Dear
Readers, V
By Varsha Bhosle
http://www.rediff.com/news/2000/jul/24varsha.htm
Whoof!
Let alone answer it, if I had to read all the mail in response to Heaven's
Gate, I'd have missed the next column. Guys, thank you very much, and I'm
sorry I can't respond to the positive mail individually. I want to answer
criticisms - but not those in the mode of: "And not just read the Panchjanya
and write what you want" or "Hindu fundamentalists are blaming
Christianity for their insecurity." Very boring. I'll answer only the
seemingly rational arguments echoed in several letters -- for that constitutes a
debate:
I believe that instead of making sure that future
generations of Indians regard themselves as Indians first, and then Hindus,
Christians or Muslims, the blunder that the Bajrangis-RSS-BJP connection is
making right now will cause the minorities to think differently and cause more
problems in the future.
Are the minorities willing to give up their personal
laws and adopt the Uniform Civil Code? How "Indian first" are they who
reject a common civil code...? Uff!
If Hindu religion was providing tribals with all
they needed why they would feel the need to convert? Are they being harmed by
being educated, or having someone work with the lepers like Staines? Why would
not someone convert after seeing people motivated to work for their welfare
because they believed they had a message? Why don't Hindus work for the tribals
and their welfare among lepers or educate them when needed or should they be
left to be exploited as they have been for centuries?
Ok, listen up, dorks. If I, as a rich American, go to
an Indian village and offer a bag of money or a generator to a poor family in
exchange for marrying their sexy young lad, wouldn't they agree on the spot? So
do you say that this isn't necessarily a bad thing, and that instead of
criticising me for buying a human being, people should solely reflect on the
sins that brought the family to penury in the first place...? In which case, why
stop there? Why can't I find an impoverished 13-year-old who'd gladly service me
in exchange for a better life? As per your argument, society dare not criticise
me since, after all, society never helped that poor boy, whereas I did. Let's
all do it! We'd all be humanitarians instead of paedophiles!
Even among doctors and shrinks, there's a professional
code that bars them from accepting sexual offers from a patient under their
care. It's considered unethical to the extreme, even if it was the patient who
had insisted. Whether a person in distress offers you their body or their soul,
the principle remains the same: When you aid someone, they can be very
vulnerable and impressionable, and this fact cannot and must not be dismissed.
Many Hindus are against any gospels being shared
with Hindu tribals or others but refuse to acknowledge or take the time to see
what motivates Christians to devote their lives to serving the tribals in many
many areas: in the health and educational fields. What is behind their extreme
sacrifice? Why do they not run to the US or other countries...
They don't try proselytising on this scale in the West
because door-to-door missionaries get laughed out. Samples of how a common
American perceives this effluvium:
- A friend says that when
missionaries knock on her door, her first response is to ask for their
address. When they ask why she wants to know, she says it is so she can
visit them to push her beliefs. So far, none have given their address. SLAM!
- A missionary goes up to my
friend and asks, "Can I talk to you about God?" She says,
"Sure, what would you like to know?" End of interview.
- The more sincere you
appear, the more baffled the missionary will be: Answer the door with an
automatic weapon and say "Allah be Praised!!!" and just see what
happens.
Asia is for the picking. What motivates missionaries
here is the ease with which a poor, uneducated tribal can be bought with a few
pieces of silver and a promise of "salvation." Too, "extreme
sacrifice" is a facet of devoted fundamentalists -- it's high time that
Christian missionaries are recognised as such.
Why don't Hindus work for the tribals and their
welfare...
Do you think Baba Amte, or the members of the Vanvasi
Kalyan Ashram are Muslims...?
Why can't you accept gratefully the works of
Teresa, Sadhu Sundar Singh, and other scores of Christian missionaries who lived
and died for people like you and me? They never got anything out of that.
They got "souls," buddy -- converts to
Christianity. As the "living saint" Teresa told Malcolm
Muggeridge,
"There is always the danger that we may become only social workers and just
do the work for the sake of the work." What, do you think, she was
saying...?
Why is there no mention of Graham Staines in your
article.
Here it is: I'm happy for him now that he's got his set
of wings.
I do believe Varsha's articles like the rest before
only serve to show how much a fundamentalist in a journalist's garb can wreak
havoc on the stability of minorities and their representatives... It instigates
otherwise docile armchair Hindus to have a warped outlook on the way religious
freedom has been so profoundly expressed in our constitution... And citing the
percentage increase of the no. of Christians in the NE... well we embraced it
with our hearts willingly and will do so and will die defending it. Despicable.
I found this letter particularly interesting since it
comes from an employee of rediff.com. I'm not sure what he does, but I
pray he isn't in the editorial department! Is Bhosle scared of being blacked
out...? I'll explain: I do NOT like it when I get mail abusing Saisuresh or
Amberish Diwanji because I *know* what guides them even when they write stuff I
reject. I've never questioned their integrity. They speak their mind, just as I
speak mine, and we may rip at each other -- on the basis of an issue. One can't
have democracy without anti-views and debates, and thoughts such as the above
don't enter the minds of Ponytail or Amberish or any journalist worth his salt.
