NAILING THE LIES OF CHRISTIAN MISSIONARIES IN INDIA
In recent years certain Christian Churches have carried out villification campaigns that Christian missionaries in India are being persecuted for their attempts to spread the gospel and that Christians are regularly victimized by Hindu fascists. The Churches themselves had been very vocal about their oppression painting themselves as innocent noble servants of God. The English press in India had gone into hysterics about the religious angle and mourned that the secular fabric of India, of which they alone are the guardian, are being destroyed. The international media has simply run with the stories so that newspapers, magazines and Internet are filled with them. Yet what is remarkable is that very few of them, certainly not the Western journalists, had ever bothered to follow-up their sources and find out what has actually transpired. This page shows how the Church systematically distorted and even manufactured stories out of thin air; it also contains a list of atrocities the Church inflicts on non-Christians in India in order to convert them, none of which, gets international attention.
One of the most emotional charges is that hundreds of nuns have been raped. They have not been. The first case was that of nuns raped in Jhabua in Madhya Pradesh. There was no reason to believe that they were raped specifically because they were Christians. Yet the local Church immediately denounced it as the handiwork of local Hindu activists. This event was splashed everywhere on TV and newspapers and soon international media too was full of it. Without the slighest proof, except on the sayso of local missionaries, it was accepted as a foregone conclusion that Hindus had raped Christians in order to stop conversions. Political parties also jumped into the fray hoping that the Hindu political party BJP would be embarassed. After investigations, the criminals were captured. They were a band of petty criminals. Even more tellingly, 12 out of the 24 turned out to be Christians. Though Indian media mentioned briefly this circumstance, this time there were no editorials saying that obviously religious angle do not come into this at all. The international media seems to be unaware of the religious identity of the perprators. The Catholic Organization have however denied that there were Christians involved. Though the police report definitely establishes that they were Christians, according to the Catholic church there, none of the captured criminals identified by the nuns were so. It is entirely possible of course, that the State admininstration had engaged in an elaborate coverup. Then who better to spot it than the Catholic church which has years of practice in protecting child-molesters? Moreover, it is strange that neither the church nor the newspapers have shown further interest in the case; they have not attempted to agitate for a speedy trial or debated the proper punishment for the guilty. In other words, ever since the religious identity of the criminals have been revealed, they have shown no interest in bringing the matter to further public attention.
The next incident happened in Orissa. Again, the Church pastor declared that he suspected the hand of fundamentalist Hindu organizations; immediately the English media branded it as a communal outrage. According to First Information Report (FIR) filed by Sister Jacqueline Mary, she was waiting in the bus-stand when she was told that an old lady wanted to speak to her. So she got into an waiting ambassador. There two men in saris drove off the car and raped her. However, the discrepancies in her case soon came out. According to the FIR, she went to Baripada Municipal Bus Stand from the Saratchandra Vidyapeeth by ricksaw, from where she was picked up by the car. It's strange why she did not think of taking a bus from a stop within 50 m of Saratchandra Vidyapeeth. More importantly, a witness, one Maheshawar Ojha, saw her getting up on the bus and getting off it near the Church as well. He knew her personally and asserts he could not have been mistaken. Therefore according to the only eye-witness, the nun did not get into any car but proceeded normally by bus as she did every day. The FIR was filed 24 hours after the alleged assault. Medical examinations concluded that the injuries on her body were self-inflicted. Unfortunately she had also burnt her under-garments. This meant that they could not be examined for semen and other marks that could lead to the capture of the guilty. Even if die-hard Christians might declare that all reports submitted by the police are untrustworthy, they must question why the under-garments were burned; at the very least the Church could have arranged for independent testings. The incident have created lack of respect and bad feelings among the local residents toward the church, since they believe the accusation to be deliberately manufactured to embarass the BJP.
