Author: Editorial
Publication: News Today
Date: September 17, 2008
URL: http://newstodaynet.com/newsindex.php?id=10724%20&%20section=13
Recently there has been violence in areas
of Orissa, Madhya Pradesh and Karnataka and some places of worship of Christians
have come under attack. On the face of it, they will look like concerted attacks
on the minority community by the forces of Hindutva.
But it is a facile conclusion to arrive at.
Without condoning the violence, it has to be remembered that all these areas
which are in ferment have been hunting gorunds for predatory missionaries
out to 'harvest souls' for their religion.
Particularly the tribal belt of Orissa was
highly vulnerable to forceful and deceitful conversions. Swami Lakshmanananda
Saraswathi, who had been manfully fighting the mercenary missionaries for
decades, was killed (after several botched attempts before).
Though the Christians claim that the killing was carried out by Maoists, the
fact of the matter is that the Maoists had no real enmity with the sadhu.
The Christian community tried to play victims over the retaliatory attacks
and closed down for a day Catholic educational institutions across the country.
It is an open secret that the Church and missionaries
have been indulging in proselytisation ever since they set foot on Indian
soil. The different denominations of the church have mushroomed to such a
great extent that today's thatched roof is tomorrow's sprawling worship place.
And every time the issue of conversion is
raised, the church conveniently hides behind the alibi of 'freedom to practice
religion', which is enshrined in the Constitution. The dubious distinction
here is conversions actulally hit at the freedom to practice one's religion.
Christian organisations have different methods
of operations in converting the gullible masses. Money, education, health,
threat, allurement, force and enculturation are some of the tricks of the
trade. The focus of attack is usally vulnerable individuals, indigent communities,
riven caste groups, poor & downtrodden, sick patients and unskilled labourers
depending upon the circumstances and environment.
The two main planks they operate on are education
and health care. Again, the missionaries' mendacity lie in the fact they have
managed to make a case for seeing the failure of successive governments as
the failure of the Hindu religion.
To be sure, if the masses remain downtrodden
and rooted in backwardness, But Hindu religion is not to blame for that. That
untouchability and caste discrmination is actually a failing of the State
is lost on even the most honest liberal. For, true Hinduism, as it scriptures
prove, has no place for discrimination.
In a sense, the missionaries have (mis)used
the misundertanding on Hinduism. The claim of the churches is even more dubious
in the light of casteism being rampant in Christianity itself (Dalit Christians
are given a raw deal in every church).
The vaunted cry of Christians that they don't
indulge in conversions doesn't square up with the reality obtaining in the
streets. The talk of conversions being volitional in nature is also proved
wrong by mass conversions. How can there be 'mass' change of mind?
Churches also play the dangerous game of provocation.
In Mangalore, Udipi and Chickmagalur districts of Karnataka, where violence
have been reported, the New Life Church has distributed pamphlets 'portraying'
Brahmma, Vishnu And Shiva as 'jokers' consumed by lust and anger, Oorvashi
as daughter of Vishnu and a prostitute and that Sage Vasishta was born to
that prostitute, Krishna as a shady character wallowing in darkness of hell.
This has been going on for years throughout
the country as the famed tolerance of the HIndus is taken as an advantage.
What the Christians have failed to understand is that the awareness among
the majority community has increased manifold and that they have started feeling
'enough is enough'.
The pseudo-secular politicians and the mainstream
media cannot attribute the retaliation to specific Hindu organisations anymore.
The Hindu majority itself has started rising
against the illegal, arrogant and blatant conversions and the earlier a stringent
central anti-conversion law is enacted, the better.
