This post is not meant to create a war against religions, but yes, it is meant to stir some thoughts and calls for an action. Read on…
Although we have a huge Hindu tradition in India, we also have other religions thriving in our country since centuries. Here is my case study on the rapidly emerging Christian culture in rural areas of Northern India. The religion is fast growing, without drawing much attention from the educated masses, but targetting the poorer sections. This might be true for several other places in India. However, this post is purely my experience.
My observations started when I visited an old church in Moradabad, a small town near Delhi. I saw the kind of people who visited the church and confirmed from others that most of the people were converted Christians, from just one or two generations. Some were very recent converts. As I noticed more and more people coming in, my question was - Who are these people? Where do they come from? Why did they convert to Christianity? You may wonder why I had to visit the church...I have my own reasons for it.
After having seen around 40 - 50 families in the church, I saw that, these people were Indians on the first place. They belong to the not so called upper class in India or the middle class. They were the poorer lot who were mostly dwelling on 3 professions – preaching in church, teaching in schools and nursing in hospitals. They were not well educated. They seemed far behind in thinking and living styles. I just compared the contrasting lives of a person living in Delhi, and a person living in this place. The difference was so drastic. Why was that so?
The place – Moradabad, has 2 emerging societies of people, one society which has brass exporters and industrialists living in huge bungalows and the other society - mostly Muslims and Christians living in very poor conditions, in small houses of dingy areas. These places had meat shops, bazaars, cyclists, rickshaws, garages, markets, buzzling with noise. Interestingly, the place has a couple of English schools and colleges, left by the Britishers. These were the typcial British schools, red color tall buildings. There were some houses with typical British architecture; resembling the houses probably in any street in London; some were even built within the school/college campuses. What I noticed was, most of the Christians, the converted Christians who belonged to this village, were living in these houses only. Some buildings were British hostels that are now converted into homes of several families, acquired illegally, again leaving you with a lot of questions in mind. They had names like Mr.Smith, Mr.Massiah, Mrs.Massey, which sounded O- so - British, but you see them and you realize, they are very much Indian. These people had some reason for conversion and what was that? While this seems to be a very controversial question, no Christian in this colony would agree if I pointed at them and told them that it was for certain facilities like money, education, shelter, etc. that they converted to this religion. All they say is - they are true believers of the one and only God, their God who rules everything and everyone. Why are these people saying this?
I planned to visit the church in the village again. I sat through the cermon. What did the Pastor speak? All he said was, all other religions and Gods are meaningless, the only true God is ... and he was addressing the masses, which were mostly non-educated, but were all Christians ofcourse. The Pastor said it was his duty and the duty of the Christians to convert people in India to Christianity, so that Christianity becomes the most popular religion in India as well. I was listening, with patience. After a heavy heart and a lot of thinking, I wanted to talk to someone to get the real picture. So I went up to a couple and asked them why they converted to this religion?
The husband said, he belonged to a poor Hindu family and him and his wife always had trouble when it came to religious Hindu rituals. Last year during Navrathri, the husband had to leave early to work and his wife insisted that he did his religious practices and then left home. The couple ended up having a big fight. He was very upset and so there after, he decided not to believe in "Devis and Devtas" (that's exactly what he said!) and he consulted a Christian missionary and after that, him and his wife and son have all converted to Christianity!
I was curious to see what that Pastor was upto. So I visited the Pastor's house - the same pastor who was preaching about Christianity in the Church. He was obviously living in one of the old British homes; his house was lavish, he had the latest computer, printer, mobile phone and great interiors! Probably the only house which I thought was lavish in comparison with the other Christian homes. Where did all the money come from? Definitely not from the villagers who visited the church, and definitely not from the amount they collect from people during every cermon. Where else was the source of income? I tried asking some church members – secretly, about the funds they receive and the salaries; Trust me, it's very meagre. Then how is it that the Pastor had so much financial funding?