Another such incident took place at Bihar. One Sister Ruby accused that she was abducted; her abductors tried to rape her but failed. Then they forced her to drink a bottle of their urine and fled. The attackers asked the nun why she and other nuns were in the area; threatened to teach her a lesson for converting Hindus and that this could even cost her her life. They even said that they had raped and murdered many people like her. The Stateman in its editorial thundered against the growth of religious intolerance. When the paper The Pioneer went to interview her they found out several discrepancies. In the first place the FIR was filed three days after the incident. The excuse given by the Church was that she was too shocked to do it at first. But the church officilas themselves could have done it; after all in three days the criminals could escape easily and all physical evidence fade. Secondly she could not identify the place where the incident took place. Though it had happened about 10 a.m and she remembered graphically every detail of the event, she could not find out the place. When the newspaper conducted the interview the Sister spoke in Tamil and her words were translated by Father Catejan. Tamil is the only language she understood. Nevertheless she reported that her abductors spoke in Hindi and Bhojpuri, languages used in that part of India. If she knew neither Hindi nor English, then how could she have understood her abductors far less remembered what they told her? There is also one more thing to be considered. According to her the men could not rape her. Yet also according to her, she was tied down and forcibly stripped naked. No one came to disturb them. The men themselves had boasted that they had raped women like her before. So why did they become suddenly impotent in her case? Did God intervene to protect her?
An English daily reported that that nuns in Jhajjar, Haryana had been molested. The Observer of Business and Politics sent its correspondents. What they found out was this. The nuns had set up a sewing business for local girls. In a local election two groups vied for control of this profitable business. The nuns supported the candidate of one group. So the other group came, shouted at them, told them to leave local politics alone. No one was even touched. The conversation with the nuns was taped by the reporters. In other words, the story was a complete fabrication.
Nor is this the only example of false reporting. Associated Press, belonging to an American company, put out a story that Dr. John Sylvester an American working in Allahabad had been attacked by Hindu fundamentalists. His medical clinic had been broken up and he had to take shelter in near-by Baptist church to escape. However Sylvester is not a medical doctor, but has a PH.D in economics. He has no clinics. Instead he runs two schools. Neither he nor his schools had ever been attacked. It is not known what action AP press took to punish its correspondents for lying. Interestingly the AP report declared that Sylvester is an American. But he is not though his wife is. What is this except an attempt to make American public more sympathetic?
Now we come to the most henious case, the murder of Graham Staines and his children by fanatic Hindus. This in fact is the only case where Hindu chauvinism is actually responsible for murder of a Christian. Staines was a missionary and social worker who treated leprosy patients. A mob of Hindus and tribals led by one Dara Singh, set fire to a car containing Staines and his two minor sons and burned them to death. No one disputes that this is a shocking crime and the murderers need to be punished. But even here the church and so called secularists could not resist playing politics. The blame was immediately put on a Hindu organization called Bajrang Dal , which is active in resisting conversions, and has some connection with BJP. The First Information Report (FIR) was filed by a priest, an eye-witness. He declared that the attackers had shouted, "Jai Bajrang Dal"; however witness after witness testified that they had shouted, "Jai Bajrang Bali". This is certainly an important distinction, to the group involved! Even if it can be passed off as an aberration, another of his statement certainly cannot be. He declared that the Church had been burnt down totally. But the Church had not even been damaged slightly. Obviously he was trying to milk the persecution angle for all it is worth and drag politics into it as well. It was later established that Dara Singh was associated with the Bajrang Dal in freeing cows from tradesmen. However none of the others have anything to do with Bajrang Dal.
Why were the Staines murdered? The answer is very simple --- because his conversion activities were deeply resented by the locals. Staines certainly operated a leprosy hospital for the benefit of the poor, but he was not a selfless social worker as portrayed by newspapers. On the contrary his and his wife's dispatches reveal that their sole intention was to convert. In particular, the jungle camps he held where he would sell Christian literature and pray for the tribals to be 'saved' had created great tensions in the surrounding villages. Witness 35, Binod Kishore Das a doctor who worked at the leprosy centre testified, Staines had a great hatred for other religions. If there was a function in anybody's house, he would not eat there. "Staines was living a lavish life style. Though he would be simply dressed, he was having a modern gadgets in his house. Even for a minor disease he would go either to Jamshedpur or Calcutta". Gladys Staines contradicted that Staines hated other religions but admitted that he would not take prasad [consecrated food] because it went against the Bible. How strange! Hindus are pilloried for notions of impurity in food and from whose hands you can take it, but apparently if a Christian discriminates on basis of religion it is all right.
