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The small effect of European religion on Hinduism is remarkable. Islam, though aggressively hostile, yet fused with it in some sects, for instance the Sikhs, but such fusions of Indian religion and Christianity as have been noted are microscopic curiosities. European free thought and Deism have not fared better. In social life there has been some change: caste restrictions, though not abolished, are evaded by ingenious subterfuges and there is a growing feeling against child-marriage. yet were the laws against sati and human sacrifice repealed, there are many districts in which such practices would not be forbidden by popular sentiment.

It is easy to explain the insensibility of Hinduism to European contact: even Islam had little effect on its stubborn vitality, though Islam brought with it settlers and resident rulers, ready to make converts by force. but the British have shown perfect toleration and are merely sojourners in the land who spend their youth and age elsewhere. European exclusiveness and Indian ideas about caste alike made it natural to regard them as an isolated class charged with the business of Government but divorced from the intellectual and religious life of other classes. Previous experience of Muslims and other invaders disposed the Brahmans to accept foreigners as rulers without admitting that their creeds and customs were in the least worthy of imitation. European methods of organization and advertisement have not however been disdained.

Educated opinion, at least in Bengal, seemed to be tending towards agnosticism and social revolution. this tendency was checked by a conservative and nationalist movement, which in all its varied phases gave support to Indian religion and was intolerant of European ideas. It had a political side but there was nothing disloyal in its main idea, namely, that in the intellectual and religious sphere, where Indian life is most intense, Indian ideas must not decay.

(CNN) – The Roman Catholic Church is willing to partner with American educational institutions to educate the public about child sex abuse after the Penn State scandal, according to the head of the U.S. church.

“One of the good things God might bring out of this evil and this tragedy would be now some type of alliance between religion and the educational establishment in a major national campaign to see that this is faced head on,” said Archbishop Timothy Dolan, the top Catholic official in the United States.

“That would be a partnership that the Catholic Church in the United States would be eager to be invested in generously,” he said in a Monday news conference at a meeting of American bishops in Baltimore. “And we might be able to come with a little wisdom earned the tough way, the hard way, to that table when we have that discussion.”

There are many parallels in the ways the decade-old international abuse crisis in the Catholic Church and the recent scandal at Penn State have unfolded, and Dolan spoke to some of them Monday.

“One of things we’ve learned [is] tragically, more often than not, it’s people who have positions of trust that very often have an entree into children that would shatter them not only physically and emotionally, but spiritually as well,” said Dolan, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.

In the case of Penn State, former assistant coach Jerry Sandusky is accused of using his position as the founder of a charity helping young children to perpetrate abuse.

Dolan, sometimes referred to as “America’s pope,” said that the church has launched a nationwide program to train children, parents and teachers to look for signs of abuse and how to respond if they witness it.

“One of the things that we’ve learned the hard way – and Lord knows we’ve earned our PhD. in the school of hard knocks on this one … is that education in this area is phenomenally efficacious,” he said.

Associated PressThe American country music duo Sugarland featuring vocalist Jennifer Nettles, right, and guitarist Kristian Bush perform a benefit concert in Indianapolis, Friday, Oct. 28, 2011. seven people were killed and dozens more were injured in the Aug. 13 stage collapse at the Indiana State fairground venue where high winds ahead of an approaching storm toppled scaffolding and stage rigging just minutes before Sugarland was to perform. (AP Photo/AJ Mast)INDIANAPOLIS — A packed house watched country duo Sugarland deliver an emotionally charged free concert meant to “celebrate” healing, life and music while serving as a tribute to the victims of a deadly stage collapse last August at the Indiana State Fair.

Singer Jennifer Nettles told Friday night’s crowd — including some of those injured during the collapse — that the tragedy had changed them all.

Nettles opened 2½-hour show at a packed Conesco Fieldhouse in Indianapolis by telling audience members they were in store for an emotional night that would also be part celebration. She also told fans that Sugarland had visited the fairgrounds, where high winds toppled scaffolding and stage rigging on Aug. 13 into a crowd awaiting a performance by the country duo. seven people were killed.

“Obviously we are here in October — we were supposed to do this show in August. Obviously, the stage is different, you are different and we are different. we are all changed by what happened then,” she said. “But we are going to try to give you the best show that we can and to celebrate healing with you and to celebrate life and music with you here tonight.”

Sugarland’s free concert came 10 weeks after the stage collapsed as a storm neared the fairgrounds’ Grandstand a few miles north of Friday night’s venue. Attendees were asked to donate to a victim relief fund that already has raised nearly $1 million.

Indianapolis resident Sue Humphrey, whose 17-year-old son, Brad, was left partially paralyzed when he was struck by falling stage rigging that night, attended Friday’s concert with her son, who only decided Friday afternoon that he wanted to go.

Humphrey said Brad was unsure if the concert would be too emotional for him, but she said it was herself, and not her son, who got choked up at one point during the show as her mind cast back to August’s tragedy.

She said Brad, a high school senior who attended the concert after finishing his first week back at school since he was injured, held up fine. Humphrey and her son, who is now in a wheelchair, sat in the venue’s handicapped section.

Humphrey said she was touched when Nettles held up a flag near the end of the concert with the word “Heal” painted on it and then walked through the audience holding it aloft.

“She usually has ‘Love’ on that flag, but this time she spray-painted ‘Heal’ on it and I thought that was a very, very good touch to the show,” she said.

Rick Stevens, who served as an Army medic in Vietnam, said Sugarland “hit a home run” with Friday’s concert by balancing a remembrance of August’s stage collapse with several vibrant and powerful renditions of their songs, including “The incredible Machine,” the name of their current album.

“I’ve seen them play five times and this is their most emotional, most heartfelt concerts I’ve seen. They just played their hearts out,” he said. “It was a slam dunk.”

The 57-year-old Terre Haute, Ind., resident was among those who rushed into the tangled metal rigging to help people crushed in August’s collapse. He said he saw people at Friday’s concert whom he had rescued.

Indiana-based musician Corey Cox and actress Rita Wilson performed before Sugarland took the stage.

Cox performed a few weeks ago at a benefit concert for a woman from his hometown of Pendleton, Ind. — 30-year-old Andrea Vellinga — who suffered severe head injuries in the stage collapse and still is struggling to recover. Vellinga’s family and friends attended the show.

He dedicated one of his songs, “That’ll Take you Back” to his hometown “and every other small town across this country who came together the week after Aug. 13 and prayed and supported” the victims of the collapse.

A psychiatrist who specializes in treating survivors of disasters said attending the concert could help some of the roughly 40 people injured in the stage collapse and relatives of those killed come to terms with the tragedy. But he said there’s a chance it could deal others a setback, dredging up intense and painful memories.

“It’s good that this benefit concert should happen, but it may be too hard for some people to go through it,” said Anthony Ng, interim chief medical officer at The Acadia Hospital in Bangor, Maine. “Obviously everybody’s different and there’s no right way or wrong way to do this.”

Rick Callahan, associated Press