P.N.BENJAMIN

10th Stanley Samartha Memorial Lecture

2012-02-10T06:32:00.000-08:00

Dr. David Frawley to deliver the 10th REV. Dr. STANLEY SAMARTHA MEMORIAL LECTURE organized by BIRD on 23 March 2012

Bangalore Initiative for Religious Dialogue (BIRD) is happy to announce that the 10th annual Rev. Dr. Stanley Samartha Memorial lecture will be delivered by Dr. David Frawley in Bangalore on 23 March 2012. He will speak on “Pluralism and Universalism in Hinduism”

BIRD, as you know, is a low profile organization formed in 2001, by a small group of Hindus, Muslims and Christians in Bangalore, to promote inter-faith amity in line with our native wisdom of promoting inclusiveness for preserving India's religious diversity.

BIRD organizes seminars, consultations, panel discussions and dialogues and an annual lecture series in memory of Rev. Dr Stanley Samartha, the first Director of the Inter-Faith Dialogue Programme of the World Council of Churches, Geneva. It is the signature event of BIRD’s inter-faith activities undertaken in the cosmopolitan city of Bangalore. It has organized nine such lectures so far.

It may be recalled that Sir Mark Tully, former BBC’s India chief delivered the ninth Samartha Memorial lecture on 7 October 2010 while Mr. Arun Shourie, the celebrated journalist and author, delivered the eighth Lecture in October 2009 . He spoke on “Rethinking Religions”. The seventh lecture was delivered by Mr. M.J. Akbar, well known journalist and author, presently editor of India Today. The theme was: “The Power of Religion vs. the Religion of Power”.

Other speakers who delivered the lectures in the past included: Justice K.T. Thomas, former Judge of Supreme Court of India (2007), Dr. Hans Ucko, director of inter-faith dialogue division at the World Council of Churches (2006), Mar Thoma Metropolitan Bishop Philipose Mar Chrysostom (2005), Prof. M.V. Nadkarni, former Vice Chancellor of Gulbarga University (2004), Dr. C.T.Kurien, economist and Director Emeritus of Madras Inst. of Dev. Studies (2003).

They spoke respectively on: “The Right to Convert & the Indian Constitution”, “Towards and Ethical Code of Conduct”, “Courage for Dialogue”, “Religion in the 21st Century: A Perspective of Hope”, “Communal Harmony- A Societal Perspective”.

It was Mr. Francois Gautier, author and former political correspondent of Le Fegura , who inaugurated the lecture series and delivered the first lecture to a large gathering at the Bishop Cotton Boys’ School in October 2001 . He spoke on “The Need for Inter-Religious Dialogue

Over 500 invitees generally attend the lecture, which will also be published as a booklet to help reach a wider community of academicians, students, thinkers and intellectuals, spiritual leaders as well as people involved in promoting inter-religious harmony and understanding.

BIRD is entirely dependent on small contributions from people of diverse faiths who are strongly convinced about the dire need to preserve inter-faith amity in the true and abiding traditions of India, which is a living symbol of religious diversity and inclusiveness.

May I take the liberty of asking you for a donation towards organizing the event? Your contribution may be sent by a cheque in favour of Bangalore Initiative for Religious Dialogue (BIRD) to the following address:

Apt. No. 501, Indira Residency,
167 Hennur Road
Kalyan Nagar
Bangalore 560 043
Mobile: 09731182308
Res. 080 25435716

Yours sincerely
P.N. BENJAMIN
Coordinator
Bangalore Initiative for Religious
Dialogue (BIRD)

Vicky Nanjappa interviews BIRD Coordinator

2012-02-08T06:08:00.000-08:00

FEBRUARY 6, 2012 REDIFF.COM

Abuse of Hindu Gods cause for backlash in Karnataka

In Karnataka there has been a waging battle over the attacks on Churches. Recently there was also a report which claimed that Karnataka is the number one rogue state for Christians as there have been over a 1000 attacks on both Christians and Churches.
The question now is whether this figure is exaggerated and is being put out for some ulterior motive. It is an exaggerated figure says P N Benjamin, who is the member of the Minorities Commission and Coordinator of the Bangalore Initiative for Religious Dialogue (BIRD). A question that Benjamin asks is that if Karnataka is really the number one rogue state for Christians then why is it that not a single Christian fled the state. In this interview with rediff.com, Benjamin takes us through the entire issue while stating that merely exaggerating figures for ulterior motive is not the way out.

