The
Baptist Tract: One Year After
By Arun
Venugopal
http://us.rediff.com/
- November 6th 2000
The document is easy on the
eye, stylish in fact, with vivid images and well-laid out text. Spend a
moment studying the actual content, however, and you can’t help but feel
that you’ve stepped into a 19th-century ethnographic nightmare.
"More than 900 million
people are lost in the hopeless darkness of Hinduism," it begins,
"worshiping 330 million gods and goddesses created by the imagination
of men and women searching for a source of truth and strength." It goes
on to make other curious assertions, not only about Hinduism but about
specific cities in India: "Mumbai is a city of spiritual darkness"
whose inhabitants are "slaves bound by fear and tradition to false gods
and goddesses" while "Satan has retained his hold on Calcutta
through Kali and other gods and goddesses of Hinduism.
Printed and distributed one year ago, the Southern Baptist Conventions Hindu
Prayer Guide, called Diwali: Festival of Lights, was released to coincide
with the festival season.
A year after the infamous book roiled Hindus, many community
leaders wonder about the impact of their protests. Though there were three
demonstrations by Hindus against the Southern Baptists, the largest of
American Protestant denominations with 15.8 million members, many community
leaders are surprised there weren’t more demonstrations in other cities.
Amit Misra, a Houston attorney
and one of the first to organize the protest senses "a heightened
awareness" in the community to disparaging statements about Hinduism.
But he clearly expected much more. "The vast majority of our community
just don’t care about anything," he said.
His feelings are echoed by
many others. “We seemed to have been satisfied with getting the attention
of the White House and a statement that denounced religious bigotry,” said
a Chicago businessman who asked for anonymity. “Jewish people would have
held a million demons had something like this prayer book was directed at
them.” The Chicago businessman said he had tried to hold a demonstration
but did not get enough support from the community.
The prayer guide which
reportedly reached over a million of Southern Baptists and is still in
circulation has passages regarding the cult-like activities of millions of
Hindus, the guide offers numerous prayers for its Baptist audience, one of
which states "Ask God to show Hindus that their worship of and prayers
to the gods ultimately are futile."
Misra was listening to the BBC
on his way to work when he first heard about the prayer guide. Having heard
enough stories about the evangelistic ways of his fellow Texans, he was at
first simply amused by the report.
As a member of the Hindu
Swayam Sevak, however, he realized that the prayer guide merited a strong
response. "It seemed a little incongruous, living here, not to do
something about it," he said.
Soon, Misra was calling upon
other active Hindus, who were only too willing to participate in the cause.
Next Sunday, with members of
the media at hand, a large crowd of protesters marched outside the Second
Baptist Church, a massive institution whose congregation numbers in the
thousands.
"It was a very peaceful
demonstration," recalled Beth Kulkarni, president of the Houston-area
chapter of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad, "with men, women and children
from various backgrounds, calling attention to the fact that these were
false statements."
Close on the heels of the
Houston demonstration and another one held outside the CNN building in
Atlanta, was a protest organized in downtown Boston, outside the Beacon Hill
Baptist Church.
The organization, known as Nehari, or New England Hindus Against Religious Intolerance, was formed in
rapid response to the prayer guide.
For Chandrakant Panse, one of
the organizers, the central issue was not evangelism so much as the wording
of the guide, which he thinks has implications beyond religion. “Other
people can pray for us all they want," he said. "But when they say
that we live in darkness, it’s a way to start a process of
discrimination."
During the protest, David
Draper, pastor of Beacon Hill church, was surprisingly apologetic about the
guide. "I am embarrassed by the guide," he was reported as saying
in a Boston Globe article. "Several statements about the Hindu faith
are offensive and insensitive."
For Panse, the pastors
statements were far from satisfying. "In spite of all that he said he
was going to distribute the pamphlet in his church after all," he said.
As a follow-up to their march,
the Houston protesters decided to take their cause to higher authorities.
They quickly circulated a petition of complaint, which was signed by over a
thousand people. The petition was forwarded to President Clinton, as well as
Vice-President Gore and Governor Bush. A similar effort in Boston helped
elicit a response from the White House.
"The spokesperson for the
President, Joe Lockhart, made an appeal for tolerance of all
religions," said Panse, adding "The Southern Baptist Convention
then attacked the President. They attacked his morality and his religious
footing."
In spite of widespread
condemnation from the national media - as well as from Jewish and Muslim
groups whose faiths were attacked in separate prayer guides - the Southern
Baptist Convention has been unrepentant.
In recent weeks it’s
controversial decisions have led to two serious blows: the decision by the
Baptist General Convention of Texas to reduce its ties with the national
body and that of former President Jimmy Carter to sever his membership with
the Church.
Both have cited increased
alienation from what they perceive as an overly conservative ideology.
For Misra, the aftermath of the protests last year was relatively
uneventful. There was no effort to hold a dialogue. "They never
approached us and we never approached them," he said.
But despite the misgivings of
Misra and many like him, the protests have resulted in something tangible.
"Nehari is very much alive," said Chandrakant Panse.
The group now acts as a watchdog, conducting "casual
meetings" at which they discuss the ongoing rhetoric and actions of the
Southern Baptists and related hardline groups.
Currently, members of Nehari
wait in anticipation for a city-to-city tour that the Southern Baptist
Convention is undertaking in the summer of 2001, climaxing in their annual
convention, in New Orleans.
"I’m sure that we
will have to be on our guard about they say about our religion," said
Panse. Asked if he thinks whether Nehari will again take to the streets, he
was subdued. "I’m afraid so," said Panse, sounding like a man
who’s more convinced than he’d like to be.
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