So, I doubt this dork will climb the editorial ladder in rediff.com --
but he'll do just fine at John Dayal's Delhi Mid-Day.
Why'm I reacting so strongly? Well, note that
"otherwise docile armchair Hindus." It says: Thou shalt not initiate
debates which could stir these passive and submissive Hindus... This thought
comes, not from a Bal Thackeray, but an ordinary Christian convert from the NE.
He illustrates my statement: "The Church, and Hindu secularists, like to
say that a mere 2% shouldn't frighten Hindus -- and yet the NE is already at
war."
About the Goa story the only reference you have
given is a travelogue. The circumstances in which the mayhem was conducted is
never explained. No doubt it wasn't the principles of a religion, it was
probably an act of a person who subscribed to some or other religion.
Are you saying that since Amnesty International did not
witness the Spanish Inquisition, it didn't occur...? The documents of travellers
Marco Polo and Huan Tsang... are they, too, of no historical value...? LOL!
For every missionary engaged in conversions, there
are five others who work among the poor, the destitute, the sick, the deprived,
the lepers and provide succour to them... The worst atrocities on Hindus are
committed by the Hindus themselves.
Read this *severely* abridged list, gleaned from just
one year
- Fr Andre Vanderlyn,
Belgium. Convicted after admitted raping 10 children (Reuters, June 26,
1998)
- Fr John Gerald Stock,
Canada. Facing "68 sex-related charges involving 16 children"
(London Free Press, Sept 10, 1998)
- Fr Ronald Bromley, Canada.
Faces 31 counts of sexual assault against 9 men (Evening Telegram, June 20,
1998)
- Bp Hubert O'Connor,
Canada. Charged with raping several school girls (Reuters, June 17, 1998)
- Fr David Crowley, UK.
Pleaded guilty to 12 indecent assaults on boys under 16. (AP, June 26, 1998)
- Fr Marshall Gourley,
Colorado. Molested a boy "100 times" when the victim was seeking
counseling from him (AP, August 23, 1998)
- Fr Laurence Brett,
Connecticut. Transferred out by the Diocese of Bridgeport because of his
molesting children. (AP, Sept 3, 1998)
- Fr Peter J Zizka,
Connecticut. "Accused in three civil lawsuits of having sexual
relationships with three former parishioners when they were girls"
(Hartford Courant, June 24, 1998)
- Bp Joseph Keith Symons,
Florida. "...resigned after admitting he molested 5 young boys in 3
Florida churches... The church admitted promising victims' parents the
priest would be sent where he could not bother children" (AP, June 5,
1998)
- Msgr Norman Goodman,
Illinois. 13 altar boys are suing him, saying he used to fondle them as they
prepared for Mass (AP, August 13, 1998)
- Fr Robert M Burns,
Massachusetts. First discovered molesting children in 1981; transferred to
Charlestown where he raped several (Boston Globe, Sept 11, 1998)
- Fr Thomas DeVita,
Michigan. Confessed to sexual misconduct with a 16-year-old altar boy
(Harbor Country News, August 27, 1998)
- Fr Daniel Herek, Nebraska.
Pleaded no contest to charges that he sexually assaulted a 14-year-old boy
(AP, Sept 2, 1998)
- Fr Roger Fortier, New
Hampshire. Convicted in two cases of child sexual abuse and faces another
case. (AP, August 3, 1998)
- Fr Michael D Hughes,
Oklahoma. Pleaded no contest to charges that he raped two patients at the
Medford Nursing Center. Both patients were elderly -- one of whom was blind
and mute (AP, June 9, 1998)
- Deacon Robert Foster,
Oklahoma. Molested a 12-year-old altar boy (AP, June 8, 1998)
- Rudolph Kos, Texas.
Serving a life sentence for molesting 4 altar boys more than 1,350 times.
(AP, July 9, 1998)
- Fr Xavier Ortiz-Dietz,
Texas. Serving a 20-year sentence after pleading no contest to 3 sexual
abuse charges involving altar boys (AP, June 23, 1998)
- Albuquerque, New Mexico.
"Since taking over the Archdiocese of Santa Fe in the wake of the
resignation of disgraced former-Archbishop Robert Sanchez,
current-Archbishop Michael Sheehan claims he has removed 20 priests and
settled 165 clergy sex-abuse cases, leaving the archdiocese nearly
broke." (AP, March 22, 1998)
Such is the clergy... Do not tell me how noble the
missionary is. Do not tell me that Christians don't commit atrocities. We have
in India raping Fathers Abraham and Topnu; Baptists arrested with explosives
meant for NLFT terrorists; nuns who lie about being raped; and priests who grab
land... First, make an issue of such incidents, then tell me how evil Hindus
are.
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