Uncoding the politics of Christian fundamentalism post-Da Vinci
George Menezes
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
I write this knowing fully well that I'm going to raise the
hackles of fundamentalists. It will not be a new experience.
I have been at the receiving end of venom both from Christian
fundamentalists when I became a member of the National
Executive of the BJP in the 80s and subsequently from the
Sangh Parivar when I quit the BJP and spent a good part of my
retirement writing about the BJP's communal politics in the
country and its Fascism in Gujarat.
I never imagined that I would live to write and strongly
condemned the fundamentalism of Christian lay
organisations and self-appointed lay leaders who
represent nobody but themselves.
I believe, I am, a fairly devout Catholic, a practising
Catholic in most of the things I do or refuse to do. I'm also
a Catholic who reserves the right to disagree or dissent in a
Jesus-driven way.
**
NEWS HEADLINES FROM GOA: June 15, 2006:
* Government plans parallel bridge over Zuari river;
bridge closed to heavy traffic from June 16.
* Government not to close down Marathi schools with
poor enrolment. There are 133 schools with a student
strength of less than 10. (NT)
* Manganese deposits entering Salaulim water, to
take tea-coloured water to Margao taps. (NT)
* Government for panel to help Baina displaced
sex workers... two years after demolition.(NT)
* Nine students from Goa -- including Ralph Silva,
Ishan Puri, Avinash Prabhu and Gaurish Malkarnekar
-- have secured ranks in the IIT joint entrance exam.
(NT)
**
I have read "Da Vinci Code" several times. It is one of the
finest thrillers I've read in a long time. I could not put it
down. It is in the genre of some of the best fiction I've
read. Dan Brown has taken us through a mind-boggling journey
through the Louvre, through church history, early and recent,
and twisted a great deal of it into a make-believe story that
ends, unfortunately in a whimper.
I must also say that I'm looking forward to seeing the movie.
I'm glad that it has not been banned (in India as a whole).
First and foremost we live in a secular democracy. We do
not have the right to coerce others to conform to our
religious sensitivities. Secondly the book and the film
are a personal challenge to my faith. Is my faith
strong enough to resist the clever, entertaining and
well disguised attack on the Catholic Church and its
teachings? I confirm that it can.
We rush into defending in a thoroughly uninformed manner, the
slurs on the Catholic Church and its teachings and its
history, totally unmindful of the fact that our personal
lives are not in conformity with what we are trying to
defend, leading to a personal as well as a public sense of
hypocrisy.
What happened in Mumbai in the process of trying to get
the film banned is thoroughly shameful.
First, several lay organisations, one certainly of doubtful
integrity and repute (ignored by Archbisop Simon Pimenta in
his time), joined in competeing with each other to find
favour with political bigwigs. Such organisations, all
claiming to represent half a million Catholics in the city
held press conferences, made TV appearances, organised
signature campaigns, morchas and dharnas and even in one case
went on a hunger strike and filed a case in the High Court.
This of course ensured a great deal of publicity for the
protesters day after day both in the press and electronic
media. What was most surprising is that the hierarchy, that
has seldom involved the laity in decision-making (as
different from consultation), allowed lay organisations to
hijack the entire protest movement against the screening of
the movie.
The politicians in Delhi, in a masterly appeasement move,
invited representatives of the Church and decided that the
movie would not be banned but screened with a disclaimer.
The result is that the Church has taken responsibility for
agreeing to the screening of the movie with a few crumbs
thrown in called “disclaimer”.
It is a great embarrassment for the Church and the
community. The result is that we have played into the
hands of fundamentalists of all hues and all religions.
We have created a precedent that every creative work has
now to be approved by the religious heads of the
community which feels denigrated.
And what if the film/book shows the truth that has been
conveniently forgotten (like in the case of the book on
Shivaji, or the fact that Hindus ate beef in Vedic times
etc)? Will we have to get the approval of the fundamentalists
in the community concerned before it is allowed? So we're
only strengthening the fundamentalist forces.
Finally, by not condemning the Corporator who offered Rs.11
lakhs for t