Witness 29, stated that Dara Singh is a very popular figure in the village as he forcibly "frees cows from the people who take them for selling" and slaughter. After freeing the cows, Darn Singh distributes the cows among the villagers. Thus in eyes of villagers he does pious deeds and is a Robin Hood. Many others testified that that villagers were becoming increasingly angry at destruction of their traditional socio-religious practices. Bidyadhar Mohanta of village Dalapaka in his statement under Section 161 Cr.P.C. recorded on 17th June, 1999 said that some boys from Gayalmunda and Bhalughera told Dara Singh in his presence that Christian missionaries were converting Hindus and that they were destroying Hindu religion. They asked Dara Singh to deal with the missionaries properly. It is obvious that conversions were deeply resented by locals, though it might be incomprehensible to ordinary Westerners. Nevertheless, the English newspapers in India went on declaring that all was peace and harmony until the Bajrang Dal deliberately created tensions a few months before.
There is also another angle to the aftermath. After it became widely known that Dara Singh was responsible for the murders, the tribals began to deify him. They declared he had miraculous powers which helped him to escape the police dragnet. The government announced huge sums of money to be given to the man who can give the police leads or can aid in capturing him. Though the tribals live at subsistence levels, not a single one came forward. In fact, an imposter, posing to be Dara Singh actually managed to get food and shelter in several villages, and again none of the villagers informed the police of his presence though they believed him to the genuine Dara Singh. The papers reported this but no explanations were forthcoming as to why these tribals would think a mere murderer is a hero. Obviously there was a deep rage against missionary activities and against Staines so that even the murder of children were overlooked. Pages have been dedicated to how Staines worked for social betterment of the tribals, but strangely none to the fascinating question of why Dara Singh had been apotheosised by villagers. There was no Hindu organizations to campaign for him. It happened spontenously. If as we were assured by the newspapers ordinary villagers wept for him lamenting they have lost a father , why did they think of his murderer as a deity and feed false Dara Singhs?
Certainly Staines did not deserve to be murdered; nothing can be worse than blaming the victim in this ghastly killing. But here is a warning for all Indian secularists. Respect for religions also mean respect for traditional religions, even if it happens to include animism. But the missionaries regularly traduce the local religions, promise that if they become Christians then they would be cured of their diseases and persuade the converts not to participate in the social life of the village thereby disrupting bonds between family and neighbours. If the missionaries would stick to their social work and inspire conversion by their character alone then there would be no problem.
Unfortunately, the murder of Staines and the resulting publicity --- which should have been a cause of mourning --- apparently made missionary organizations decide that if one murder can genrate so much limelight and profit, then more murders will generate more. Thereafter every violent incident in which a Christian was the victim was made out to be a case of Hindu fundamentalism and Christian persecution. In 1999, in Orissa two children, a girl and a boy were found murdered. Immediately, English newspapers, with the support of local politicians came up with provocative headings like "Christians killed!". However, the murderer one Ranjan Pradhan was also a Christian. The motive of the murder was found to be rape. He tried to rape the girl; he was recognized by both the girl and the boy, since he happened to be the boy's uncle. The eyewitness to the crime was a nine year old boy who testified that the accused is the man. He also confessed to the crime. (Hardly any paper bothered to report this conclusion. Indian Express, February 10, 1999 finally published the news. )
In December 1998, tribals stormed the police station at Udaygiri and lynched two undertrial prisoners of the Pana caste. Then they burned the houses of Pana caste. This was immediately projected as Hindu-Christian conflict. Yet this is purely a law-and-order problem. The tribals have been harassed for some time by criminals belonging to the Pana caste. They were angry because the police seemed to be doing nothing. On that day some criminals belonging to the Pana caste robbed them; then they became enraged and went on a rampage.
In March 1999, in Ranalai village in Orissa there was a clash between Hindus and Christians and immedately was seen as part of a pogrom begun by BJP. The investigators found that the root cause was economic. There was economic disparity between the two groups, which the Hindus resented. Then in Februray, 23 houses belonging to the Hindu community were burnt down by criminals from the Christian community. This incident was totally ignored by national and international media. Then Christians painted a large Cross on a hillock. The Hindus converted it into a Trishul. To avoid trouble representatives from both groups decided that there would be no signs at all. Next day the Hindus erased the sign; apparently while returning they shouted slogans proclaiming victory. Tensions mounted. When a police Inspector tried to control the situation he was apparently manhandled by Christians. The Hindus burned down some houses of the Christians. Both sides filed charges against one another. Obviously both communities are here at fault and religion had not much to do with it.
