Author: Pioneer News Service
Publication: The Pioneer
Date: July 30, 2006
Christian leaders in Kerala are foreseeing
the possibility of Muslims becoming the majority community in the State in
the near future.
Syro-Malabar Church Ernakulam-Angamaly Major
Archbishop Cardinal Varkey Vithayathil has said that in 20 years from now,
"Kerala will be becoming an Islamic State" if the present trends
continue. The Christian spiritual leader, in a recent interview to a web-based
pro-Christian magazine stated that the reason for the possibility of Hindus
and Christians communities being overtaken by the Muslims population-wise
was that the Hindus and Christians are not breeding as prolifically as the
Muslims.
Agreeing with the argument that the present
trend of birth-limitation by the Christians could lead to the disappearance
of Catholics in the State, the Cardinal says that the Muslims are here in
an advantageous position as they have "six-eight children" and also
because "they can even have more than one wife". Spread of education,
contraception, collapse of the joint family system, assimilation of western
culture are the points Cardinal Varkey sees as reasons for the fall in the
population of Catholics in the State. He implies that such factors do not
influence the Muslims among whom "girls, from an early age, are told
that you must have eight children. More than eight children, it's a special
blessing of Allah."
However, Cardinal Varkey is more worried about
the fall in the population of Catholics in the State than the possible growth
of the Muslims into the single largest community in near future. He estimates
the Catholic population in Kerala at 16 percent as against the total Catholic
population in the country of 1.8 percent. But the low rate of Christian and
Hindu childbirths could lead to a situation where the Muslims may become the
major community in the State in another 2 years. He says that Catholic doctrines
from the West have influenced the Christians of Kerala and had led to contraception
becoming common among them. He points out that people have no faith in natural
family planning. However, this is not because they want to have more children,
but on the contrary they don't trust the method. "They don't want to
risk having a child through natural family planning," he says.
The Christian leader also says that the expense
of educating children is yet another reason for limiting the number of kids
to two in Kerala. However, Cardinal Varkey indicates that the church is trying
to see whether the numbers can be improved. "We have declared that this
will be a year of the family. Now there is an all-out effort to save the family,
which is the basic unit of the church and of society.... (as to) Whether we
will have more children, I have my doubts because now often husband and wife
are working," the Major Archbishop says. Cardinal Varkey, who says that
Hindus too have not been prolific with regard to population, indicates that
in general, the Indian Hindus hate the idea of limiting population. He claims
that it was not any political reason that led to the electoral defeat of Indira
Gandhi after the Emergency but her son Sanjay Gandhi's efforts at compulsory
sterilization had led to the poll debacle. "She was very popular. But
when they (people) heard that sterilization was being encouraged (by her /
her son), they voted against her..... I don't know whether the world knows
it. Can you imagine throwing out a lady just because of sterilization?...
Toda Sonia Gandhi does not speak much about it," says the Major Archbishop.
