Eminent
people 'apprehensive' of visit
Josy Joseph in New Delhi
http://www.rediff.com/news/1999/nov/06pope2.htm
A group of artistes and socially prominent persons from across
the country have expressed their "apprehensions and concerns about" the visit of
Pope John
Paul II in front-page advertisements published today in several national dailies.
They
have also blamed "intolerant missionaries" for the recent attacks on Christians
by right-wing groups.
According to authoritative sources, the personalities
including danseuse Sonal Mansingh have been brought together to issue the carefully worded
letter -- no specific demands but stern condemnation of conversions, calling the Pope's
visit part of a conversion drive and squarely blaming missionaries for all recent attacks on them.
The same letter was submitted to Prime Minister Atal Bihari
Vajpayee on November 2 by some of these people. The signatories to the letter are artiste
Padma Subramaniam, ophthalmologist S S Badrinath, social worker Harikishore Singh, artiste
Sonal Mansingh, writers Vidya Nivas Misra and Sultan Shahin, SC/ST commission member Lama
Lobsang, former Madras high court judge Justice Krishnaswamy Reddiar, former CBI director
C V Narasimhan, ad professional R K Swami, Tamil writer Sivasankari, former Tamil Nadu
director general of police K Ravindran and others.
The letter, which appeared in one quarter of the front page of
several English dailies, said, "Even as we welcome you, we will be less than honest
if we do not share our apprehensions and concerns about your visit. It is not without
sound reason that China or Taiwan or Sri Lanka has taken such extreme attitude to Your
Holiness. They obviously see a danger to them in the declared Agenda of the Church to
Evangelise Asia." They said they "fully share their apprehensions. This Agenda
of the Church is no secret."
While
welcoming the Pope "with great respect to this holy land", they pointed out that
they "believe that all religions including those which have been violent to our own
are sacred".
The personalities said that if the Indian government has
"permitted your visit, it is only because of our compelling tradition to respect all
faiths. This noble tradition, adhering to which this nation suffered immensely in the past
and continues to suffer while interfacing with conflicting faiths, is alien to other
fathers".
The said, "As well-meaning citizens, we wish to express and
share our deep concern and to bring to your attention the far-reaching and dangerous
implications of the state purpose of your visit to our country." They said the Asian
Bishops Conference "which Your Holiness will be addressing is no ordinary one. It
marks the end of the Asia Synod deliberations for the Evangelisation of Asia."
Pointing out that the term evangelisation is a dignified
"substitute for its less dignified cousin conversion", they claimed the
"state object of our visit is to convert the Hindus". They said "this
intolerance (stemming from the belief that salvation is only through Jesus) makes
Christianity aggressive in efforts to convert others".
The group pointed out that "we Indians are deeply hurt by
the spurt in the aggressive campaigning of the Church to convert the people of India by
all available means. This hurt has the potential for violence."
Religious conversion, they said, "is an explosive
socio-religious activity capable of igniting centrifugal forces as it touches the
sensitive subject of religion, which is a point of honour for all societies, whether
modern, traditional, or tribal."
They alleged
that the "Christian missionary activity in our nation is tearing apart families and
communities in every strata of our society. This is what has led to clashes in remote
areas of India." And thus they shifted the blame for the recent atrocities against
Christians from the shoulders of groups such as the Bajrang Dal and Vishwa Hindu Parishad
to the missionaries themselves.
They have also accused the "Church all over India" of
launching a "movement to discredit India as an intolerant nation, while the real
reason for the clashes is the intolerance of the missionaries themselves in India."
"We make no demand on you. We only want to tell you that
religious conversion, which seems to be synonymous with the papal work, is violence, pure
and simple, particularly against the Hindu faith, which does not believe in
conversion," they said.
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