Some Christians claim that there have been over a 1000 attack on Churches and Karnataka has become the number one rogue state for them? Is this correct?

It is not correct. It is just exaggeration. I feel there are a handful of attacks which were instigated by some fringe Christian groups.

Why do you think it is being exaggerated?

I am not saying all Christians do this. Yes there is a fringe group which involves itself in such activities. They get a lot of money especially from the American fundamentalist and fanatic churches for this. The more they exaggerate the better for them. I have personally gone into many such cases and realised that most of them have been blown out of proportion and internationalised by a handful of leaders from the Christian community and by unscrupulous politicians. They are using ordinary Christians as pawns in their hands for their narrow selfish ends.

Why do you think the Hindus are so upset with the Christians? Why has this issue blown out of proportion?

For one there is a BJP government in Karnataka and it is aimed at destablising the government. Secondly there are a lot of fringe groups that have emerged which do not report either to the Catholic or Protestant Church. Small churches are being formed in houses at a very quick pace. These are the persons who have broken away from the main line churches. They sit and abuse Hindu Gods and this has not been taken too kindly by the Hindus and hence the agitation. These fringe groups in fact have gone uncontrolled and this is a danger in the making.

Tell us about the conversions that are taking place. Is the Church involved in this?

I would not say that the Church is involved in conversions. In fact both the Catholic and Protestant Churches are not involved in this. Again it is these fringe groups- the Pentacostals among others who are involved in this. There is a report which states that nearly Rs 10000 crore has landed here for the purpose of such activities. Recently we sent a team to Suratkal near Mangalore. We noticed that some poor people had been given a handful of money to convert. They are just given money and later not taken care of.

So what is the exact version regarding large scale conversions?

There are no large scale conversions happening. As I said the Church does not do this. It is those small elements. There are a handful of people who have been converted. But these people send reports to donor agencies stating that large chunks of people have been converted for they want of more funds.

There is a great deal of confusion over the recent attacks. There are two versions to this by both Hindus and Christians. Can you please explain this to us?

The attacks are just a reaction to aggressive faith marketing and mindless evangelism and conversions through unethical means indulged by Christian missionaries. Even Father Adolf Washington of the Archdiocese of Bangalore said recently that there are several groups of people doing the rounds in Bangalore adopting persuasive techniques not just to convert people but also to spread animosity against mainstream Christian denominations. They hurl invectives against the teachings of Christian denominations and even induce people to tender a written ‘resignation’ to the pastor or priest. Since some of these groups do not even accept the divinity of Christ, in effect, their conversion should not be understood as conversion to Christianity but to their organisation. Mainstream Christian denominations do not go on a conversion spree, only splinter groups and cultic groups do so probably for some self-gain.

Are the Christians in Karnataka living in danger

The real source of danger to the Indian Christian community is not the handful of Hindu extremists but the self-styled saviours of Christianity who assert that they alone are the holders of valid visas to heaven and paradise.

What is the solution?

No civil society should condone violence. But mere condemnation is not a method to avert the repetition of violence. We have to find out if the violence is deliberate and unprovoked, or due to provocation. If it is the former, then there is one set of solutions, which mostly involves applying the law and severely punishing the perpetrators of the violence. However, if there is provocation, then we have to study the issue in greater detail. We have to understand why there has been a provocation for the violence, and who are the persons or organisations behind the provocation.

The Church is supreme. Do you think the Church is doing enough to prevent such incidents by fringe groups who you say are the core of the problem?

These fringe groups have been stealing the sheep. They steal people from main line Churches and are also engineering defections and are giving them important positions. The Church has spoken about this, but I am afraid has not done enough to prevent this. During the Bishop’s conference in Kerala there was an appeal to their members not to go in for conventions and revival meetings. In the year 2004 some members were also expelled. However I think they ought to do more and openly declare that they have nothing to do with such people. I feel that things would change for the better if a strong stance is taken and more regularly. Also I feel that the Church itself has become dead and people cannot look up to it for inspiration. The social work that the Church is doing is simply run of the mill and has become life less. All this needs to change soon.

