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.