At Kosi, on 11th April, 2000 , Fr. K. K. Thomas and Miss Mary of St. Theresa's school were attacked. As usual this became rallying cry of oppression. When the Minority Commission went there, Fr. Thomas categorically stated that there was no communal angle to the incident. 8 or 9 criminals came to the school and attacked him, leaving him for dead. Then they took away about rupees one lakh in cash, a camera and two tape recorders from the various staff members. The motif behind this incident was clearly robbery. Thus even an ordinary crime is made out to be part of a wider conspiracy.
In Mathura, Fr Joseph Dabre, Principal of St. Dominic School was attacked. According to his report to the Minority Commission 2 young men came to his office and asked vaguely for admission in any of the class in the school. Some 4 young men were also waiting outside the principal's office. When the principal asked them about the nature of admission, they started beating him. Why they did this is not known, but clearly this was a personal matter.
In Mathura, another attack on Christians by Hindus was reported. The victims were the Principal and staff of Sacred Heart School. The principal told the Minority Commission that the children of two local leaders namely Mr. Sheetal Singh and Surya Kanth Prashar had failed in the examination. The fathers threatened them and brought a mob inside the campus which shouted slogans against the principal and management. The Principal had to hide till the staff managed to make the mob disperse. The DM and SSP stated that the parents of the children got worried since 80 children had failed in the examination. They wanted the principal to lower the pass percentage from 40 to 35. The principal very properly refused to compromise on this issue. The second contention was that steep hike in the fees from the existing Rs. 300 p.m. to Rs. 800 p.m.. Though the Principal had asked for police protection, the police were lax since it involved politicians. Evidently, Hindus had attacked Christians and the Christians are to be commended, but not for the motives that the missionaries would have their listerners believe.
Again attacks were reported in Rewari, where three nuns were injured. Sister Ludmila of the Order described the details of the accident. It became obvious that this was an accident and nothing else. This was fully corroborated by Fr. Philip Parmar and the two injured nuns who declared that there were no communal elements involved. They also said that the man responsible for the accident had later apologised to them. They said that the atmosphere in Rewari has all along been very peaceful and they did not understand why a simple accident had been given such publicity. They even said that some western forces were trying to give a political colour to the incident and create a wedge among the Hindus and Christians residing in the town.
However, it is not to be expected that vested interests among the Christians would take the findings of Minority Commission lying down. They have therefore demanded the removal of the Christian member from the panel! ( www.rediff.com/news/2000/jul/11nmc.htm ) Mr. John Joseph held that the attacks were isolated incidents. He said that Christian radicals were active in states like Kerala, Andhra Pradesh, Bihar and the north-east. He also bluntly stated that Western Churches are making such a fuss in order to get more money from their Western doners. United Christian Forum for Human Rights national convenor John Dayal, and Archbishop Cyril Mar Baselios have insisted that the MNC, and in particular its Christian member, had no business giving opinions that contradict what they are saying. Forum secretary Joe Vithayathil said, Mr. Joseph 'joined the commission to promote himself, deliberately derogating Christian churches and threatening them'. Most significantly, the All India Catholic Congress have accused him of acting against the community. This is what the missionary impulse have been reduced to --- a Christian's conscience must be subordinate to promoting what the Church superiors think would help them in their politicking. However, Mr. Josheph insisted that as a Pentescostal, he had been washed in blood of the lamb and therefore cannot lie. (Read interview with Mr. John Joseph! www.rediff.com/news/2000/jul/15inter.htm )
So much for Christian Churches wailing "We are martyrs! Please give us more money!"
While accusing Hindus of terrorising them, the missionaries are fully adept at using such tactics, collectively and individually, against those they want to convert.
