Orissa clashes, Missionaries & Christian fundamentalism

Posted Thu, 05/01/2008 - 21:40 by nkgrock

The
recent Hindu-Christian clashes in Orissa during Christmas where many
churches were burnt again shed light on the complexity of religious
conditions in India. As usual Hindus and Hindu Organizations are being
blamed. But, before getting into these blame games, it’s important to
state the facts.

Orissa has been a favorite destination of Christian Missionaries for
proselytization. The illegal conversions are being carried out by
missionaries in tribal areas. In Kandhamal District alone the Christian
population has increased from 6% in 1970 to 27% in 2001, despite an Act
enacted by Orissa Legislature in 1967 to prevent conversion by
allurement, coercion, bribery and cheating1. On the eve of Christmas,
the community had organized for a massive conversion camp in a
predominantly Hindu tribal area.2 When the Hindu tribals under the
leadership of Swmi Lakshmanananda protested against this, he was
attacked. Everything started from this unprovoked attack by Christian
goons on Swami Laxmanananda Saraswati who was visiting his disciples in
Darsingbadi village in Kandhmal District on 24 th December.

The issue again highlights the ugly face of religious fundamentalism,
in this case Christian fundamentalism. It raises the questions about
the motive and inspiration behind the "proselytization’.

The missionary works are not new. According to the documents of the
Lausanne Committee for World Evangelization, the Biblical authority for
missions begins quite early in Genesis 12:1-3, in which Abraham is
blessed so that through him and his descendants, all the peoples of the
world would be blessed. Others point to Gods wish, often expressed in
the Bible, that all peoples of the earth would worship Him. Therefore,
Christian missions go where worship is not, in order to bring worship
to God.3 In the 16th century the proselyization of Asia was linked to
the Portuguese colonial policy. As soon as Christianity came into
power, heathen temples were defaced and closed and their revenues
transferred to the Church. We command that all their (heathens) fanes,
temples, shrines, if even now any remain entire shall be destroyed by
the command of the magistrates was the order of the day. (Theodosius
Code, 380 A.D.). In Great Britain and Germany, priests and monks moved
about destroying the groves and shrines of the people. The last regions
to lose their religions in Europe were Prussia and the Baltic states.

Varying attempts to stamp out infidels and heretics often proved to be
inadequate, so the Holy Inquisition was formed by Pope Gregory IX in
1231 to make the efforts more organized and efficient. Burning was
quickly decided upon as the official punishment. In 1245, the Pope gave
Inquisitors the right to absolve their assistants of any acts of
violence which they might commit in the fulfillment of their duties.
Torture of suspects was authorized by Pope Innocent IV in 1252. The
Inquisition was not limited to Europe, as Spaniards brought it to the
Americas and used it to punish the native inhabitants. Through the
1500s, 879 heresy trials were recorded in Mexico alone.4 The historian
Hernando del Pulgar estimated that the Spanish Inquisition had burned
at the stake 2,000 people and reconciled another 15,000 by 1490 just
one decade after the Inquisition began.( Cited in Kamen op. cit., p.
62.). Juan de Zumarrage, first Bishop of Mexico, writing in 1531,
claimed that he personally destroyed over 500 temples and 20,000 idols
of the heathens.5 The Goa inquisition which lasted from 1560 to 1812 is
considered as the most violent inquisition ever executed by the
Portuguese Catholic Church. Inquisition proceedings were always
conducted behind closed shutters and closed doors. Hindus were brutally
interrogated, flogged, and slowly dismembered in front of their
relatives. Eyelids were sliced off and extremities were amputated
carefully6. Viceroy D Constantine de Braganca issued an order on April
2, 1560, instructing that Brahmins should be thrown out of Goa and
other areas under Portuguese control.7 At the end of 1567, 300 Hindu
temples were destroyed.8