10th Stanley Samartha Memorial Lecture

2012-02-03T06:54:00.000-08:00

Dr. David Frawley to deliver the 10th REV. Dr. STANLEY SAMARTHA MEMORIAL LECTURE organized by BIRD on 23 March 2012

Bangalore Initiative for Religious Dialogue (BIRD) is happy to announce that the 10th annual Rev. Dr. Stanley Samartha Memorial lecture will be delivered by Dr. David Frawley in Bangalore on 23 March 2012, . He will speak on “Pluralism and Universalism in Hinduism”

BIRD, as you know, is a low profile organization formed in 2001, by a small group of Hindus, Muslims and Christians in Bangalore, to promote inter-faith amity in line with our native wisdom of promoting inclusiveness for preserving India's religious diversity.

BIRD organizes seminars, consultations, panel discussions and dialogues and an annual lecture series in memory of Rev. Dr Stanley Samartha, the first Director of the Inter-Faith Dialogue Programme of the World Council of Churches, Geneva. It is the signature event of BIRD’s inter-faith activities undertaken in the cosmopolitan city of Bangalore. It has organized nine such lectures so far.

It may be recalled that Sir Mark Tully, former BBC’s India chief delivered the ninth Samartha Memorial lecture on 7 October 2010 while Mr. Arun Shourie, the celebrated journalist and author, delivered the eighth Lecture in October 2009 . He spoke on “Rethinking Religions”. The seventh lecture was delivered by Mr. M.J. Akbar, well known journalist and author, presently editor of India Today. The theme was: “The Power of Religion vs. the Religion of Power”.

Other speakers who delivered the lectures in the past included: Justice K.T. Thomas, former Judge of Supreme Court of India (2007), Dr. Hans Ucko, director of inter-faith dialogue division at the World Council of Churches (2006), Mar Thoma Metropolitan Bishop Philipose Mar Chrysostom (2005), Prof. M.V. Nadkarni, former Vice Chancellor of Gulbarga University (2004), Dr. C.T.Kurien, economist and Director Emeritus of Madras Inst. of Dev. Studies (2003).

They spoke respectively on: “The Right to Convert & the Indian Constitution”, “Towards and Ethical Code of Conduct”, “Courage for Dialogue”, “Religion in the 21st Century: A Perspective of Hope”, “Communal Harmony- A Societal Perspective”.

It was Mr. Francois Gautier, author and former political correspondent of Le Fegura , who inaugurated the lecture series and delivered the first lecture to a large gathering at the Bishop Cotton Boys’ School in October 2001 . He spoke on “The Need for Inter-Religious Dialogue

Over 500 invitees generally attend the lecture, which will also be published as a booklet to help reach a wider community of academicians, students, thinkers and intellectuals, spiritual leaders as well as people involved in promoting inter-religious harmony and understanding.

BIRD is entirely dependent on small contributions from people of diverse faiths who are strongly convinced about the dire need to preserve inter-faith amity in the true and abiding traditions of India, which is a living symbol of religious diversity and inclusiveness.

May I take the liberty of asking you for a donation towards organizing the event? Your contribution may be sent by a cheque in favour of Bangalore Initiative for Religious Dialogue (BIRD) to the following address:

Apt. No. 501, Indira Residency,
167 Hennur Road
Kalyan Nagar
Bangalore 560 043
Mobile: 09731182308
Res. 080 25435716

Yours sincerely
P.N. BENJAMIN
Coordinator
Bangalore Initiative for Religious
Dialogue (BIRD)

Merchants of hate

2012-01-21T09:14:00.000-08:00

You rightly label the Saldanhas and his ilk as "merchants of hate". They are Christian supremacists who wish to erase and destroy India's Hindu ethos. They have a lot of both overt and covert support both in India and in the West

Dr. Ramesh Rao
USA

Violence against Christians:A letter to the Chief Minister

2012-01-21T04:37:00.000-08:00

From: P.N.BENJAMIN

To:
Shri D V Sadananda Gowda
Chief Minister of Karnataka

Respected Chief Minister

Alleged Persecution of Christians in Karnataka

Permit me to bring the following facts for your kind notice.

I have been a freelance journalist writing regularly for several newspapers for the past thirty five years. Like most of those who have to regularly write for newspapers I need factual information. So, I diligently file press clippings so that I don't slip up on accuracy.

