Interesting article...

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Title: Will Hinduism survive the present Christian offensive?

Author: Francois Gautier

Publication: Rediff

October 25, 2000

 

 

When Prime Minister Vajpayee was in the US in September, the National

Association of Asian Christians in the US (whom nobody had heard about

before),

paid $ 50,000 to the New York Times to publish 'an Open Letter to the

Hon'ble

Atal Bihari Vajpayee, prime minister of India.'

 

While 'warmly welcoming the PM,' the NAAIC expressed deep concern about the

'persecution' of Christians in India by 'extremist' (meaning Hindu) groups,

mentioning as examples 'the priest, missionaries and church workers who have

been murdered,' the nuns 'raped,' and the potential enacting of conversion

laws, which would make 'genuine' conversions illegal. The letter concluded

by

saying 'that Christians in India today live in fear.'

 

The whole affair was an embarrassment (as it was intended to be) to Mr

Vajpayee

and the Indian delegation, which had come to prod American businessmen to

invest in India, a peaceful, pro-Western and democratic country.

 

I am born a Christian and I have had a strong Catholic education. I do

believe

that Christ was an incarnation of Pure Love and that His Presence still

radiates in the world. I also believe there are human beings who sincerely

try

to incarnate the ideals of Jesus and that you can find today in India a few

missionaries (such as Father Ceyrac, a French Jesuit, who works mostly with

lepers in Tamil Nadu), who are incarnations of that Love, tending tirelessly

to

people, without trying to convert them.

 

But I have also lived for more than 30 years in India, I am married to an

Indian, I have traveled the length and breath of this country and I have

evolved a love and an understanding of India, which few other foreign

correspondents have, because they are never posted long enough to start

getting

a real feeling of this vast and often baffling country (nobody can claim to

fully understand India). And this is what I have to say about the

'persecution'

of Christians in India.

 

Firstly, it is necessary to bring about a little bit of a historical

flashback,

which very few foreign correspondents (and unfortunately also Indian

journalists) care to do, which would make for a more balanced view of the

problem.

 

If ever there was persecution, it was of the Hindus at the hands of

Christians,

who were actually welcomed in this country, as they have been welcomed in no

other place on this planet. Indeed, the first Christian community of the

world,

that of the Syrian Christians, was established in Kerala in the first

century;

they were able to live in peace and practice their religion freely, even

imbibing some of the local Hindu customs, until the Jesuits came in the 16th

century and told them it was 'heathen' to have anything to do with the

Hindus,

thereby breaking the Syrian Church in two.

 

When Vasco de Gama landed in Kerala in 1498, he was generously received by

the

Zamorin, the Hindu king of Calicut, who granted him the right to establish

warehouses for commerce. But once again, Hindu tolerance was exploited and

the

Portuguese wanted more and more. In 1510, Alfonso de Albuquerque seized Goa,

where he started a reign of terror, burning 'heretics,' crucifying Brahmins,

using false theories to forcibly convert the lower castes, razing temples to

build churches upon them and encouraging his soldiers to take Indian

mistresses.

 

Indeed, the Portuguese perpetrated here some of the worst atrocities ever

committed in Asia by Christianity upon another religion. Ultimately, the

Portuguese had to be kicked out of India, when all other colonisers had

already

left.

 

British missionaries in India were always supporters of colonialism; they

encouraged it and their whole structure was based on 'the good Western

civilised world being brought to the Pagans.' Because, in the words of

Claudius

Bucchanan, a chaplain attached to the East India Company, 'Neither truth,

nor

honesty, honour, gratitude, nor charity, is to be found in the breast of a

Hindoo!' What a comment about a nation that gave the world the Vedas at a

time

when Europeans were still grappling in their caves!

 

And it is in this way that the British allowed entire chunks of territories

in

the East, where lived tribals, whose poverty and simplicity, made them easy

prey to be converted to Christianity. By doing so, the Christian

missionaries

cut a people from their roots and tradition, made them look westwards

towards a

culture and a way of life which was not theirs.

 

And the result is there today for everyone to see: it is in these eastern

states, some of which are 90 per cent Christian, that one finds the biggest

drug problems (and crime) in India. It should also be said that many of the

eastern separatist movements have been covertly encouraged by Christian

missionaries on the ground that 'tribals were there before the "Aryan

Hindus"

invaded India and imposed Hinduism upon on them.'

 

The trouble is that the latest archaeological and linguistic discoveries

point

out to the fact that there NEVER was an Aryan invasion of India -- it just

was

an invention of the British and the missionaries to serve their purpose.

 

Secondly, Christianity has always striven on the myth of persecution, which

in

turn bred "martyrs" and saints, indispensable to the propagation of

Christianity. But it is little known, for instance, that the first "saints"

of

Christianity, "martyred" in Rome, a highly refined civilisation, which had

evolved a remarkable system of gods and goddesses, some of whom were derived

from Hindu mythology via the Greeks, were actually killed (a normal practice

in

those days), while bullying peaceful Romans to embrace the "true" religion,

in

the same way that later Christian missionaries will browbeat "heathen"

Hindus,

adoring many gods, into believing that Jesus was the only "true" god.

