a christian prof talks about the depradations of christianity in india

My religion takes you to heaven,
yours to hell. Can God be so partial?

Author: Dr C.I. Issac
Publication: Organiser
Date: January 9, 2005



An eleventh commandment is the need of the hour, so far as
Christianity as well as other Semitic religions are concerned. Their
God had failed to make such a command in the past. It has prompted the
Gods to safeguard their endurance because in an era of a competition
of Gods for survival, the existence of a particular God was being
challenged by other Gods. So the Gods of the Semitics were forced to
limit their commandments to ten. That is why He hath issued some harsh
ordinances like, "Condemn to death anyone who offers sacrifices to any
God except to me, the Lord" [See Exodus Ch. 22, Aphorism 20]. But in
India, it has been much different to the Semitic situation. Here, for
thousands of years, one type of worship or way of realisation of God
never infringed upon other Gods. It was because of this reason that
the Indian mindset was moulded/shaped by the rishis [great teachers]
who presented a worldview of lokah samasta sukhino bhavantu and
proclaimed the unity and oneness of God. That is why there are four
authoritative texts of the Hindus—Vedas, adhering to the message of
monism/Advaitam/unitarianism or the strong foundation of monotheism.
Hence, each Veda proclaimed the message of monotheism of first degree
without any obscurity : Rig Veda proclaims pranjanam Brahma; Yajur
Veda highlights aham Brahmasmi; Sama Veda announces tatvamasi; and
Atharva Veda confirms ayammathma Brahma. Above all, the Rig Veda
mantra of aekam sat vipra bahuta vadanti became the basis of the Hindu
approach to other faiths. Thus, in the light of this Hindu approach,
let us examine the recent controversies on the question of
proselytism.

On November 6, 1999 Pope John Paul II in his sermon at the Sacred
Heart Cathedral of New Delhi, openly stated, "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 [Asia]".

We should take this call on its face value as the Pope is the head of
a big Christian faction. No doubt this call was an open challenge upon
the sovereignty of a democratic country and its people, while
considering the political statuesque of the Pope, i.e. the head of
another sovereign country [even though its area is below 250 acres],
the Vatican city. No doubt it was part of a conspiracy going on in
Christendom all over. On the basis of the sermon of Pope, we should
see the American President George Bush's Asian Christianisation
project worth one thousand crore dollars. The World Christian
Encyclopaedia, Vol. I, 2nd edition, 2001, p. 366 of OUP, New York
reads on India as follows : "Christians and Muslims will probably both
find room to grow in the mosaic of India's peoples so that, by 2025,
Christians account for 7.4 per cent and Muslims for 12.2 per cent,
while Hindus decline under 73 per cent [down from 80 per cent in
1900]... With sustained growth over the next few decades, Christianity
could grow to nearly 10 per cent of India's population by a.d. 2050.
Hindus will potentially decline as a percentage of India's population
as other religions continue to win adherents over the next few
decades." In the light of all these, we must try to see the question
of conversion going on amongst the Hindus of India in general and
particularly of the Hindu jatis in Kerala.

The society of Kerala is highly literate and that is why the
Christian/Islamic stratagems on proselytism are entirely different
from the rest of India and are multi-faceted. In the light of this
insight, one should see the Hindu antipathy over the minority approach
of en masse dismemberment of a community/culture. No doubt this
proselytisation process is suicidal insofar as a civilisation is
concerned. Under the guise of charitable service, a Kenyan national,
Brother Bernard, on a visiting visa and some nuns of the above
missionary organisation in an economically backward Hindu settlement,
were opposed and blockaded at the entrance of the hamlet by some youth
hailing from all non-communal political parties. This piece of news is
being vocally debated upon in the mainstream newspapers of Kerala. One
year back another US citizen, named Rev. Joseph Cooper, with a
visiting visa, publicly ridiculed and belittled Hindu Gods and
Goddesses in a Christian convention at Kilimannoor, near Trivandrum.
The public however managed to control the situation and the state
government along with the ruling and opposition front paved the escape
route for the Missionary, who violated visa norms from the eyes of law
as had happened in the case of Brother Bernard recently. Both were
engaged in conversion of Hindus, but those who are responsible to
bring them before law, closed their eyes wilfully.

Kerala, no doubt in the case of suicides number one in the world. In
this suicidal cape, more than three dozen farmers opted for the path
of suicide on account of their mounting insolvency. A good number of
them were Christians and belonged to the cash crop rich area of
Wyanadu, a place near the nuns of Missionaries of Charity who are
labouring in the Hindu hamlet near Calicut. They could find no time to
console the families of the ill-fated Christians or extend any relief
to the kith and kin of the unfortunate victims. Possibly the 'messiahs
of service and charity' bypassed the sorrows of the poor, traditional,
Christians because they have already been granted rooms in heaven. No,
diluting the grief of the traditional Christians is never a profitable
business as far as the agents of conversion/ proselytism are
concerned. So they are now at the doors of the needy Hindus with their
'charity'.

