[world-vedic] (Living in Darkness)

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>bjp-l-digest Wednesday, December 8 1999 Volume 03 : Number

>194

 

>Title: Living in Darkness

>Author: M.V. Kamath

>Publication: Indian Express

>Decemebr 3, 1999

>

> The Christian Church, like the Bourbons of old, has

>learnt

> nothing and forgotten nothing. It obviously does

>not

> understand that times have changed and what may

>have held

> good 400 years ago has now turned into a cruel

>joke. This

> is all-too-painfully apparent in the 140 page

>document

> approved by the Roman Catholic Church after the

>meeting

> of the Catholic Bishops held in Delhi under the

>guidance of the Pope.

>

> The document says: "Just as in the first

>millennium the

> Cross was planted on the soil of Europe and in the

>second

> on that of the Americas and Africa, we can pray

>that in

> the third Christian millennium a great harvest of

>faith

> will be reaped in this vast and vital continent of

>Asia".

>

> Never were more insulting and impertinent remarks

>made

> against non-Christian religions flourishing in Asia,

>some

> of them preceding the birth of Christ. They are in

>keeping

> with the kind of ignorant remarks that British

>Christian

> missionaries used to make in the 19th Century

>against

> Hinduism. It is important to remind the Roman

>Catholic

> Church - and the Pope who heads it that if

>Christianity

> means love and understanding, there are no

>Christians in

> Europe.

>

> What the pope needs to be reminded

> Is it necessary to remind the pope that two of

>the

> bloodiest wars in history are the two world wars

>started

> by Christians in Europe that saw entire cities

>decimated?

> Was it Christian Germany that sent some 5 million

>Jews to

> the Gas Chambers? Was it Catholic Spain that drove

>Muslims

> out of the country and demolished their masjids? Was

>it

> Christian United States that dropped two nuclear

>bombs,

> one on Hiroshima and another on Nagasaki? Was all

>that

> done in the spirit of Christian love and

>understanding?

>

> Except in the case of Syrian Christians, both

>Roman

> Catholic and Protestants Christianity came to India

>in the

> wake of western Imperialism, following in the

>footsteps of

> western dacoits and marauders. The atrocities

>they

> perpetrated are on record and they exceed in

>cruelty

> anything mankind may have done anywhere else.

>

> The darkness that Christian missionaries see is

>not in

> Asia but in their own hearts. The comic part of it

>all is

> that in the name of Christ, Catholic and Protestant

>groups

> are fighting each other to death. What is

>happening in

> Ireland, for example, is there for all to see.

>The pope

> himself has described Protestant efforts to rope

>in

> Catholic Christians to their faith as the attack

>of

> wolves.

>

> Christianity has to make up its mind

> If Catholic Christians can't stand Protestant

>Christians,

> how do they expect their work to be taken kindly in

>Asia

> where established religions much older than

>Christianity

> have flourished from time immemorial? The habit

>of

> needlessly egging on Hinduism and Buddhism has to

>be

> stopped. Leaders of both Hindu and Buddhist

>faiths have

> already expressed their strong feelings against

>the

> remarks of the Synod remarks, which can only be

>dismissed

> as tasteless and demeaning.

>

> Where there is peace, the Church is sowing seeds

>of

> hatred. The days when stupid missionaries could

>make

> atrocious remarks against Hinduism are over. It

>is

> difficult to believe that anybody could have been

>as

> stupid as Rev William Ward, an English missionary

>who

> wrote a four-volume polemic which characterised

>Hindu

> faith as "a fabric of superstition" concocted by

>Brahmins,

> and as "the most complete system of absolute

>oppression

> that perhaps ever existed. How would Christians

>feel if

> the compliment is returned by saying that nothing

>could

> excel superstition as the concepts of Virgin

>Birth and

> Resurrection, the two pillars of faith central to

> Christianity?

>

> Won't the church feel insulted? What is more

>interesting

> is that in the Protestant political theory of the

>19th

> Century it was the Church of Rome and the

>absolutist

> monarchies of Europe which imposed tyrannical

>despotism on

> free-born Christians, deforming their characters

>and

> making them 'womanish' and slave-like.

>

> Pope hand-in-glove with multi-lateral agencies

> That Christianity to this day is hand-in-glove with

>a new

> form of economic imperialism is becoming evident

>by the

> day. Not so well-known is the fact that in taking

>crucial

> decisions like granting loans to Third World

>countries,

> the World Bank consults the pope. When this issue

>was

> posed before the Archbishop of Delhi, Rev Alan de

>Lastic,

> his reply was evasive. He said: "I am not much

>informed

> about this. This must be at the level of Vatican.

>I do

> admit that Holy Father's guidance are taken with

>all

> seriousness by many leading world organisations".

>That is

> letting the cat out of the bag, however

>reluctantly.

>

> Two points raised by Rev de Lastic in an interview

>to the

> press demand attention. One is that, just as

>Christian

> organisations get funds from outside, so do many

>Hindu

> organisations. The matter, however, should not be

>allowed

> to stop there. Hindu organisations do not spend the

>money

> to convert people. How can Hindus convert Hindus?

>The

> money allegedly received by 'Hindu' organisations is

>spent

> on activities that are easily monitored.

>

> The second point is even more revelatory of

>Christian

> intentions. It is Rev de Lastic's belief that

>"tribals are

> not Hindus". It is an astounding statement to

>make.

> Tribals are as much Hindus as any Hindu in the

>country

> because they are part of India's culture. Hanuman

>was a

> tribal leader and he evokes as much veneration as

>Shri Ram

> does. The Mahabharata is full of instances of

>marriage

> between the Aryan heroes and tribal women. Tribals

>are as

> much part and parcel of Hindu society as anyone

>else. Rev

> de Lastic's logic is, to put it plainly,

>lop-sided, and

> cock-eyed.

>

> The archbishop of Delhi needs some education on

>Hinduism

> He says that Tribals believe in only one spirit

>and not

> 'hundreds of Gods' that Hindus believe in; ergo,

>goes his

> argument, tribals can't be Hindus. This is a sick

> understanding of Hinduism. Hindus don't believe

>in

> 'hundreds of Gods'. They only see God in a

>hundred

> manifestations which is a different matter

>altogether. If

> Rev de Lastic doesn't understand the nature of

>Hinduism,

> the least that he can do is not to pontificate on

>matters

> he does not apparently understand.

>

> To say that Tribals are not Hindus is a clever ploy.

>It is

> a way of telling Hindus that Tribals not being

>Hindus, the

> latter should not feel upset with tribal

>conversion. The

> Christian Church, it would seem, does not

>understand that

> the hegemonism of the West is over and gone. To

>suggest

> that because conversion is basic to Christianity

>and

> should therefore not be challenged is childish.

>

> The world is not beholden to the Church to accept

>the role

> that the Church allots to itself. The best way

>for

> Christianity to live in peace and amity with

>other

> religions in Asia is for the Church to respect and

>honour

> them and not to make them targets of religious

>greed. The

> days are long gone when Hinduism and Buddhism will

>accept

> slights from alien religions whose claims to

>spiritualism

> do not stand the test of reason or close

>scrutiny. The

> Church must turn an inward eye before embarking

>on

> adventures that could only disturb world peace.

>

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>

>End of bjp-l-digest V3 #194

>***************************

 

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