 

Now to come to the recent cases of persecution of Christians in India at the

hands of Hindu groups. I have personally investigated quite a few, amongst

them

the rape of the four nuns in Jhabua, MP, nearly two years ago. This rape is

still quoted as an example of the 'atrocities' committed by Hindus on

Christians.

 

Yet, when I interviewed the four innocent nuns, they themselves admitted,

along

with George Anatil, the bishop of Indore, that it had nothing to do with

religion: it was the doing of a gang of Bhil tribals, known to perpetrate

this

kind of hateful acts on their own women. Today, the Indian press, the

Christian

hierarchy and the politicians, continue to include the Jhabua rape in the

list

of atrocities against the Christians.

 

Or take the burning of churches in Andhra Pradesh a few months ago, which

was

supposed to have been committed by the "fanatic" RSS. It was proved later

that

it was actually the handiwork of Indian Muslims, at the behest of the ISI to

foment hatred between Christians and Hindus. Yet the Indian press which went

berserk at the time of the burnings, mostly kept quiet when the true nature

of

the perpetrators was revealed.

 

Finally, even if Dara Singh does belong to the Bajrang Dal, it is doubtful

if

the hundred other accused do. What is more probable, is that like in many

other

'backward' places, it is a case of converted tribals versus non-converted

tribals, of pent-up jealousies, of old village feuds and land disputes. It

is

also an outcome of what -- it should be said -- are the aggressive methods

of

the Pentecost and Seventh Adventists missionaries, known for their muscular

ways of conversion.

 

Thirdly, conversions in India by Christian missionaries of low caste Hindus

and

tribals are sometimes nothing short of fraudulent and shameful. American

missionaries are investing huge amounts of money in India, which come from

donation drives in the United States where gullible Americans think the

dollars

they are giving go towards uplifting "poor and uneducated Indians."

 

It is common in Kerala, for instance, particularly in the poor coastal

districts, to have "miracle boxes" put in local churches: the gullible

villager

writes out a paper mentioning his wish: a fishing boat, a loan for a pucca

house, fees for the son's schoolingS And lo, a few weeks later, the miracle

happens! And of course the whole family converts, making others in the

village

follow suit.

 

American missionaries (and their government) would like us to believe that

democracy includes the freedom to convert by any means. But France for

example,

a traditionally Christian country, has a minister who is in charge of

hunting

down "sects." And by sects, it is meant anything that does not fall within

the

recognised family of Christianity -- even the Church of Scientology,

favoured

by some Hollywood stars such as Tom Cruise or John Travolta, is ruthlessly

hounded. And look at what the Americans did to the Osho movement in Arizona,

or

how innocent children and women were burnt down by the FBI (with the

assistance

of the US army) at Waco, Texas, because they belonged to a dangerous sectS

 

Did you know that Christianity is dying in the West? Not only is church

attendance falling dramatically because spirituality has deserted it, but

less

and less youth find the vocation to become priests or nuns. And as a result,

say in the rural parts of France, you will find only one priest for six or

seven villages, whereas till the late seventies, the smallest hamlet had its

own parish priest.

 

And where is Christianity finding new priests today? In the Third World, of

course! And India, because of the innate impulsion of its people towards

god,

is a very fertile recruiting ground for the Church, particularly in Kerala

and

Tamil Nadu. Hence the huge attention that India is getting from the United

States, Australia, or England and the massive conversion drive going on

today.

 

It is sad that Indians, once converted, specially the priests and nuns, tend

to

turn against their own country and help in the conversion drive. There are

very

few "White" missionaries left in India and most of the conversions are done

today by Indian priests.

 

Last month, during the bishops's conference in Bangalore, it was restated by

bishops and priests from all over India that conversion is the FIRST

priority

of the Church here. But are the priests and bishops aware that they would

never

find in any Western country the same freedom to convert that they take for

granted in India? Do they know that in China they would be expelled, if not

put

into jail? Do they realise that they have been honoured guests in this

country

for nearly two thousand years and that they are betraying those that gave

them

peace and freedom?

 

Hinduism, the religion of tolerance, the coming spirituality of this new

millennium, has survived the unspeakable barbarism of wave after wave of

Muslim

invasions, the insidious onslaught of Western colonialism which has killed

the

spirit of so may Third World countries and the soul-stifling assault of

Nehruvianism. But will it survive the present Christian offensive?

 

Many Hindu religious leaders feel Christianity is a real threat today, as in

numerous ways it is similar to Hinduism, from which Christ borrowed so many

concepts (see Sri Siri Ravi Shankar's book: Hinduism and Christianity).

 

It is thus necessary that Indians themselves become more aware of the danger

their culture and unique civilisation is facing at the hands of missionaries

sponsored by foreign money. It is also necessary that they stop listening to

the Marxist-influenced English newspapers's defence of the right of

Christian

missionaries to convert innocent Hindus.

 

Conversion belongs to the times of colonialism. We have entered in the era

of

Unity, of coming together, of tolerance and accepting each other as we are

--

not of converting in the name of one elusive "true" god.

 

When Christianity accepts the right of other people to follow their own

beliefs

and creeds, then only will Jesus Christ's spirit truly radiate in the world.

 

The author, who writes 'The Ferengi's Column' in The Indian Express, is the

correspondent in South Asia for Le Figaro, France's largest circulating

daily.

He has just published Arise O India (Har-Anand).

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