All I asked myself was - Who is spreading the wrong word of God and selling religion in the name of God? For how long will we continue to succumb to the British left overs? It is a shame that even after 50 years of Independence, India has not succeeded in providing education to people. While a certain part of the society is continuing to grow rapidly, a certain other part is still left out and ignored completely. People are taking advantage of this situation yet. Most villages in North India (U.P, Rajasthan, Punjab) are hounded by Christian missionaries, who take up individual villages as personal projects. They target the poor and the downtrodden to convert them to a different religion, give them an English name and promise education for children in their schools. What these people also do is that, they open schools and educational institutions that have special quota for Christians only. I know of JMC College in Delhi, which has a special preference for Christians only. So much so that even if the admission seeking student has 40% marks and is a Christian, the student wins a seat hands down. This is similar to the SC/ST quota that we have today.
Where is all the money coming from and who is responsible for this situation? My due respects to Christianity and Christians and the good Christian Educational Institutions in India, but I feel helpless when I see the ignorant masses being lured with something wrong. I want to do something about this. I am still searching for an answer, for an action.
Thanks RK for helping me with this write-up.
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There was this case in rural Orissa a couple of years ago where an entire clan tribe was being converted into Christianity with the promise of fullfilment of their basic life needs and the poor group succumbed to it easily. The pastor was even found to be exploiting the rural women and later got beaten up black and blue by the VHP.
I remember reading this somewhere, like u have the Let and other Islam extremist organisations promoting Islam as the super power and showcasing their so called "strength" thru voilent methods, this is another method a little "silent" and "peaceful" and quitely done under ur nose, targeting weak minded people, using religion as a base for their problems and getting them converted. The fundings are come frm the western countries. All the people involved have their vested interests and rural india of course can be an easy target.
But look at another story here:
http://www.christianpost.com/article/20080123/30948_Orissa_Christians_Told_to_'Convert_or_Die'.htm
When Jayalalitha was the CM, she banned forceful conversations in Tamil Nadu, but are u UP govt and official aware of this??? U never knw if they have their vested interests too.
Good observation Ramya..r u a journalist?
praveen,
There are lots of things revolving in my mind, around this issue. As in, who is responsible, I have two answers to this: 1. Outsiders/NRIs/Foreigners 2. We Indians.
The reason why I say point 2 is that, till today, till now we come across horrifying incidents that take place in villages wherein Dalits are beaten up for drinking water from a community well, or a dalit woman having an affair getting beaten up or some really torturous similar incidents. So, until we have evil minded people who encourage such mishaps especially in rural areas, we cannot blame outsiders. Corruption exists to a great extent among us. This is what I feel.
I am not a journalist, but you never know, I might end up being one. :)
My point through this post is that I need people who can realize and spread the word of caution.
Thanks for sharing your viewpoint.
True..agree with u on that... good luck on ur journalism...may I add u on the gtalk? I promise I wont argue about Bangalore traffic :)
Ramya,
A great first hand report. It was my pleasure to have been of any help to you. Thanks for the mention.
To begin with, I have nothing against Christianity or the people following it. But to see a bunch of people undermining the teachings and beliefs of a culture of more than 5000 years old makes my heart cry out in pain. When a Christian so called "saint" Benny Hinn came to India, there were posters all over the city of Bangalore which lashed out saying that idol worship is foolishness and wrong. The Christian churches here convert the people by telling the same thing. Sadly, they don't understand that it is a part of Hindu culture. And unfortunately, they don't respect our ways of worship. Why is the Vatican keeping quiet about this? Shouldn't they tell these churches to respect other cultures? Quiet frankly if the churches continue with this practice, universal brotherhood would be a distant dream.
Jesus is an inspiration to every human being. What he said is eternal truth and must be followed by one and all. In all the cases of conversion you see that Christianity isn't bad, but the people who provoke conversion through money and other stupid means are bad.
