Apples and Oranges.

Submitted by Ian (United States), Dec 30, 2008 at 17:24

It is easy to be carried away by half truths and bold faced lies as to the situation in a part of India. The propaganda that Hindus have simply attacked and burnt Christians for no reasonable reason and Government authorities are complicit is total propaganda being fed to the West by Evangelical Missionaries.

Any analysis or reasonable look at the Hindu population in India will inform us that Hindu's have for centuries welcomed and lived with many religions and philosophies that have come as both friends and as conquerors. Christianity is no different. During 250 years of British rule, the Hindu's lived with Christians and there was never much strife or discord amongst them even after the British left till recently. Then it is reasonable to ask what has precipitated the recent levels of animosity between the two in one corner of India ??

The answer quite simply is perverse proselytization. Evangelical missionaries funded by Western Charities have gone on a rampage in this country dividing communities and changing the demographics of many parts of India through their "crusades" . While Jesus professed to spread the word of "god", I doubt he added any corollaries to use economic incentives to coerce the poor and desperate into his flock like these "missionaries" have! By building, Christian ONLY schools, hospitals and other facilities in some of the most remote tribal belts of India, they have literally "bought" faith! As if this was not bad enough these "missionaries" did not teach true Christian values of "love thy neighbor" but rather "Be thy neighbor pagan?" and at one fell swoop resurrected 18th Christian prejudices once again in their "needy" flock. For what greater control can they have over their converts than not only the power as preachers but also having control over the economic prospects of their converts?

Such tactics only divided close knit remote communities and bred resentment and anger against these "merchants of Christianity" from the local tribals who followed animistic and their folk religions ?? Couple the economic disgruntlement and their resentment towards these new missionaries and you have a perfect situation for an outburst.

Had these tactics been implemented in poor migrant communities in the West by Christians, it would have brought universal condemnation. Fortunately,in the remote parts of India, far from the eyes of the media and the scrutiny of India's more discerning citizenry these practices have no checks on them. While these "missionaries" thought they were champions in the cause of advancing the word of God by their enterprise, unfortunately for them they failed to learn a lesson that early missionaries learnt as well, that such dubious tactics can lead to violent reprisals as it is both disservice to God and to those they seek to convert to peddle faith.

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