In Tripua the Baptists are very active and their conversions cause deep tension. Not only that they deliberately use intimidation through the militant Christian outfits. There are several Christian terrorist groups operating who forbid Hindus, tribals and Buddhists to hold their religious festivals on pain of violence, who have burnt down their homes, and often ordered them to convert to Christianity or face death. Church officials are directly involved in terrorist acts as well. ( news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english...717775.stm ) The banned NLFT outfit has declared that it wants to expand the Kingdom of Christ in Tripura. There are roughly 500 instances of kidnapping every year, but not a single victim has been a Christian. In other words, this is nothing other than attempt to harass Hindus. Again, maximum kidnapping is of schoolteachers. This has led to the closure of several government schools. This means parents are forced to send their children to missionary run schools which never suffer from these problems. There the missionary teachers can brainwash the children to their heart's content. However American media seems to be ignorant of what is going on. (For fuller story, read www.rediff.com/news/2000/jun/23flip.htm )
Similarly Mizoram is mostly Christian. During election times placards appear saying "Vote for Christ" and in Sunday services, pastors reacast their sermons to favour their chosen candidates. With the enouragement of the priests, the non-Christians are treated hellishly. 45000 Mizoram Reangs have been forced to flee their home to other states and dozens of women had been raped. The Reangs are a minority tribe in Mizoram, and the majority tribe is different ethnically. However such naked violence has been inflicted after Christianity, the religion of love and brotherhood, has taken hold. President Saibunga of Bru National Union told The Observer, Date: February 8, 1999, "We are being persecuted by Mizos since we strongly opposed conversions. Mizoram is a Christian dominated State and they want everybody to become Christian. Even the Chakmas [a Buddhist tribe mainly] are facing persecution. Minorities are not at all safe in Mizoram. Since we raised our voice against the forcible conversions, we were driven away." The Indian Government is too busy fretting about its 'liberal' image abroad to crack down on such behaviour. The international media which cried itself hoarse about how Hindus are persecuting Chriatinas have nothing to say about how these poor tribals are being persecuted and raped by the Christians. After all, who cares for a bunch of Red Indian like people who refuse the benefits of civilization Christianity would have conferred on them?
The Asian Age, Date: January 29, 1999: A Baptist priest posted as secretary of Diphupan church in Nagaland was arrested by the Guwahati police for his involvement in a fake currency racket. Bendeng Temjen Jamir, secretary of the Diphupan Baptist mission, was arrested redhanded. The priest had confessed that he received the counterfeit currencies in his monthly salary.Police sources said they have information about the involvement of a church in the fake currency racket in Nagaon district of Assam and their work had led to arrest of the priest.
Obviously the Baptist Church is heavily involved in illegal rackets, particulary if they paid off their priests in counterfeit currency regularly. There is also in Nagaland a terrorist group calling themselves "Nagaland for Christ". Their avowed intention is to secede from Indian Union and set up a separate Christian state. Though they have insisted that Hindu, tribal and Buddhist Nagas would be welcome in this state, their very name indicates that they are aiming for the creation of a theocratic state.
Thus throughout the North-East part of India, Christian fundamentalists hope of regaining the political sovereignty that the secular liberal constitutions of Europe and USA had wrested away from them. To attain their ends, they use the tactics they have used in the past in the West.
The Indian Express, February 10, 1999 reported that an evangelical priest George David Manuel was arrested by Ambernath police following a complaint that he had burnt portraits of Hindu gods and goddesses, to exorcise evil. One villager had been very sick and he had been brought in to pray for him. Unable to effect a cure by praying, the priest had burned the pictures of deities. He showed no remorse stating that in burning the holy pictures he was driving out devils. The villagers beat him up before surrendering him to the police, (but no doubt it is unfair to say the victim brought it on himself). Incidentally, the priest seems to have identified himself with the ceremony of Mass too literally. The patient's sister said, "He would prick his fingers with a needle and let out blood from his fingers into a glass of water, which he would make us drink. He would then keep his hands on our heads and chant in Marathi, "In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Ghost." There is no doubt this is a mentally unbalanced person and yet the Church ordained him! If this had happened in America this macabre touch would have been certainly been made much of; but the Indian English media seems to regard this as uninteresting news and Western media has ignored it.
