Farnaz:

My concern for the plight of Christians in India has nothing to do with my personal safety or the safety of my relatives.

May I ask you:

Are you an Indian?

Have you lived in India?

What exactly are the sources of your information about the plight of Christians in India?

Soja

Soja:

I understand your position. However, the discussion at hand stems from the RCCs ongoing conversion of the Dalit to Roman Catholicism.

The plight of the Dalit, not of Indian Christians is what is at issue. The RCC can certainly assist the Dalit without further aggravating an already tense situation.

What needs more publicity and what needs it urgently is the enslaved Dalit population of India, with which this country, India's good friend is concerned not at all.

In the meantime, the RCC is to be commended for trying to help, but not for conversionism, which it need not practice whilst assisting these desperate people.

Farnaz

Dear Professor Schmalz

Thank you for bringing this important issue to the attention of the international community visiting this website, namely violence against Christians in India. Although not a Dalit, being a non resident Indian Christian myself, I'm deeply concerned and I'm grateful to Sally Quinn, Jon Meacham and David Waters for posting your essay.

Growing violence against Christians in India is no small matter. India is the largest democracy in the world, a rising power, a member of the international community, home to many religions...

The history of Christianity in India which goes back to 52 AD in the state of Kerala remains unknown to most of the world. Hinduism itself is a confederation of religions which has evolved continuously over time. Hinduism in its purest form leaves no room for violence and intolerance in the name of religion, even if the caste system first forumated in Manu Smrithi, the Hindu version of Sharia Law, is a permanent blight on the social order of Indian society.

Since the violence directed at converts to Christianity is politically motivated and politically supported by a group of fundamentalist, militant Hindus, it is not likely to go away anytime soon. Therefore the issue needs to be kept in focus and revisited from time to time, with a view to seek peaceful solutions to the problem.

Maoists claimed responsibility for the killing of the Hindu leader in Orissa. So it is a bit of a mystery why Christians were targeted for revenge attacks. One can only assume that their low status in society and inability to defend themselves must have contributed to the scapegoating.

It is heartening to know that US and France did go out of their way to raise the issue with the Indian PM, Mr Singh on his official visits. He has promised to look into the matter and mobilize help for Christians in Orissa and elsewhere in India where Christians are increasingly under organized attacks.

Most heartening is the work of multifaith groups, Hindus and Muslims joining with Christians, to raise protests and offer help.

I thank everyone for the help being offered.

Thank you once again for highlighting this issue, which adds considerably to drawing international attention to the problem.

Soja John Thaikattil
Sydney, Australia

Well, I don't know about all the irony you mention. The RCC is converting away in India, and as anyone familiar with the controversy knows this activity is not new. However, it is true that the situation with the Dalit is desperate. Indeed, they are the wretched of the earth. Although I am no fan of conversionism, or to put it bluntly, oppose it categorically, the RCC does offer hope to the otherwise hopeless and could continue to do so if it would only forgo conversion.

The Dalit will always be Dalit in the eyes of Hindus, and until India ends its atrocious caste system, the Dalit will remain enslaved, starving, etc. The one profession open to them is business. They still are Dalit, but who cares? At present, the missionary activity of the RCC offers the Dalit the education they need to pursue careers in business, and a different kind of self concept.

But, and this is a big but, the RCC is still practicing conversion. Why does the RCC not educate the Dalit, and teach them a secular philosophy that will free them of the self-enslaving Dalit identity? Let the conversion go.

It would seem that in this way the RCC could do very fine work and not create more ethno-religious strife in that strife-torn region.

Paganplace and CCNL.

You are professional paid bloggers therefore your opinion are worthless.
If anyone want to confirm my faith go to any faith topic and you will find them copy pasting their hate-mongering comments.

Frankly, I think that a step toward addressing these issues of violence would be for Western missionaries to *not* be so aggressive toward Hindu people, ...it complicates and threatens things.

I admit that with the constant barrages of Christian Evangelicals trying to convert anyone in sight and defame all others, it's *hard* to sympathize in the abstract.

Not saying I wouldn't, in person, but definitely, were I part of a Hindu culture trying to modernize, and for my troubles found myself between Bin Laden and Falwell, I might have to look extra hard to not be threatened by local Christians.

People who are threatened by others, don't seem to get along. Christians in general feel whatever they do to assimilate everyone else is *OK,* if not demanded, ...they just think they have a special right to try and obliterate threatened cultures.

Many Christians in India have lived there quite a long time, though. They're probably just trying to live.

Maybe there's some *butting out* called for on the part of Christians from the West, who seem to love to walk into tense situations and throw matches.

How *bout* Gandhi?

That method showed some promise, once.

Might not want to dismiss it so quick.

Correct the following flaws and errors in Christianity and Hinduism and the religious differences in India will disappear:

Christianity-

Jesus was an illiterate Jewish peasant/carpenter/simple preacher man who suffered from hallucinations and who has been characterized anywhere from the Messiah from Nazareth to a mythical character from mythical Nazareth to a mamzer from Nazareth (Professor Bruce Chilton, in his book Rabbi Jesus). Analyses of Jesus’ life by many contemporary NT scholars (e.g. Professors Crossan, Borg and Fredriksen, On Faith panelists) via the NT and related documents have concluded that only about 30% of Jesus' sayings and ways noted in the NT were authentic. The rest being embellishments (e.g. miracles)/hallucinations made/had by the NT authors to impress various Christian, Jewish and Pagan sects.

The 30% of the NT that is "authentic Jesus" like everything in life was borrowed/plagiarized and/or improved from those who came before. In Jesus' case, it was the ways and sayings of the Babylonians, Greeks, Persians, Egyptians, Hittites, Canaanites, OT, John the Baptizer and possibly the ways and sayings of traveling Greek Cynics. http://wiki.faithfutures.org/index.php/Works_Cited

For added "pizzazz", Catholic/Christian theologians divided god the singularity into three persons and invented atonement as an added guilt trip for the "pew people" to go along with this trinity of overseers. By doing so, they made god the padre into god the "filicider".

Current crises:

Pedophiliac priests, atonement theology and original sin!!!!

Luther, Calvin, Smith, Henry VIII, Wesley et al, founders of Christian-based religions, also suffered from the belief in/hallucinations of "pretty wingie thingie" visits and "prophecies" for profits analogous to the myths of Catholicism (resurrections, apparitions, ascensions and immaculate conceptions).

Hinduism-

Hinduism (from an online Hindu site) - "Hinduism cannot be described as an organized religion. It is not founded by any individual. Hinduism is God centered and therefore one can call Hinduism as founded by God, because the answer to the question ‘Who is behind the eternal principles and who makes them work?’ will have to be ‘Cosmic power, Divine power, God’."

The caste/laborer system and cow worship/reverence are problems when saying a fair and rational God founded Hinduism."

Current crises:

The caste system and cow worship/reverence.

Current crises:

Adulterous preachers, "propheteering/ profiteering" evangelicals and atonement theology