Dear All, Here's an intersting article by M.V.Kamath, written a couple of years back which I saved in my archives. It is contextual to the on-going 'debate' on giving the dog a bad name. I have been a victim of this dirty game played regularly by my co-religionists!
P.N.BENJAMIN The Beam In Your EyeM. V. Kamath.I have often wondered whether Christians realise how much offence theirmissionaries give to non-Christians in India, mainly Hindus, by theiractivities.There are two kinds of Christianity. One is that of simple god-fearingpeople who go to church, say their prayers, do what little they can forlessening the suffering or ignorance of their fellow citizens, and be atpeace with the world around them. They are respected, loved andhonoured.The other is the 'Institutional Christianity', which came to India withthe marauding Portuguese in the 16th century. It is this Christianitythat has been causing trouble in India in recent times.The argument adduced by Institutional Christianity is that it is God'scommand that his good word be spread all over the world. They insist ontheir 'right' to convert people because God ordained that people must beconverted. Such an attitude is insulting to non-Christians.Some time in late January, the South Asian correspondent of Le Figaro,France's most popular newspaper, wrote a scathing piece againstmissionary activity in the Hindustan Times. Francois Gautier must havefelt really incensed at the insensitivity of Indian Christians.More recently, Jon Stock, New Delhi correspondent of the Daily Telegraph(a London paper) wrote a revelatory piece in the Spectator, anotherBritish journal, about the activities of missionaries in India. Putsimply, Stock wrote, "The Indian subcontinent has become the principaltarget for a wide range of western Christian missions determined tospread the Gospel to India's 'unreached' people before the year 2000."Christian missions in the US have become particularly nasty andoffensive.Stock quotes what the US-based Bethany World Prayer Centre has beenwriting about Hinduism. Any American who wants to pray for the Hotribals of south Bihar and northern Orissa, for example, is given aphoto, he says, a detailed map and a description of how tribals live andwhat they believe in, with the suggestion: "Pray against the spirits ofanimism and Hinduism that have kept the Ho in spiritual darkness forcenturies." Stock comments: "Bethany's exhortation to pray againstanimism and Hinduism is hardly a mark of respect." He's being kind. Icall that a downright insult to Hinduism. But we are not supposed toprotest.Then Stock quotes 'The Native Missionary Movement in India' as sayingabout Orissa: "Satan has successfully camouflaged his grip on the peopleof Orissa with a thin veneer of religion." Is Hinduism satanic? As for'AD 2000 and Beyond,' it says that Varanasi, Hinduism's holiest city, isfull of temples dedicated to Shiva, "an idol whose symbol is a phallus.Many consider the city the very seat of Satan." Why are our IndianBishops quiet in this matter?But Stock goes further. He writes: "Hundreds and thousands of dollarsare being channelled into India through well-organised US-basedevangelica missions. The meticulously researched ethnographic data theyare compiling on the region ensures that funds (as well as prayers) arebeing directed with military precision to the right places, even tospecific PIN codes, in remote tribal districts."Stock quotes 'AD 2000 and Beyond' as saying: "God is allowing us to spyon the land that we might go in and claim both it and its inhabitantsfor Him." The kind of language being used by US evangelical missions todescribe Hinduism is appalling. But there is not a word of apology fromour Christian bishops.According to Suresh Kumar Unnithan, writing in the Observer (March 23),"A detailed strategy for massive conversion of tribals, Dalits andbackward classes and large-scale church planting was formulated at ameeting of church and missionary leaders in Bhopal recently."Unnithan quotes a document prepared by one Dr. Victor Choudrie,co-ordinator of 'Harvest Consultant' (a proselytisation programme of theProtestant Church) and present at the meeting, as saying that "the goalis to plant about 30,000 churches and reach over 10 million 'unreached'in the state by the year 2007." According to the report "MP has 70million people in 70,000 villages and only 70,000 Christian families. Weshould strive to have one church in every village by 2010."I call this Institutional Christianity and it seems to be hell bent oncreating trouble in the name of religion. And the money for all thesechurch-building activities comes from the USS, where Christianity hardlyexists. For that matter, what sort of Christianity exists in Europe? InIreland, Catholics and Protestants are at each other’s throats. Not oneof Christ's preachings are practised anywhere. Germans sent, god aloneknows, how millions Jews to death during the Nazi era. The French ravagedVietnam and Nigeria. Italians almost destroyed Ethiopia. The record ofthe Spaniards is despicable as is that of the Portuguese. Americansalmost levelled Vietnam - a small nation that had done them no harm - todust.Is this Christianity in action? And they have the cheek to come to Indiato instruct us in pacifist ways? European Christianity is the veryantithesis of Christianity. It is an insult to Christ. US evangelistsdare not send money to support proselytisation in Muslim countries. Letthem try to do so in any Muslim country and they would know what wouldhappen. In India we allow our religion to be trampled upon, our godsinsulted - all in the name of secularism.I would like to know what Sonia Gandhi thinks of all this and what herIndian National Congress Party's veiws are on this matter.The government needs to be warned in advance so there is not repetitionof the Staines incident. The missionaries need to be told to cry a haltto their activities. And foreign church bodies should be told to layoff.The point can be made that if non-resident Indians can support theInternational Hindu Council (Vishwa Hindu Parishad or VHP) financially,why shouldn't foreign Church bodies finance Indian churches?The point is that these expatriates are not attempting to convertChristians. In any event, it is a matter of Indians supporting Indians.The people needing conversions are Europeans and Americans. We do notneed US-style or European-style Christianity in India; thank you. We arequite happy and at peace with the local variety.--