Sister Nirmala, the Mother Superior of the Missionaries of Charity,
who pretends to respect secularist values, clearly explained their
approach towards other religions in the following words :
"Christianity is the only religion which is totally true; the other
religions are true only partially." The CMI, the monastic order of the
Catholic church, in their document relating to their education policy
published in 1991 for private circulation, states that the ultimate
aim of their education service in India is "to grant acquaintance with
the persona of Jesus Christ and His Gospel" to the Hindu boys. It is
interesting to see that Francis Xavier, who was responsible for the
establishment of the 'Holy Inquisition of Goa', in which Hindu women
were raped and immolated alive and Hindu places of worship were
desecrated, has been elevated to sainthood, and Christian educational
institutions in India are being established in his name. The same
Francis Xavier wrote to his monastic authorities at Portugal about his
'heroic deeds' in India in the following words: "I order everywhere
the temples to be pulled down and idols broken. I know not how to
describe in words the joy I feel before the spectacle of pulling down
and destroying the idols." [Kanayalal M. Talreja: Holy Vedas and Holy
Bible, p. 18].

Jawaharlal Nehru pictures the vulgar face of the 'Holy Inquisition' in
his work Glimpses of World History, p. 191 as follows: "About this
time, the Inquisition, that terrible weapon which Roman Church forged
to crush all who did not bow down to it, was established in Spain.
Jews, who had prospered under the Saracens, were now forced to change
their religion, and many were burnt to death. Women and children were
not spared." See how cruel the Christianity was as practiced by the
'angels of service'.

The first Dalit conversion in Kerala took place on September 6, 1854,
that is exactly 150 years back, and one Daivathan was converted to
Christianity and christened as Habel. Now, the Christian, source
certify that there are three million Dalits converted to Christians,
who reside in Kerala. Their social as well as economic status is very
pathetic and they are destined to the savarna Christian's ostracism.
Their journey to paradise was no doubt like the old saying that goes
'from the frying pan to the burning fire'. Now their social position
is between the devil and the deep sea. That is why the progenies of
the first converted Dalit [Daivathan/ Habel] returned to poorva
dharma, i.e. Hinduism. Let us quote an Anglo-Indian novelist of
contemporary Kerala, Nirmala Aravind: "Their church had started out by
encouraging converts from low castes, but after some time the Syrian
Christians [savarna Christians] could not stomach the former
untouchables sitting side by side with them on the same pews, and
there had been a cleavage. Now there are separate churches in some
places, though converts are still admitted." The plight of the poor
Dalits, once converted to Christianity, is horrendous. Father Chavara,
the blessed, a CMI padre, was a pioneer in the field of Dalit
conversion to Catholic faith in the 19th century. Large number of
Dalits was converted to the Catholic church through him and he
constructed a church and a school for them. In the deluge of time they
were kicked out from the church and the school, worth one hundred
million rupees, by the savarna Catholic Christians and the poor
converts now satisfy themselves with 25 cents of cemetery meant
exclusively for the converted Christians. It is relevant to quote J.C.
Kumarappa (an Indian Christian) that "before these Christian
missionaries landed in Africa, the Africans had their land with them,
but not the Bible. Now they have their Bible with them, not their
land." [The Hindu, March 13, 2001, Open Page, Kochi edition]. Prof.
Joseph Pulikunnel, a veteran Syrian Catholic social reformer,
comments, "There are about 150 Christian colleges in Kerala [now its
number is double], but you will not find any Dalit working there."
[Organiser, April 29, 2001].

Secular Hindus and the progressive media usually raise the question
that why do we fear the conversion. Particularly when even after the
conversion, the same person leads a life without any difference from
the earlier one. Now that the Hindus are more than 85 per cent, why do
we worry about the majority status of Hindus? These all are positive
questions immediately generating positive answers. But actually what
happened in the yesteryears of the republic of India? It is
interesting to see that the Muslims of India during the days of
Bengal's Partition in 1905 were Muslim nationals who fought against
the divisive attempts of the British Raj. The Muslims fought this
battle shoulder to shoulder with their Hindu brethren and uttered the
same slogan of Hindus, 'Bharata Mata ki jai' without the fear of loss
of their religion. Again they never forgot to celebrate the holy
Deepavali, Raksha Bandhan, and other national festivals and tie rakhee
on their wrist with a feeling/sense of nationalism. But what happened
in the year 1947? The number of Muslims in 1901 was 2,91,02,000, i.e.
12.209 per cent of the total population and thereafter in 1941, this
population rose by 68.24 per cent and reached 4,26,45,000, i.e. 13.380
per cent of the total population, so they demanded a separate nation
for the Muslims. There are several factors which led to the division
of India and, amongst these several factors, the population factor was
very vital. On the basis of the population factor, Muhammad Ali Jinnah
raised the same question to justify the 'two-nation' theory that he
placed it before the Father of the Nation, Mahatma Gandhi. At present,
several regions in India have begun to stomach such an abnormal level
of Muslim/Christian population growth and all these places are
becoming the epicentres for divisive as well as subversive activities.