One thing is that India and Hinduism has survived thousands and thousands of years of onslaught from outside missionaries and invaders. But Hinduism has survived and will survive because it is the culture and religion of people to people. It does not force anyone to believe in Rama or Krishna. It doesn’t give false promise that if you worship Hindu gods, you will go to heaven. It believes in 'Live and let live' policy. It is the religion of the people to the people. We do not bribe the poor in the name of religion. Poverty is everywhere, even in the rich nations and even in the Christian nations. A person being poor or rich is his Karma.
I recall the story which was widely popular during my grandpa's childhood days (even RK Narayan mentions about this in the first chapter of his Autobiography "My Days") making fun of the Christian preachers going to the villages to spread their religion with the object of converting those simple folks to Christianity. The story the missionaries told goes something like this:
It appears a rat was being chased by a cat. What did it do? It went to Krishna for protection but he did not do anything and in desperation it approached Rama and even he could not help. Then it went to seek the intervention of Jesus Christ. The preacher explains how Jesus saves the rat. Before he delivers the final punch he says in grandeloquent way to impress the simple villagers posing questions; "Nimma Krishnanu bandane? Baralilla. Nimma Ramanu bandane? Baralilla. Aaga namma Yesuvu enu madida gotthe? Bekkanu konda......" These Christians are going about it for ages and only their method varies.
I have come across instances wherein illiterate sick people who are really poor and cannot afford money for medical treatment are approached by missionaries, promised and given treatment on a condition that they further pray only in churches and that all Hindu relevances are not to be referred at further on, by them.
This makes me feel sick of these missionaries and their sinister goals - particularly the way they entice poor and illiterate people in our country.
I simply cannot understand the reason behind converting so many people to Christianity. It is a different issue altogether if a person wants to change his religion on his own - but enticement in my view is the biggest fraud and that is what the missionaries in India are up to.
You may feel that I am a fanatic Hindu - but no, I am not. I only feel sick of people (anyone for that matter OR any community including Hindus) who want to seek their own gains in the name of God.
In fact, today religion has become a commercial venture. AOL - Art Of Living is another glaring example - where you entice everyone to join that cult. Taken that the Sudarshan Kriya is a good exercise for the body and mind - but the way it is commercialised to provide propaganda on the AOL foundation gives me huge doubts. Let me not drag on. Coz I feel I'm deviating from the topic.
came across this post in churumuri after posting the above comment. what a coincidence!
The The great great Sri Sri NGO NGO scam scam
RK: superb post...I was thinking about Benny Hinn when I started my first response to Ramya's post, but forgot along the way. I didnt understand the rationale behind so many VIPs attending Benny Hinn's sermon at palace grounds....what was the then CM Dharam Singh doing there...may b he wanted to impress the christian vote bank, which he cud'nt of course.
Rk,
Thanks again for your comments. I agree with most of the points you mention in your comment.
I went through the link that you sent. Again I have my questions.
1. AOL - I have attended AOL sessions. I agreet to a great extent that they are making/generating a lot of attention and money, especially from the rich. However, AOL does not force people to convert, AOL DOES talk about religion, Hinduism, and why not. There might be a lot of corruption involved in making money in the name of religion, but my point is they don't look down upon other religions nor do they target the poor to ensure that their deeds/misdeeds (however you want to take it) reach out to people.
2. I have also gone to the Benny Hinn session out of curiosity. It was ridiculous. I am not being a fanatic here, coz I would not have attended the session on the first place if I was to be one.
BUT the entire concept was RIDICULOUS.
The arrangements made were excellent, the security that was provided was excellent and the kind of support that he got from our government was mindblowing! To top it all, it was free entrance for everyone. What more does the public need?
I am not saying that we need to get violent and outburst creating trouble for everyone. But why didn't we raise questions? Why did we have to accept such events? Now that I call MISLEADING people, in the name of God. I am definitely not favoring other religions like Islam that also force for conversion, but I am raising a voice against the slow poison that is entering our systems with great impact.
We need to build a better foundation of thoughts, fight against the wrong.