In 1999, two highly respected Gandhian leaders, Mr Ghelubhai Nayak and Mr Chunnibhai Vaidya demanded a legal ban on conversions. There had been violence in Dang area in December of previous year. They told The Hindu, January 6, it was triggered off by attempts by missionaries to force a nephew of the Bhils' Raja to marry a Christian girl, in an attempt to convert him. The man was allegedly publicly beaten up for his refusal. A complaint had been filed with the police in this regard. On December 25 when Christians began stoning a Hindu Jagran Manch rally, violence erupted. They told The Pioneer , January 19, 1999, that the church has imported 500 missionaries in recent years to speed up conversions. They charge that "during the last five years, nearly two dozen idols of Lord Shiva and Hanuman, revered by all tribals, have been desecrated or broken. The ancient beliefs of the tribals have been mocked at openly and every effort has been done to browbeat and harass them into submission." They also accused the missionaries of using "unethical means". They give example of the missionary who came to Sabarmati Ashram carrying a book, Gandhiji's Favourite Bhajans, which was found to contain only Christian Psalms, and not a single Gandhian reference. In fact, the two Gandhians themselves had rebuffed conversion overtures from missionaries, after which the missionaries tried to forcibly evict them from their office in the Missionpada area of Ahwa.
Bombay Times, May 1, 1997 reported that in Dharavi, Christian henchmen of Jesuit missionaries had assualted one woman, and stabbed her nephew because they refused conversion. An FIR had been filed with the police.
The Eastern Age (The Asian Age) April 25, 2000, reported that a school for homeless tribal girls is on the verge of closing because its Christian backer had denied it funds. The founder of the school Swami Rameswarananda claims Mr Heinz Burtsch, a Swiss national who was the major contributor, got angry after being denied permission to convert 45 tribal girls to Christianity. Swamiji also alleges that local Christians too have stopped helping. Classes in the school have now been suspended.
The latest news of Christian shenanigans is that of a prison official. The jail superintendent of Pondicherry prison, P. David had long been accused of allowing Christian missionaries entry into jails and spreading their propaganda violating regulations. There had been frequent allegations that he is in the habit of forcibly converting prisoners and that Christian prisoners were given more favours. Though the authorities had long been aware of these allegations they hesitated to move against him since they did not want to be branded Hindu fascists. However when six prisoners went on hunger strike they were forced to intervene officially. The six had filed a formal complaint that David tortured them regularly after they refused to convert to Christianity. There is also another allegation against David --- that he had allowed a lifer to jump parole and that the criminal is now running a Christian NGO in another state. This Christian is twice guilty: he had violated the separation of Church and State which he as a government official was sworn to uphold, and he abused his authority . Hopefully even fanatic Christians will agree that he deserves to be punished no matter if he was doing the Lord's Work. (www.hindustantimes.com/nonfram/010402/detNAT14.asp )
The sadism of missionaries extend even to the children, on the grounds that physical well-being is nothing compared to spiritual welfare. Parents of nine Untouchable and Other Backward Caste school-going children aged between seven and 10 have registered a case with the police in Rajgarh against a priest, Father Abraham, on the charge of repeatedly assaulting their wards and denying them meals following their refusal to convert to the Christian faith. According to one child the Father would put the the holy rest-day of Sundays to good use by beating him with a cane. He was told that the beatings would stop only if he converted. This continued until the child overcame his fear and told his parents. The other children said the priest was in the habit of caning and slapping them. He told them that the beatings would stop and they would get lovely things to eat if they accepted Jesus as their saviour and reject Hanuman. Such indeed are the calibre of missionaries who have come to save souls and teach Hindus the mercy of Christian God! But naturally the politically correct media cannot be bothered with such things.
The problems with Christians are confined to Northeast and Northern India where Baptist and Roman Catholic missionaries are most active. It is they who shout of being oppressed by the heathens most. But India is also home to Protestant groups like Methodists,Greek Orthodox Church, Syrian Church, Independant Jacobites,Armenian Church, a sprinkling of Nestorians, Malabar Catholic church, Malankar Catholic Church (not to be confused with Roman/Latin Catholic Church of Europe) and other Churches. There have been no conflicts with these Eastern Churches, The Metropolitan of the Jacobite Syrian Orthodox Church, Joseph Mar Gregorios asserted that he did not believe in such stories of systematic persecution. The Catholic church had in a rage accused the Syrian church of being a fringe Church of no importance. This is undoubtedly due to frustration. The Syrian Church has about 3.5 million members in India; nor is it impressed by the RC's claim to be founded by ST. Peter, since they claim to be founded by St. Thomas the apostle and therefore can claim equality of lineage. Since the Catholic Church couldnot accuse the Metropolitan of being a government stooge or closet Hindu, it can only throw childish tantrums. (Historical note: one of the first actions of RC Church after arriving in India was to set up Inquisition and start torturing Syrian Christians to make them acknowledge Papal supremacy; and a few Jews thrown in for fun). Also, in South India where most of Indian Christians live, there had not been any reports of conflicts. There Christians keep to the practices of their Hindu forefathers and many go to the temples to make offerings to Hindu gods. Moreover, in spite of conflicts and underhanded means, many of the earlier Christian missionaries did some good with their formula of "soup, soap, soul" and educational institutions. It is the new aggressive missionaries who are responsible for the tensions.