These incidences are not just something to be read in pages of history,
but it is very much happening even today. Swami Laxmanananda Saraswati
says “There
was no problem when Christians were not here in Paikia. With their
numbers increasing, they forcefully took away Hindu girls and forced
the neo-converts to eat beef. They set several temples on fire. Be it
Birupakhya Mahadev´s temple or temple at Malarimaha or my Ashram at
Rupagoan, the Christians conspired to set them on fire. They threw
mortal remains of cows on mandirs. Kondh tribal´s Goddess Dharani
Mata´s places of worship in several villages were dishonored. The
sacred sword at a temple at Bramhanigaon was forcibly taken away by the
converts who melted the sword in public and prepared their weapons with
that looted material” 9

In the Lausanne report "Christian Witness to Hindus’, they
state in details the methods to be adopted to convert different
sections of Hindus. They discuss about Rural Evangelism, Urban
Evangelism and Student Evangelism. They explain how "Miraculous
Healing’ helps to convert people. They give strategies to be employed
to use mass media, social gatherings, and seminars to their
advantage.10

The Niyogi Report provided details of how much had been contributed by
which Western country to the total of Rs. 29.27 crores received by
Christian missions in India from January 1950 to June 1954. It notes
that USA, UK, Canada and France contributed around 21 crores, 5 crores,
2 crores and 8 lakhs respectively. The Report revealed that the bulk of
this foreign money received ostensibly for maintaining educational and
medical institutions was spent on proselytization. It has been
contended, said the Report, that most of the amount is utilized for
creating a class of professional proselytizers, both foreign as well as
Indian. There were 480 foreign missionaries working in Madhya Pradesh
at that time. Out of them as many as 236 were Americans. The Report
gave concrete instances of how mission schools were used to influence
the minds of young people. Harijan and Adivasi students came in for
special attention. They were given free boarding, lodging and books
provided they attended Christian prayers. Bible classes were made
compulsory by treating as absent for the whole day those students who
failed to be present in those classes. School celebrations were used
for showing the victory of the cross over all other symbols. Hospitals
were used for putting pressure on poor class patients to embrace
Christianity. The richest harvest, however, was reaped in mission
orphanages which collected orphans during famines and other natural
calamities such as floods and earthquakes. "No wonder,’ observed the
Report, "that
the largest number of converts is from such backward classes living in
areas where due to various causes only Mission schools and hospitals
exist. Most conversions have been doubtless insincere admittedly
brought about in expectation of social service benefits and other
material considerations’.11

Christianity has been following a policy of "Inculturation’. This means
that it adopted Pagan elements in Christianized form in order to ease
the transition from Paganism to Christianity. Pagan gods became
Christian saints. Pagan Festivals became Christian festivals. In this
process of inculturation, the Christian Church adapted old forms to its
new message, but made sure that through the Pagan veneer the Christian
doctrine was impressed upon the converts12. Indigenization, says Kaj
Baago, is evangelization. It is the planting of the gospel inside
another culture, another philosophy, another religion.13” In Indian
case, "Inculturation’ or "Indigenization’ means
"the incorporation of Jesus in Indian spiritual tradition’. Fr. Bede
says In India we need a Christian Vedanta and a Christian Yoga that is
a system of theology which makes use not only of the terms and concepts
but of the whole structure of thought of the Vedanta”14

Sita Ram Goel divides Hindu-Christian encounter into 5 phases. The
first phase began with arrival of Portuguese and Saint Francis Xavier,
where they used all crude and violent methods of proselytization. This
ended with end of Portuguese rule. The second phase began establishment
of British rule, where the language and methods of missionaries was as
crude as before but they were not allowed to use physical methods. This
ended with rise of Hindu reformation movements of Raja Ram Mohan Roy,
Swami Dayananda Saraswathi, and Swami Vivekananda. The third phase
starts with the advent of Mahatma Gandhi and his slogan of sarva-dharma-samabhAva
which forced Christian missions to change and soften their language.
This phase ended with the Tambram Conference of the International
Missionary Council (IMC) in 1938, which decided to reformulate
Christian theology in the Indian context. The fourth phase which
commenced with the coming of independence where the Christian right to
convert Hindus was incorporated in the Constitution. The missionary
apparatus multiplied fast and became pervasive. Christianity had never
had it so good in the whole of its history in India. The only rift in
the lute was the "Niyogi Committee Report on Christian Missionary Activities’ published by the Government of Madhya Pradesh in 1956, and Om Prakash Tyagi’s Bill on "Freedom of Religion’
introduced in the Lok Sabha in December 1978. The fifth phase which is
currently running started with Hindu awakening that resulted in Ram
Janmabhumi movement.15