Praveen, Thank you.
When Benny Hinn came to Bangalore, many burdens were lifted - and by burdens, I mean wallets.
May be the VIPs and the then Kar. CM went to see Benny Hinn's hairdo - can we call it Hinn-Do?!
Wrt his miracles, unfortunately, the only place he does not heal people is in hospitals. Benny Hinn is a businessman, pure and simple. Find a sure-fire way to make money, pretend to care about the person or persons you are taking advantage of, get their trust then take their money. Religion is a tool he uses very effectively to get what he wants.
Ramya,
Got the point. As I mentioned in the last line of the comment, felt I was deviating from what the post was saying.
Just make this small correction - AOL is actually ART OF LOOTING.
Just was discussing this topic wityh my dad over lunch and this is what he said exactly "Wrt his miracles, unfortunately, the only place he does not heal people is in hospitals" :)
BTW RK is'nt there a hesitation that exists among the people to question other faiths when they get into such "acts" coz that wud so unbecome the "secularism" in us???
i was waiting to get some interesting discussion out here before arriving into mine.
i would strongly say we opted out for this deterministic out-growth 60 years back.
before getting into C-factor.
lets take a simple case of aryans vs dravidans. We are still fighting whether rama is aryan and south indians are dravidans kind.
if you see polymorphically meaning of aryan is "noble born " people found around gangetic region. these people are bound to spread good cause around human beings. from there tamil word ayya came and to be fact Ayer - iyer came like that only.
don;t ask rahul dravid is dravidan or not.. ok its just a pj.
commming to the point later in the history great nut king manu who is similar to nova in chirstainity. its a belief that he saved the human race and wrote a vedica script called manuskriti. in that he clearly categorizes aryans kind of race orginated from head of good and dravidans came from somatch etc etc. which is another interesting story.
what i am trying to say is our indian caste system is based on the occupation what we do. if you do pooja its poojari, if you do cobbling you cobbalr is something very similar to xavier, smith kind of nomenclature in europian nations.
who created the taxonomy and for what. yes these kind of differential was done some 100years back by brithish. sold foundation was made by them.some of the plot points are
1. separated hindus through their strong belief points called god.
2. laid out structural foundation of having wings and wings of educational instituation, hospitals which can easily target human race.
3. develop fast growing churches in all villages with target assigned priest.
later comes all these funds from developed countries to spread thier caste so as to keep their clan safe. thats one of the main objective of Dan - Browns "Da Vinci code".
there is another crictially acclaimed book in tamil which says that jesus christ came to india to learn yoga and other spiritual path. but this doesn;t have any convincing evidence to prove as like D.V.Code.
so whats the solution to it ?
1. remove the concept of minority caste. give equal rights to them.
2. J.Jeyalaitha triggered a very good code-conduct that there should not be any forced religion conversion.
3. we need to have strong root values and belief in what we are following. this will inspire as and make us strong.
by and large caste, race is always a problem in all countries and its bound to happen. :)
its gonna be there but level of differentialites may change day-by-day
rk,
Art of Looting...:) LOL!!! hilarious!!! Very true, Benny Hinn unfortunately does not heel in hospitals...:) I will stop discussing about him here.
praveen and rk, thanks for your response.
adiya,
so now rahul dravid is dravidian or not? :)))
anyways, jokes apart, well commented. I agree with you. Yes, Da Vinci code was very much about this. Like you say, the British who ruled us years ago have left a very bad impact on our nation in several ways. I like your solutions. This is what I actually said, that the problem also partially lies within us, we need to remove the discrimination, like I gave the example of dalits. One main reason is also poverty and education. I feel, we should remove casteism and provide free education till class 10 for everyone, our government should fund such schemes.
Thanks, for your elaborate response.
That was very interesting Aditya :)
:).. hey thanks praveen.
chrio on a biographical note dravid is out and out bengalooru guy and an early passed out st.joseph though his fatther is from maharasthar.
but i red somewhere that his forefathers are from tamilnadu tanjvur.