The reason for such ferocious campaigns seem to be because of shrinking marketshare world-wide.In Europe and America, as society becomes more progressive and liberal people are moving away from organized Churches. Their power shrinks day by day. The Islamic countires are forbidden to them on pain of death and imprisonment. China does not allow them to proleteryze. Therefore they must turn to India to assure their own seats in Heaven. Who knows, if they did not manage to fill their quota, in heaven they might be given silver harps while others are playing on golden ones!
Missionaries deliberately create tensions. They tell their converts not to participate in social and religious functions of their tribe, to violate taboos, to break off ties with relatives. There are stories that new converts actually refuse to support their aged parents and even throw them out of the house if the latter does not convert. In particular, there have been several complaints about ploughing of land during prohibited periods, in Eastern India. The belief is that once a year earth menstruates and so cannot be ploughed.for some days. However the missionaries encourage the converts to deliberately violate such cherished customs. The aim is to produce, as Mr. Shourie points out, two-fold effect. One is to make the convert committ psychological violence on his old self so as to cement his allegiance to the new. The other is to enrage the community so that they would become his enemy; thus even if he later wishes to go back he cannot and therefore is forced to cling to his new brotherhood even more firmly.
One favourite way to convert illiterate tribals is to persuade them that Christ has the power to cure them.In the Staines case, Witness 8, Chaitanya Murmu, a pastor declared that in year 1980, he had a serious attack of fever and obtained medicines from the government dispensary. His fever was not cured in spite of taking medicines. While in a dying condition, his wife called five members of the Christian community who prayed for his betterment. Thereafter he continued to take same medicines and was cured. And hence, started believing in Christianity. Apprently, Staines did not bother to inform him that the medicines that he continued to take, might have contributed to his cure! Even more significantly, in poor tribal areas, many converts asserted that when they fell ill the priests/nuns offered them white powder and drinks as Jesus's prasad; when they were cured by taking them they realized that Christ's power is greater than local gods' and so converted. According to more sophisticated people who have seen these things, they are actually medicines like Crocin etc. If this is not fraud then what is? Yet we are to believe in the purity and truthfulness of evangelists!
However, it is to be noted that Christianity also occasionally loses its flock because it cannot deliver. Witness 45, Manika Gagrai, speaks about this. He was suffering from fever and converted to Christianity so that he could be cured. However his health worsened and he developed tuberculosis and blood pressure. As none of the Christians helped him and since he was not cured, he re-converted to Hinduism
Another nun projected as a saint is Mother Teresa. She had been given millions to do social work. Yet what did she actually do? Her hospitals are highly unhygienic, according to Dr. Robin Cox Editor of "Lancet". Mary Loudon, another English investigator found patients sleeping on the floor as many as 60 in a single room. She saw needles being used and reused after washing in tap water. Patients in need of simple surgery were left to die instead of being sent to other hospitals in Calcutta. Even health workers could not escape infection. Anne Shebba in her book, "Mother Teresa Beyond the Image", points out that several of the nurses caught TB and possibly AIDS. In all these, "the single remedy offered to the inmates regardless of their condition is prayer". However, apparently when saints themselves fall ill, mere prayers are insufficient. They need treatment. Mother Teresa therefore frequently got herself treated at Massachusetts General in Boston. When she was unable to travel, she was treated by specialists at the prestigious R. K. Birla Heart Research Centre, Calcutta, which is beyond the reach of many middle class Bengalis. So at least we now know what happend to some of the money she accepted! Nor is her hands clean when it comes to taking money. One Keating, according to the Californian Deputy District Attorney, who prosecuted him, stole more than 200 million dollars from investors. It was this man who gave more then a million dollars to Mother Teresa when his case was tried. She appealed to the Judge asking him to show clemency towards Keating because he had always been kind and generous to God's poor. She prayed to the Judge to "look into his heart and do what Jesus would have done in that circumstance." Learning of this appeal, The Deputy District Attorney wrote back that Jesus would have returned the stolen money. However the 'saint' could not return donations so lovingly given! For her the poor were nothing but souls to be added to her tally. Nevertheless, Mother Teresa thanks to advertising is considered to be a saint. Compare this with another nun, working in the same province as Mother Teresa. She also died recently but there was no hoopla about her funeral. No one had ever heard of her name and she hardly had much money from outside. She sought no publicity. Yet, she was able to get more done because she was genuinely interested in social service than in conversion.Of course it also meant that the Papacy was not interested in projecting her as their 'face'.
