CHRISTIAN CONVERSION IS POLITICALLY SPONSORED AND ROOTED
ravimpillay
Sandhya Jain
30 Sep 2008
According to a widely circulated invitation on the internet, a
‘massive demonstration rally’ will be held on 4 October 2008 in front
of the UN office in New York, to protest against a ‘small group of
misguided fascist ideologues and caste supremacists’ who are
corrupting Indian civilisation. Perusing the stentorian note of
warning about ‘possibly the start of genocide,’ one is left admiring
the Christian ability to successfully annihilate faiths and cultures
across countries and continents without introspection or remorse,
while projecting themselves as martyrs when resisted by their hapless
victims.
The decision of Indian Christians to run for aid to the supreme
Christian military power in the world, the United States, makes sense
when one considers that even during the British Raj it was American
evangelists who had greater success in converting natives in South
Asia than the European evangelicals. So overpowering was their
intellectual dominance over formally unconverted upper castes that to
this day the products of Forman’s Christian College, Lahore, solemnly
swear that they learnt their moral codes from missionaries. That’s a
level of mind control Hitler would have given his moustache for!
Twenty-first century Hindus, however, are far less diffident in the
protection of their faith and civilisational ethos than say, sixty
years ago, when the sub-continent was partitioned because even
nationalists like Bhagat Singh and Subhash Bose failed to see the
intimate connection between dharma, motherland, and national
integrity. The Left under Mr. Prakash Karat is making the same
mistake; even America’s success in dividing Leftist ranks over the
nuclear deal and sharply curtailing Leftist exposure in Indian media
thereafter, has not caused a rethink. Without a swim in the sea of
Hindu nationalism, the Left is doomed to extinction; Hindu groundswell
will give BJP a lift as the Hindu party in spite of itself!
Conversion is political conquest, which is why faith and empire have
always gone hand-in-hand. Currently, the National Association of Asian
Indian Christians in the USA, Inc.; Indian Christian Forum and Gujarat
Christian Federation have joined hands to invite Western Christian
intervention to facilitate conversions in India. Already Pope Benedict
XVI, and the Italian and American Governments have expressed
themselves against the Hindu reaction to the murder of Swami
Laxmanananda Saraswati last month.
Yet surely the violence is a symptom of deep-seated Hindu resentment
over missionary conduct. Certainly the growing arc of violence against
Christian prayer halls, from Orissa, to Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu
and even isolated incidents in Madhya Pradesh and Chattisgarh,
supports the contention that unmonitored foreign funds are being used
for conversions and that the true extent of Christian population is
not reflected in the Census.
What is indefensible here is that the Indian State, despite so much
known societal resentment, has done nothing to monitor missionary
activity among vulnerable sections of the populace. When it is known
that evangelists target the chronically ill, hungry, and socially
backward, why is there no immediate and statutory inquiry the minute a
conversion takes place? If faith is being exchanged like a market
commodity, does the missionary have a license to conduct such a
transaction?
And when the church (and its secular advocates) claims that
conversions happen when it renders services Hindu society has failed
to provide, doesn’t that debunk the myth of ‘voluntary’ conversion? If
the argument of social service can justify religious conversion – the
rejection of one’s natal faith – can such facile pleas also justify
treason against one’s country? Can a serving officer sell sensitive
secrets and claim immunity from prosecution on the pretext that he
felt discriminated by the Pay Commission?
India is fully aware that barring France, almost all Western
governments provide generous funding to evangelists; this has a
political and not a religious objective. Israel was created by dumping
European Jews on Palestine; East Timor was created by almost full-
scale conversion of the Muslims in that part of Indonesia. Despite
awareness of the Baptist activity in the north-east, the Indian
elite’s slavish attitude towards the West inhibits an adequate
response to the nature of the threat. Foreign missionaries visit the
country with impunity, and very few are identified and deported; so
far no funds of converting agencies have been seized. Henceforth,
district authorities must be asked to suo moto investigate any
unnatural rise of converts in any area.
In the specific context of Karnataka – where the Bishop displayed
shocking manners when visited by the Chief Minister – it bears stating
that the incidents took place in the context of a booklet profaning
Hindu gods and distributed on behalf of a charismatic church (cult not
officially recognised by the Catholic or Protestant Church). Some
years ago, such a booklet by a Kerala-based group had caused much
distress in Kota, Rajasthan, so there is clearly a pattern behind such
provocations.
What is pertinent here, however, is that after formally dissociating
with the booklet and the cult, the Christian groups proceeded to act
in tandem. They not only organised themselves at the national level,
but even at the international level, as witnessed by the Vatican,
Italy and America rushing to interfere in India’s internal affairs.
This underlines the political nature of conversions, a point that
simply cannot be over-emphasised.
As conversions are often justified on grounds of freedom of religion,
it is pertinent to ask whether an individual – embedded from birth in
family, religion, cultural tradition – can simply cut anchor and roll
away. The Santana Dharma is a religion and a civilisation; conversion
to any monotheistic faith involves an immeasurable loss of culture,
tradition, and multiple levels of religious belief. One does not
merely travel from Krishna to Christ or Kaaba, as is glibly
insinuated. One loses a civilisational landscape – ishta deva
(personal deity), kula deva (family deity), grama deva (village god),
sthana deva (god of the area) – and the culture and traditions
associated with it.
This assumes threatening dimensions when conversions target whole
groups or villages, through well-orchestrated mind-control techniques
that involve physical threats and economic inducements. Tragically,
the poor, who are the most devout and committed to their gods and
faith, are left unprotected when missionaries corner and pressurize
them to convert in lieu of small favours. A self-respecting and
vigilant State would be more active in protecting the religious,
cultural, and civilisational heritage of its citizens.
fanabba
Thank you!.
harmony
establish a 5th column among their socieites and destroy them for any
imagined risk or advantage. conversions = colonialism
it is just too bad the brown converts can not see thr' it and rehab to
hinduism.
in the firs war of independence the freedom fighters had killed a lot of
brown converts because the brown injun converts were thought to be and konwn
to be anti-india and pro-british. it is also a well known fact the brown
injun kirastanistas never participated in the freedom struggle. so, the
politics of conversion is well too obvious. have you ever seen a kirastani
voting for bjp although bjp's policies make more economic sense? never.
kirastani, like the other 2m will always have his religion as the top
consideration although he is educated by hindu taxpayers' money, and his
church is sutained in part by hindu taxpayers' dole.
"ravimpillay" <ravim...@gmail.com> wrote in message
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