Ref: Bengalooru gangarams - glassy biography of rahul dravid book. information furnished in first 10 pages. check maadi. :)
hehe and to add to that Aditya, I was his junior frm the same college, he stays just 3 mins away frm my place in Bengaluru and have visited him regarding the college alumni meeting a couple of yrs ago :) now both of us are digressing.
:) Thanks for the self realization.
Ramya
I am her thro RK.s blog your post is a eye opener to all the people. our patience which is the essence of hindu religion and our caste system is being exploited by otheres so called minorities. no religion in my opinion encourages conversions etc., by any means leave alone by offering lucrative things. It is irony and I am opinion it can happen only in India. If some people take this up they are branded as fundamentalist or they exploit religious sentiments. But same people will apeach the same minorities for their petty politics and vote banks.
It is high time there should be strong objections to the highest religious heads of the world from all particularly from govt. about these forcible convertions people fail to understand that they are not treated as equals they are 2nd grade and all break ups like caste here is followed. it is just mockery of the ignorance and exploiting the sentiments by using the caste based hindu religion. this divide though in less scale is there is their religions also who indulge in such acts. for these people money is not a constraint and they throw up money and attrct people like street dogs going for biscuits thrown.
It is high time this acts are stopped and people movement aganist this is strengthened and we all must live peacefully follwing our faith be u are in any part of the country. India can boost in respect of no. of churches and masjids are huge compared to the cuntries where this is a official religion of that country. so let good senses prevail on one and all and let all people belonging to humanity live peacefully follwing their faith and it should not be disturbed by using force and offers which is totally aganist the rules of any dharma
praneshachar
"I am still searching for an answer, for an action."
The MeesheNaris are simply exploiting an opportunity left open by the lethargic Hindus who have so far neglected their CSR (Community-centered Social Responsibility) of helping the poor and downtrodden.
Fortunately, organizations like ISKCON have started addressing this issue. Example: Akshaya Patra. Still, this is but just the beginning; there is a lot more to do. For example, The Rishi Valley School does offer very good education but I do not think it offers free education to the poorer students. It charges a hefty 5K per month as contrasted with Convents which offer concessions to poor kids at least of their own community or even potential converts.
The other day I happened to look at a brochure of ISKCON and I liked what I read there - that there are many ways to seek God, Hinduism, Christianity, Islam, etc. There was no mention at all about there being only One true God, the rest all being false Gods.
This I think is the greatest character of Hinduism - Tolerance and not forcing our beliefs upon others.
Christianity, Islam, and Judaism all were born in the same geography. However, it is curious that while Christianity preaches love and showing the other cheek, its cousin islam advocates and practises violence.
As compared to Muslims, the Christians have done and continue to do pioneering work in education and healthcare and that must certainly be appreciated, whatever be their original intentions or motives. Convent education is admired by all communities as a coveted standard. Also, they have Indianized their customs, names, etc., which is not the case with islam.
Another point which I have noticed is that the Hindu way of life is more of an individualistic quest. Compare this with the prayer sessions and proceedings in a church. It is a congregation and everybody is encouraged to involve in the group prayers. This extrovert characteristic of Christians is also a subtle attraction giving a feeling of strength in numbers. Contrast this with how a Hindu prays in a temple. I have personally felt this to be something which must be improved. For this, we need to strengthen our institutions, of building stronger close-knit societies.
aram,
I absolutely agree with what you said, especially about the way we pray. For us, praying is a very personal issue and we do it quietly. But for Christians it is a group prayer, forcing you to listen and join. It is a very disturbing feeling. Thanks for your thoughtful insight.
The thing is these Christian converters somehow believe that non-believers will go to hell, and every time they convert someone they get some kind of referral bonus, so they have pretty strong motivation I guess :)
This is a pretty good post... On Christmas day Mr. Jesus was begging me to crucify him! which I think makes a lot of sense, I wish all these converters would read it :)
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