Living in darkness
By M.V.
Kamath
http://www.organiser.org/16jan2000/mfinger.html
The
Christian Church, like the Bourbons of old, has learnt nothing and forgotten
nothing. It obviously does not understand that times have changed and what may
have held good four hundred years ago has now turned into a cruel joke. This is
all-too-painfully apparent in the 140-page document approved by the Roman
Catholic Church after the meeting of the Catholic bishops held in Delhi under
the guidance of the Pope. The document says: "Just as in the first
millennium the Cross was planted on the soil of Europe and in the second on that
of the Americas and Africa, we can pray that in the third Christian millennium a
great harvest of faith will be reaped in this vast and vital continent of
Asia." Never were more insulting and impertinent remarks made against
non-Christian religions flourishing in Asia, some of them preceding the birth of
Christ.
They are in keeping with the kind of ignorant remarks that British Christian
missionaries used to make in the nineteenth century against Hinduism. It is
important to remind the Roman Catholic Church-and the Pope who heads it-that if
Christianity means love and understanding, there are no Christians in Europe. No
other continent has been more racked by bloodshed and violence than Europe. Is
it necessary to remind the Pope that two of the bloodiest wars in history are
the two world wars started by Christians in Europe that saw entire cities
decimated? Was it Christian Germany that sent some five million Jews to the gas
chambers? Was it Catholic Spain that drove Muslims out of the country and
demolished their masjids? Was it Christian United States that dropped two
nuclear bombs, one on Hiroshima and another on Nagasaki? Was all that done in
the spirit of Christian love and understanding? Except in the case of Syrian
Christians, both Roman Catholic and Protestant Christianity came in the wake of
western imperialism, following in the footsteps of western dacoits and
marauders. The atrocities they perpetrated are on record and they exceed in
cruelty anything mankind may have done anywhere else.
The
darkness that Christian missionaries see is not in Asia but in their own hearts.
The comic part of it all is that in the name of Christ, Catholic and Protestant
groups are fighting each other to death. What is happening in Ireland, for
example, is there for all to see. The Pope himself has described Protestant
efforts to rope in Catholic Christians to their faith as the attack of wolves.
If Catholic Christians can't stand Protestant Christians, how do they expect
their work to be taken kindly in Asia where established religions much older
than Christianity have flourished from time immemorial? The habit of needlessly
egging on Hinduism and Buddhism has to be stopped. Leaders of both Hindu and
Buddhist faiths have already expressed their strong feelings against the remarks
of the Synod, remarks which can only be dismissed as tasteless and demeaning.
Where there is peace, the Church is sowing seeds of hatred. The days when stupid
missionaries could make atrocious remarks against Hinduism are over.
It is difficult to believe that anybody could have been as stupid as Rev
William Ward, an English missionary who wrote a
four-volume polemic which characterized Hindu faith as "a fabric of
superstition" concocted by Brahmins, and as "the most complete system
of absolute oppression that perhaps ever existed". How would Christians
feel if the compliment is returned by saying that nothing could excel
superstition as the concepts of virgin birth and resurrection, the two pillars
of faith central to Christianity? Won't the Church feel insulted? What is more
interesting is that in the Protestant political theory of the 19th century it
was the Church of Rome and the absolutist monarchies of Europe which imposed
tyrannical despotism on free-born Christians, deforming their characters and
making them ‘womanish’ and slave-like.
That
Christianity to this day is hand-in-glove with a new form of economic
imperialism is becoming evident by the day. Not so well-known is the fact that
in taking crucial decisions like granting loans to Third World countries, the
World Bank consults the Pope. When this issue was posed before the Archbishop of
Delhi, Rev Alan de Lastic, his reply was evasive. He said: "I am not much
informed about this. This must be at the level of the Vatican. I do admit that
Holy Father's guidance is taken with all seriousness by many leading world
organisations." That is letting the cat out of the bag, howsoever
reluctantly.
Two
points raised by Rev de Lastic in an interview to the press demand attention.
One is that, just as Christian organisations get funds from outside, so do many
Hindu organisations. The matter, however, should not be allowed to stop there.
Hindu organisations do not spend the money to convert people. How can Hindus
convert Hindus? The money allegedly received by ‘Hindu’ organisations is
spent on activities that are easily monitored. The second point is even more
revelatory of Christian intentions. It is Rev de Lastic's belief that "tribals
are not Hindus". It is an astounding statement to make. Tribals are as much
Hindus as any Hindu in the country because they are part of India's culture.
Hanuman was a tribal leader and he evokes as much veneration as Shri Ram does.
The Mahabharata is full of instances of marriage between the Aryan heroes and
tribal women. Tribals are as much part and parcel of Hindu society as anyone
else. Rev de Lastic's logic is, to put it plainly, lop-sided, and cock-eyed. He
says that tribals believe in only one spirit and not "hundreds of
Gods" that Hindus believe in; ergo, goes his argument, tribals can't be
Hindus. This is a sick understanding of Hinduism. Hindus don't believe in
"hundreds of Gods". They only see God in a hundred manifestations
which is a different matter altogether. If Rev de Lastic doesn't understand the
nature of Hinduism, the least that he can do is not to pontificate on matters he
does not apparently understand. To say that tribals are not Hindus is a clever
ploy. It is a way of telling Hindus that tribals not being Hindus, the latter
should not feel upset with tribal conversion.
The Christian
Church, it would seem, does not understand that the hegemonism of the West is
over and gone. To suggest that because conversion is basic to Christianity and
should therefore not be challenged is childish. The world is not beholden to the
Church to accept the role that the Church allots to itself. The best way for
Christianity to live in peace and amity with other religions in Asia is for the
Church to respect and honour them and not to make them targets of religious
greed. The days are long gone when Hinduism and Buddhism will accept slights
from alien religions whose claims to spiritualism do not stand the test of
reason or close scrutiny. The Church must turn an inward eye before embarking on
adventures that could only disturb world peace.
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