Quick notes: Inappropriate contact, Christian Right...

• Never say”rape”; say “inappropriate contact”: The Catholic Church’s seven-point system for covering up abuse



• Turkey today, India tomorrow?: Seeking Brunson’s release has been a major cause for the powerful evangelical community in America and Trump needs all the help he can get from the Christian right to prevent a Democratic landslide in congressional elections this November.



• Anti-Gadgil campaign proved disastrous for Kerala: “The church was spreading rumours and was engaged in fear mongering during the anti-Gadgil campaign. The MP who took a bold stand in favor of the report had to face the ire of the church and did not contest again. Joice George of the anti-Gadgil campaign contested and won the elections in 2014 from Idukki. Neither the church nor the MP did suffer due to the monsoon fury. It was the common lot who lost their lives and all their belongings in the landslides and floods. Pick all the operative parts of the Gadgil report and implement them in toto. Or else disaster is round the corner.”



• Turning blessing into curse: Kerala had lost 906,440 hectares of forest land between 1973 and 2016. This was more than 50% of the present forest area. The Modi govt is yet to take a call on the reports of the two committees. 



• Silent Valley -- testimony of an ecological triumph: When the Kerala govt sent its minister to Delhi in 1976 to get clearance for the hydel project that would submerge 240 sq km of area along the Western Ghats that formed one of the most ecologically diverse forests on the planet, one man's telegram saved the copious forest. Dr V.S. Vijayan, then a scientist at Kerala Forest Research Institute, sent a telegram to the Union Power Ministry to put on hold the sanction till the KFRI ecological impact report was received. The ministry consented and the rest is history. Silent Valley stands as a testimony of an ecological triumph.



• Atalji departs:

When Vajpayee ji lost in 2004, many of us cried a little ...when PM Modi was fighting elections many of us were reminded of mistake made by not working hard enough to get second term for Atal ji. This is what Atal's tenure meant for all of us.

— अंकित जैन (@indiantweeter) August 16, 2018





India's biggest misfortune was NDA loss in 2004. It allowed Congress to benefit from Vajpayee's hard work and claim credit.

— R Jagannathan (@TheJaggi) August 16, 2018