I have to admit, I have always thought that the opening lines of the "The Lord's Prayer" often repeated by a lot of Christians (or is just a Catholic thing?) have a very elegant sound to them—especially when chanted gently and in unison by a bunch of people—kinda like the "Ameen" one hears at the end of the Fatiha in congregations with enough Malikis in it (who tend to say it out loud, unlike most Urdu speakers, who usually follow the Hanafi school of Islamic practise):

Holy Father, who art in heaven
Thy kingdom come
Thy will be done
On Earth
As it is in heaven…

So, don't ask me how, but I stumbled on this a littel while ago and have been meaning to post it here; it's a page with the The Lord's Prayer in Urdu, together with a translation of "Ave Maria", the Catholic prayer to Bibi Maryam, The Virgin Mary, the formulation of the Trinity, and a couple of other things:

http://www.christusrex.org/www1/pater/JPN-urdu.html

Here's the prayer itself:

I have never actually heard it being chanted in Urdu. I wonder if it sounds anywhere near as sonorous; Urdu is a rather mellifluous language generally, so maybe it does…maybe some of the folks who were pillorying me on a list I am on for (they thought) being averse to any mention of Christianity and Pakistan in the same breath can help with that…

Technorati tags applicable to this post: Urdu – Christianity – [Pakistan] – India

Originally Posted at Tabsir on Fri 15 Sep 2006 Holy War over Papal Bull

[Pope Benedict, left: Students in the northern Indian city of Jammu demonstrate against the Pope’s remarks. Photograph: Jaipal Singh/EPA for the Guardian Unlimited, right]

The recently installed Pope Benedict gave a speech on Tuesday in his native Germany. Even though the Vatican has ruled that the pope as the prime representative of Christ on earth is as close to being infallible as anyone, such dogma has long since ceased to be newsworthy. Individuals designated as Catholics and Protestants have found other things to fight over (or even to agree with against a common secular enemy) and the thousands upon thousands of victims in Europe’s religious wars are more or less relegated to a historical footnote. Last Tuesday this doctrine of ex cathedra truth rose from the dead of church history and crashed through the gate of ecumenical tolerance.