Islam has now begun to show its true face. But the Muslims of India
are nowadays reluctant to stomach a non-Islamic faith. Let us quote M.
Riaz Hasan, a UK-based Muslim NRI, who has worked and travelled widely
in Muslim countries. In his own words: "Islam is now a religion of
paradoxes and its practice is totally inconsistent with its preaching.
The Indian Muslims, including the Kashmiri Muslims, are perhaps the
most fortunate religious minority in the world today, because they
live in a truly secular, pluralistic democracy in the world.'' [The
Hindu, Kochi, Open Page, dated November 27, 2001]. While disseminating
their intolerance, they are not properly accounting for the reality
revealed by M. Riaz Hasan. Muslims, wherever they be, are still under
the old Arab psyche. Let us quote Will Durant : "The immigration of
two hundred Meccan families created a food shortage in Medina.
Mohammed solved the problem as a starving people do by taking food
from where it could be had. In commissioning his lieutenants to raid
the caravans that passed Medina, he was adopting the morals of most
Arab tribes in his time. When the raid succeeded, four-fifths of the
spoils went to the raiders, one-fifth to the Prophet..." [The Story of
Civilisation—The Age of Faith, Simon & Schuster, New York, 1950, Book
II, Chapter VIII, p. 168.]

Just think what happens in Nagaland? The brave Nagas fought a
consistent war against the British Raj. Nobody can question the
genuineness of their national commitment and their fight for the cause
of our national freedom. But what happened in the subsequent days? The
British used their Missionaries and converted one person after another
and gradually the national spirit was extinguished amongst them all.
By 1951 the Christian share of the total population of Nagaland was
46.04 per cent. It gradually enhanced and reached 52.97 per cent in
1961 and thereupon the progenies of the same old Nagas of 1900s who
stood for the national cause turned against us and now treat the rest
of Indians as foreigners [not reproducing the obscene phrase that is
used by the Naga separatist mentality to identify we Indians]. Now the
Christian population comes to 85 per cent. The case of Mizoram is not
much different from the situation in Nagaland. The Missionaries of
'charity and service' altogether dismembered the Hindu population and
now its Christian population is 85 per cent. In 1951, Meghalaya's
Christian share was only 22.66 per cent and at present it is 55 per
cent. [Population data other than for 2001 is reproduced from Arun
Shourie's Missionaries in India.] All the Christian-dominated states
of north-east are labouring for the cause of our national
disintegration. What a paradox it is ! In short, one thing is clear,
that wherever in India minority religious groups secure a decisive
role, they turn against the national interest.

On taking into consideration all the above-mentioned facts, one thing
is clear that the minorities' chief priority is not the nation but
their religion, paradise and a worldly State exclusively their own.
They cannot digest other faiths. Their religion and God is not for
peaceful coexistence. Let me quote the Bible: "Think not that I came
to send peace on earth; I came not to send peace, but a sword. For I
am come to set a man at variance against his father; and the daughter
against her mother; and daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law."
[Mathew, Ch. X, Aphorisms 34, 35]. Christianity is looking too smart
with its concealed biting teeth, posing a potential threat, seemingly
different from that of Islam. They are not ready to reread their
theology on the basis of time and space. This means they are not ready
for any compromise on the question of conversion. This is also very
clear from the words of the Pope. Now the Christians have a 31 per
cent share in the world population, Muslims have 19.6 per cent and the
Hindus have 14 per cent. Both of them are targeting the Hindus—the
most unorganised religious/ethnic section in the world.

It is better to quote Samuel P. Huntington, who says, "Muslim
nationalism is becoming more extreme. It now takes no account of other
national sensibilities; it is the property, privilege and political
instrument of the newly predominant nation... The main result of this
new Muslim nationalism is a movement towards national
homogenisation... Increasingly, Islamic religious fundamentalism is
also gaining dominance in determining Muslim national interests... In
the emerging era, clashes of civilisations are the greatest threat to
world peace, and an international order based on civilisations is the
surest safeguard against world war." [The Clash of Civilisations and
the Remaking of World Order, 1997, p. 270.].

For an international order that guarantees peace and tranquillity to
the world, Semitic religions must add one more commandment to its
didactics, that is, an eleventh one which must ensure world peace and
teach its faithfuls to respect other Gods and religions. In an age
when Gods were in competition for survival, they limited the
commandments to ten, including "worship no God but me". [Exodus, Ch.
20, Aphorism. 3]. But now the same Semitic Gods need not worry because
they have got a sufficient number of Christians [31 per cent] and
Muslims [19.6 per cent] in the world population. The most liberal
Hindu Gods are now destined to remain satisfied with only 14 per cent
of Hindus.

(The author is Head of the PG Department of History, CMS College,
Kottayam, Kerala and can be contacted at Chavanickamannil,
Vadavathoor, P.O. Kottayam, Kerala-686 101; e-mail:
ciissac@sancharnet.in; visit: www.christiansofkerala.com)