Over these long period of Hindu-Christian encounter, only the language and methods of "followers of Jesus’ has changed, but the motive has always remained same. Lausanne report in its introduction says- "We
give thanks to God Almighty for his gracious act of salvation in Jesus
Christ, which has made possible the entrance into the Kingdom of God
for over 565 million Hindu people dispersed throughout the world, with
the majority in the Indian sub-continent.
We rejoice in the fact that the saving Word of God preached faithfully
by Gods servants has brought about a Christian population of about 19
million people in India alone. However, we are conscious that God longs
for the whole Hindu people to know Jesus Christ and live under his
Lordship16’
These words clearly speak out that the sole goal of the missions have
been Christianization of whole world including India and in this
process destroy the cultures of the world.

This desire to Christianize the whole world is due to the fact that the
doctrines of Christianity are intolerant of others faiths. The biblical
God is Jealous and Violent. It is assumed that Jesus means "Peace’ and
the message of Christianity is peace and equality. But Bible says-
"Think not that I am come to send peace on earth; I came not to send peace, but a sword.”(Matthew, 10/34)

"God is jealous, and the Lord revengeth; the Lord revengeth, and is
furious; the Lord will take vengeance on his adversaries, and he
reserveth wrath for his enemies’. (Nahum, 1/2)

The Biblical God is intolerant, ask its followers to torture Non-Believers, to break the idols and images.

And to them it was given that they should not kill them, but that
they should be tormented five months; and their torment was as the
torment of a scorpion, when he striketh a man.
(Revelation, 9/5)

But thus shall ye deal with them; ye shall destroy their altars, and
break down their images, and cut down their groves, and burn their
graven images with fire. (Deuteronomy, 7/5)
If a man abides not in me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is
withered; and men gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they
are burned.(John, 15/6)

It is this intolerance, which inspired the "Followers of Jesus’ to
commit great crimes. The source of proselytization by force and fraud
lies in Christian doctrines which have heavily been criticized by
Nietzsche, Thomas Paine, Voltaire, and Bertrand Russell. But, still it
is common in secular brigade to say “All Religions are Equal”. How can
we equate a religion which is so intolerant, whose God is jealous and
tyrant and exclusive with a religion like Hinduism which is tolerant,
inclusive and spreads peace? The best solution to counter the Christian
threat is to counter the Christian Dogma which is the source of
proselytization.

“Auspiciousness be unto all; peace be unto all;
Fullness be unto all; prosperity be unto all.
May all be happy! May all be free from disabilities!
May all look to the good of others!
May none suffer from sorrow” (Shanti Mantra)

Nithin Sridhar

References & Notes:

1 http://www.hinduismtoday.com/hpi/2008/1/3.shtml#2
http://www.sanghparivar.org/facts-on-clashes-among-christian-missionarie...

2 http://www.haindavakeralam.com/HkPage.aspx?PAGEID=5243&SKIN=C
http://www.organiser.org/dynamic/modules.php?name=Content&pa=showpage&pi...

3 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mission_(Christian)

4 http://atheism.about.com/library/FAQs/christian/blfaq_viol_inquisition.htm

5 http://www.voiceofdharma.org/books/ca/app5.htm

6 http://www.christianaggression.org/item_display.php?type=ARTICLES&id=111...

7 http://www.rediff.com/news/1999/mar/16gupta.htm

8 http://www.christianaggression.org/item_display.php?type=ARTICLES&id=111...

9 http://www.blogs.ivarta.com/india-usa-blog-column59.htm

10 http://www.lausanne.org/pattaya-1980/lop-14.html