Date: Thursday, August 28, 2008, 4:23 PM
VATICAN SLAMS RELIGIOUS RIOTS in INDIA .
On Tuesday, 26th August, 2008, the authorities imposed, belatedly, a curfew in
some parts of the Indian state of Orissa, after Christians were burnt to death,
a dozen churches and also a Christian orphanage were torched and burned by
Hindu fundamentalist Mob. This spiraling religious violence (directed against
religious minorities, mainly Christians and Muslims, by Hindu fundamentalists)
was deplored by the Vatican .
This barbaric rampage by the majority Hindu community continued on for over two
days. The killing of an anti- Christian Hindu militant leader linked to the
main opposition Hindu-fundamentalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) who were
ruling India, before the present Coalition Government headed by Indian Congress
Party; led to present violence. Whereas the leftist party was responsible for
killing him, but this was made an excuse for the present killings and torching
of Christians churches and institutions by the Hindu mob. The slain Hindu
militant had been heading a local campaign to reconvert Hindus and tribal
people from Christianity.
Local TV stations showed an angry Hindu mob vandalizing a church, throwing away
furniture and setting them on fire. And blocked roads with logs and boulders to
stop police from entering the trouble spots.
According to Christian commentator this militant attitude is ingrained in the
fundamentalist Hindus psyche because of the discrimination policy of their
religious norms which inculcates that there are Untouchables people who are not
even allowed to drink from the common water-well or eat beside a high caste
Hindu; though they are Hindus. These Untouchables are now labeled Dalits, to
avoid negative connotation. That since they regard their religionists as
Untouchable or Dalit and treat them worse than an animal, then how can anyone
expect that these Hindu fundamentalists would have any concern for people of
other religions.
According to Reuters, the Vatican condemned the attacks, calling for “an end to
all bullying” and returns to dialogue. “It expresses its solidarity with the
local churches and the religious orders involved, and condemns these actions,
which are an affront to dignity, peoples’ freedom, and endanger peaceful
coexistence”, a Vatican statement said. Cardinal Jean-Louis Tauran, head of
the Vatican ’s department for inter-religious affairs, told an Italian
newspaper that the Vatican did not understand Hinduism as well as it should.
Separately, the Rome-based Italian missionary agency “Misna” said it had
received that two Jesuit priests had been abducted in the area but had no
further details.
A top body of Indian bishops counted 32 incidents of violence against
Christians in Orissa state of India over the past two days. In protest, it said
some 25,000 Catholic schools and colleges in India would be closed on Friday
(29-08-2008). “People are totally harassed, driven away from their homes,
beaten up and institutions destroyed” Archbishop Vincent Concessao of Delhi
told a press conference. In India most of its billion-plus citizens are Hindu,
whereas about less than 3 percent, about 2.5%, of Indians are Christians. In
the recent past Christians Nuns were raped, even an Australian missionary
Graham Staines and his two children were killed by Hindu mob by burning them in
their car, besides torching Christian religious institutions.
