The News Caravan

Tag: Bill Tammeus

  • Bill Tammeus and Justice Katju Reunite in Heartwarming Encounter After 60 years.

    Bill Tammeus and Justice Katju Reunite in Heartwarming Encounter After 60 years.

    Bill Tammeus is my American friend, who lives in Kansas City, Missouri. USA with his wife Marcia.

    He had come to Allahabad with his parents and 3 sisters in 1957. Bill’s father was an agriculture expert from Illinois University who had come for 2 years to India to teach modern methods of agriculture in the Allahabad Agriculture Institute.

    Bill was admitted to Boys High School, Allahabad (where the famous Indian filmstar Amitabh Bachchan had also studied ), and we were classmates from 1957-1958. He was then about 12 years old.

    Later, he went back with his parents to America, and became a journalist in the Kansas City Star (where the great writer Ernest Hemingway had once worked). However, we remained in touch since then, through letters which would take 10 days or more to reach ( there was no such thing as email then ).

    Thus, we have been friends for about 66 years, quite a record !

    Bill has since retired, and does social work, including serving as a part time preacher in his Presbyterian Church ( for which reason I call him ‘Reverend’ ).

    I had requested Bill to be one of the speakers in the recent Christmas special global online webinar of the organisation Ibaadatkhana, which promotes inter faith harmony. I am the patron of this organisation, Tasawar Jalali, who lives in San Jose, California is its Chairman, Irfan Ali, who lives in Princeton, New Jersey is its Vice Chairman, Naren Singh, who lives in California is its Gen Secy, and Ritu Jha who lives in California, and is the editor of indicanews.com, is the head of publicity and public relations.

    The video recording of the webinar can be seen on my facebook page.

    Bill had to decline my invitation due to prior commitments. He explained that this is the holiday season in America, and everyone’s calendar, including his own, is jampacked well in advance.

    However, he sent this video recorded Christmas and New Year greetings.

    https://drive.google.com/file/d/1JQD0apNzzAgEXMjQPAltPG_QFVWlCRaF/view?usp=drive_web

    You can email Bill on wtammeus@gmail.com, and I am sure he would be happy to reply

    Below is a pic of Bill and I ( we are both about 78 now ) when we met in Fremont, California in 2019, after a gap of over 60 years

    Bill Tammeus and Justice Katju
    Bill Tammeus and Justice Katju
  • Bill Tammeus and Markandey Katju Engage in Heated Exchange Over Worship Beliefs

    Bill Tammeus and Markandey Katju Engage in Heated Exchange Over Worship Beliefs

    Bill Tammeus ( email : wtammeus@gmail.com ) is an American who had come with his father, an agricultural expert, to India in 1957-58 with his family, and was my classmate in my school, the Boys High School, Allahabad. He then went back with his family to America, and became a journalist in the Kansas City Star ( the newspaper for which the great American writer Ernest Hemingway once worked ).


    Bill, now 78, has since then retired, and spends his time doing various social work, including preaching in his Presbyterian Church.
    He has sent me his recent speech, in which he has referred to me briefly towards the end ( from 19 minutes 38 seconds onwards ).


    I sent him my response :
    ” Reverend
    Thank you for quoting me in your speech.
    However, you said right in the beginning ” All sin comes down to idolatry ”.


    This remark would offend most Hindus ( and there are about 1200 million of them ) who believe and worship numerous gods.


    What is wrong in idolatry, and how do you equate it with sin ? Can an idolater not be a good man so long as he does no harm to anyone ? Does he cut off anyone’s head or chop off anyone’s limbs by believing and worshipping many gods ?
    With respect, I think ur remark is silly
    Markandey

    Bill responded :
    ” Your Justiceness:
    Idolatry means worshipping someone who — or something that — is not God. The first of the Ten Commandments says, in the old language, “Thou shall have no other gods before me.”


    If you worship other beings or other things, you have cut off your relationship with God.
    Hindus who pay homage to clay idols are not exactly worshipping those idols. Rather, they are using them as a pathway to God. Something similar goes on with all the iconography found in Eastern Orthodox Christian churches.

    One doesn’t worship the icons. Rather, they are a window through which one may get a better view of God. And although some fundamentalist Christians seem to worship the Bible, the Bible is not to be worshipped. Rather, it is to be seen as a means by which God is revealed.


    So once more we have something theological about which to argue. Good.
    Cheers,