Religious Leaders Call for Apology
By TED MEBUST
COOPERSTOWN
Rajan Zed, president of the Universal Society of Hinduism, and Reverend Matthew T. Fisher, a Buddhist minister, condemned local Brewery Ommegang for their sale of “Nirvana IPA,” as they find the use of the term “Nirvana” to be highly inappropriate. Calling for an apology, the pair stated that “breweries should not be in the business of religious appropriation, sacrilege and ridiculing entire communities.”
“The inappropriate usage of sacred scriptures or deities or concepts or symbols or icons for commercial or other agenda was not okay, as it hurt the adherents [of Hinduism and Buddhism],” read the joint statement made in Nevada on January 18.
