Fw: Intolerant India -- a conversation of Conversions - cross post

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chicken-m

IndiaWinners,

Here is a Cross-post originally written by Mukund Khur. I am posting it here

to get a feel of how the group feels about missionaries, conversions (both

forced & coerced) and it's impact on future India. If India needs to have a

stable future in 21st century, social stability is very very important.

We can't just ignore that one of the basic problem of today's intolerant India

is the conversion practice. I personally want to know more about the

truths/lies/rumours associated with conversions. Read the post below and

comment on what should be India's policy when it comes to conversion. This post

might seem more 'right-wing', but there are lots of points in here which are

very valid in today's circumstances. The closest one to heart was the question

about Mother Theresa. I am a big fan of the catholic nun's service to

Calcutta's poor, but it's equally true that there are innumerable cases of

'local' Indians doing similar selfless service. Why are they not recognized to

the same level? Or... Do we care for western recognition? =============

Original Post ================= Christian missionaries, with active monetary

and political support from the West, have been converting people in India

without any hindrance for the past 300 years. As a result, today Nagaland

(87.5%), Mizoram (85.7%) and Meghalaya (64.6%) are Christian-majority states.

Nagaland and Mizoram have witnessed bloody secessionist movements. There is a

direct linkage between conversion and secession. Why do Western missionaries

come to India?

All the missionaries, including Mother Teresa, deeply believe in Christianity.

They strongly believe that they should lead non-Christians to the path of

salvation; hence their efforts are whole-heartedly directed towards

proselytization. They definitely serve the poor, provide them with education

and medical facilities, and take care of them. But this service is not

selfless. Yes, the missionaries are not gaining any physical reward in the

process. But they do get what they sincerely believe in: Converts to their Lord

Jesus! We must always keep this in mind: service of the poor is not the aim of

the missionaries, it is just a means to get them to convert to Christianity. I

myself have personally met scores of Christians in the USA who fanatically

believe that Jesus Christ is the only true god, and consider it their duty to

bring other peoples into the fold. This Western and Christian

self-righteousness and superiority complex is blatantly obvious. Their beliefs

that non-Christians need to be saved, that only Jesus Christ can save them, and

that the Christians have the duty to meddle into the private lives of other

peoples are blatantly obvious. Even so, our Indian discourse raises the

question:

So what is wrong if people get converted to other religions? Is India not a

secular nation? Dont we consider that every religion basically leads to the

same truth?

Let us examine this proposition. Yes, we Hindus do maintain that all religions

lead to the same truth, that all saints speak of the same God. But while

believing in our philosophy, we must also know the viewpoint of the other

party. What do the Christians, and for that matter, the Muslims, think about

this issue? In my personal discussions with both Indian and American

Christians, and in my reading, I have come across the bottomline: For a

Christian, there is one and only one god - Jesus Christ. For a Muslim, there is

one and only one god - Allah, with Muhammed as his Prophet. The Christians and

the Muslims do not to the theory that all religions leads to the same

truth. For them, their own religions are the only 'true' religions. A Southern

Baptist pastor, with whom I have had long and serious discussions about

Christianity and Hinduism, once asked me: How would Jesus be viewed by Hindus.

I told him that Jesus would be considered as a great man by many Hindus. Based

on my observation in India, I also said that some Hindus will even consider

Jesus as God. Then he asked me: Will these Hindus consider Jesus as the only

God? I was flabbergasted. I said, they will think of Jesus as a God, just like

they think of Ram and Krishna as their Gods. He was upset, and unsatisfied. He

clearly told me that a true Christian would consider Jesus and only Jesus as

the god. Under this circumstance, Hindus need to change their world-view. There

is no point accomodating someone if they are not willing to accomodate you in

return. Now, someone may ask if there are any practical problems arising out of

conversion to Christianity.

I say YES! Massive, unchecked and systematic conversion activities by

missionaries has completely changed the demographics of key states in India. As

we have seen time and again from the examples of Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nagaland,

Mizoram and Kashmir, any substantial change in religious demographics leads to

separatist mentality. This is especially true when the separate religious

identity and conversion process is fuelled by foreign money.

I ask, what is foreign money doing in Indian religious life? Why does India

allow foreign money inside, that foreign money which converts people to

anti-India lifestyles? The West has systematically assaulted the religious and

civilizational foundations of societies like North and Latin America,

Australia, Philippines and Africa. The West has succeeded in completely

changing the ethos and culture of all these lands, where their natives once

lived happily. The West has done all this through its religion, its economics

and its military power. Truly, the expansionism of the West has been all-round.

Given these facts, any thinking man will have reasonable doubts when Mother

Teresa, a white missionary is awarded the Nobel Peace prize. Have not there

been many, many Hindus who have selflessly served the poor Indians? Were they

ever rewarded internationally by the West? This may not be the final proof of

any Western conspiracy, but it is an ominous indication. Anyone who has studied

world history will be at least forced to think about that eventuality. Of

course, the reason why some Hindus convert to other religions is because they

are frustrated in the Hindu system, to say the least. For this situation, the

traditional Hindu caste system is directly responsible. Completely eliminating

the caste system, and creating a truly egalitarian society must be the goal of

every Hindu. This realization is growing among the masses. To achieve this

goal, public and private education at all levels is a must. The VHP is doing a

great job by re-converting willing Christian tribals to Hinduism. This is a

great step in the right direction. Hinduism has never sought to convert any

outsider. Nay, re-conversion to Hinduism was even forbidden till recent

history. If the massive foreign assault on India's religion and culture has

woken up the Hindu masses to shed such retrograde and destructive tendencies,

and if it encourages them to open their eyes and treat all Hindus as equals, I

would say well-done! But nothing should be used as an excuse to silently

approve and condone the conversion by missionaries. When Indian journalists

shut their eyes to the truth, when they one-sidedly accuse someone of being

'Crazy' without objectively taking into account their genuine concerns, the

enemies of India gain strength. One must not forget that we are dealing with

the same West which went into Africa and America with the Bible, and

'exchanged' it for the lands of the native residents. Today, our overt and

covert enemies lie in wait. It is time for the Hindus and India to wake up, and

learn the truth about this world.

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