received tentative approval to go up at the annual Catharsis on the Mall event. It was used earlier at the Burning Man festival held outside Reno, Nevada.

If the final permit is issued, the nude statue called R-Evolution would go up around Friday, November 11. It would face the White House, between the Washington Monument and the World War II Monument.

C. Preston Noell III, spokesman for TFP, wrote:

25 million children, families and tourists visit the Mall annually. They will be exposed to this unexpected display of female nudity.

Parents don't want their kids to see this stuff. Nor do tourists expect to see nudity on the Mall. That's why so many decent people are standing up in peaceful protest.

16,000 people have signed the petition in just a few hours, urging Park Service authorities to reject this indecent display on federal property. Every single voice against public nudity counts. This needs to be stopped and common decency restored.

The latest episode of AMC's Preacher has upset the Catholic League thanks to a scene depicting Jesus Christ having sex on the night of The Last Supper.

The AMC drama is based on a comic book about a modern-day Preacher who is losing his faith and encountering many different demonic entities and monsters. In the second episode of Season 2, which aired Monday, the main character goes on a hunt to find a descendant of Christ.

The first seven minutes of the episode, titled Dirty Little Secret , depicts Jesus and a woman having sex, speaking graphically about various acts and showing the two's various positions in silhouette. Later, he tells her to keep it a secret before saying that he's got to go off to do something for his father. It later becomes clear that this is the night that Jesus would be eventually crucified.

Catholic League president Bill Donohue said in a statement:

Depicting Jesus in a grotesque sex scene is an assault on the sensibilities of all Christians, as well as people of good will who are not Christians. We have been treated to this kind of fare from some pay-per-view channels, but we are not accustomed to AMC getting into the mud. If this is a signal of what it aspires to become, we will rally Christians against it.