Dear Vasant, Christians must not practice caste. Period. THEY MUST NOT/SHOULD NOT in professed egalitarian spirit-have anything to do with caste. This is true, and complex as may become more apparent by the end of this post.
The charm of most system is they inherently involve exogamy and endogamy; although remarkably not exclusive Of course people do not wish to loose their sense of belonging, and others want/seek parity and even benign equality, They cannot deal with the idea of being Outcast themselves, but the idea of knowing where they stand as in Tum Konnalo is admirably ingenious don't you think? Most of the are from reasonably superior stock anyways. Besides the Hindus do not need this except for deeper specifics. I lived with a Hindu family for five year, and Baba would say, te vihirintle pav kha'un bhatle gele, but considered me as part of the family. An outsider who had come in, Often people want different things in various aspects of their lives. Even ones (both Goan Hindus and Christians) who may not say out loud---who and what they, or where their antecedents stretch from--have the security of being part of something--a certain way of being, which also involves who one loves, marries, what one eats, how one dresses, etc, etc. Modernity brings a certain levelling, but not always a change in thinking--towards seeing a lot less more, of certain pasts. How much more? I think that depends on the individual, their hurts and personal banshees. Finally, the idea of Jesus and caste hankerings is a peculiar Indian Christian issue. Very often the reminders to Christians of Jesus' Way (say, Love, also Rejection) come from non-Christians. Its admirable (as in full of Love) when done in the right spirit. In 2000 I did a piece, Cherub visitation, where these cherubs are visiting a Dwarpala--essentially wanting to learn from the big entity, and share. Btw, in this vein there is a book, which freaked a lot of Indians--The Unknown Christ of Hinduism.Caste. To my mind, non-Christians often remind Christians of Jesus and Caste, to suggest tangentially. that they expect more from the Indian Christian. Again very admirable when done in egalitarian spirit and laudable (laudatio) ++++++++++++ venantius j pinto > From: Vasant Baliga <vabal...@yahoo.com> > To: Goanet <goanet@lists.goanet.org> > Subject: [Goanet] Caste and Creed in Goa > (del) > How can the caste system be practised by followers of Jesus-it foxes me (del)