There is another reason why the Christian Churches have adopted this stance of being unjustly persecuted. Hindu organizations have finally woken up to the fact that many poor people convert because of material benefits. Therefore organizations like RSS and its associated groups have established schools, hospitals, welfare groups to set up wells, anti-drinking leagues etc. The advantage of this to tribals and untouchables is that they get the same benefits as converts get without having to give up their old ways and come into conflict with their neighbours.They have also offered money to new converts and old Christians to reconvert back into Hinduism, and succeeded in winning away Christians. Also in a brilliant stroke (which frankly surprises me to think they can be so clever), people belonging to traditionally untouchable castes and tribes have been appointed to posts like Treasurer and Chairman, and apparently in some regions the entire administrative machinery of the organizations have been handed over to them. The tribals and lower castes in such places --- prime targets of the evangelists --- therefore regard these Hindu organizations as theirs.
All this had brought tribals and mainstream Hindu society much closer. In South Bihar 600 tribals recently became Hindus. In a peculiar amalgam of tribal and Hindu practices, the animist priests of their tribe smeared the blood of white cocks (and I sincerely hope detractors would not see whiff of racism in viewing white cocks as sacred while non-white cocks are not) on them and then they took a dip in Ganges.
The missionaries have complained about the new laws restricting conversion passed by the Government. However it says that conversion should not be carried out by "force, fraud and allurement". Since these are the three tactics they employ no wonder they call it an intolerable hindrance to their right to propagate their religion!
At least one Indian Christian website actually labels itself secular! It promotes Christianity, it advertises about the Churches in India and asks the visitor to sponser a parish. Yet its name is Secular Citizen! A Christian can be a secular citizen, but a website involved in promoting a religion has no business calling itself secular. This is another example of how the word secularism has been perverted in Indian political parlance. This website can get away with such a name merely because it is a minority religion, but no one espousing hindutva ideology would ever be allowed to call oneself secular. www.secularcitizen.com
However the partiality shown by English Press towards Christian complaints,and its muted reporting of missionary misdeeds in the name of secularism has one bad effect. Ordinary middle-class people, who form their reading public, regard them as biased. The Hindu organizations has great success in persuading the ordinary Hindus that the English Press are anti-hindu. They point out, quite correctly, that the newspapers are quick to blame the organizations, but when the reports are proved to be false they never retract their accusations nor apologize. Consequently, whatever they now report about these organizations --- even if true --- is regarded with hostility and skepticism.
What can be concluded is that Christian evangelists have a very slick propaganda machine, while Hindus are inept in media warfare. Otherwise the missionary myth would have been exploded long ago. Also, Hindu organizations are hampered by lack of knowledge of good English. Consequently, the international media relies completely on English press in India and so projects the images the latter wishes to project. But the English media is not India --- it is only a small part of India! If Hindus overcome these barriers, there will be a much more positive image of Hinduism in International press.
Links:
www.fisiusa.org/FISI_Papers/religious_white_paper.htm
www.infinityfoundation.com/ECITrosserletterframe.htm
www.rationalistinternational.net/archive/en/rationalist_2000/43.htm
www.hinduonnet.com/thehindu/2001/10/09/stories/13090244.htm
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