I am the founder and coordinator of the Bangalore Initiative for Religious Dialogue (BIRD), promoting pluralism, tolerance and understanding for a society, free of all prejudices. It provides a platform for addressing issues which are causes for religious/communal tension/resentment by inviting people of all faiths to share through it the richness of their various religious traditions and experiences.

In addition, I am at present a member of the Karnataka State Minorities Commission, representing the Christian community in the State. As a member of the Commission I have visited several places where alleged attacks against Christians took place and interacted with the victims of the alleged violence and also government officials to find out the facts behind attacks.

As far back as 2002, I was part of a fact finding team that enquired into the attack on the Holy Family Church at Hinkal in Mysore. Its report is available on the internet. In the same manner, I was a member of another fact-finding team that exposed the political conspiracy behind the Mangalore incidents of violence against Christians in 2008.

Provocative statement

A retired judge of Karnataka High Court, M.F.Saldanha has recently said that Christians in Karnataka State are under an unprecedented wave of persecution. He has also termed Karnataka as “the Rogue State No.1”. Unfortunately for Saldanha, he himself admits that the State has not recorded any killing in this season of “persecution”.

Despite the horror stories trotted out by Saldanha and his friends about the unprecedented “persecution of Christians in Karnataka” it is interesting to not that there has not been a single instance of Christians fleeing the State and migrating to neighboring states!

The same retired judge had alleged last year that there were 1,000 attacks against Christians in Karnataka at that time. . Asked for the details of the attacks, Saldanha failed to provide me with the list of names of churches and even dates of attacks. Thus, his baseless charges against the State government now also reflect his shocking ignorance of the real religious situation in Karnataka.

Intriguing silence

It is unfortunate despite such provocative statements and spreading hatred against Hindus, people like Saldanha and his supporters go scot free. The Bharatya Janata Party and the State Government have not been able to counter their propaganda effectively and stop them in their tracks with facts and figures.

As a friend and well-wisher of BJP and the government, I have been trying my best in my own limited way to expose the nefarious activities of many Christian leaders and their foreign-funded organisations to destabilize the BJP government in our State. This is a fact well known to most of the national and state leaders of Sangh Pariwar.

Be that as it may, at the request of Shri Ram Madhav – RSS leader – I have written a reply to the United States Commission for International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) and a booklet entitled “A Tale of Three Reports -Facts, Fiction & Politics behind the incidents of violence against Christians in Karnataka”.

It is time the government and the Party came out strongly and openly against their enemies – the aggressive Christian evangelists- and countered their vilification campaign against the Hindu community. I assure you of my fullest support in this battle against evil forces in the form of mobilizing public opinion through my writings.

I am sure the spokesmen of the government and the Party will at least now show some interest in reading the materials I have produced (written) on the subject and understand the facts of the tension between Christians and Hindus in the State.

I am attaching the following documents for your information which can be used for effectively countering the Christian leaders’ propaganda next time against your
Government and BJP.

1) Aggressive faith-marketing
2) BIRD-RSS report Hinkal Church attack 2002
3) Report on Mangalore violence 2008
4) Rebuttal of USCIRF Report- 2010 on Karnataka
5) An open letter to retd justice Saldanaha

Looking forward to a line in reply

Yours truly

P.N.BENJAMIN
501, Indira Residency
167 Hennur Road
Bangalore 560 043
Cell: 9731182308
21 Jan. 2012

Is Karnataka the 'rogue state" No.1'?

2012-01-19T20:40:00.000-08:00

Calling Saldanha's bluff

IS KARNATAKA THE ROGUE STATE No.1 ?

By P.N.BENJAMIN

A retired judge of Karnataka High Court, M.F.Saldanha has recently said thatChristians in Karnataka State are under an unprecedented wave of persecution. He has also termed Karnataka as “the Rogue State No.1”. Unfortunately for Saldanha, he himself admits that the State has not recorded any killing in this season of “persecution”.

Despite the horror stories trotted out by Saldanha and his friends about the unprecedented “persecution of Christians in Karnataka” it is interesting to not that there has not been a single instance of Christians fleeing the State and migrating to neighboring states!

The same retired judge had alleged last year that there were 1,000 attacks against Christians in Karnataka at that time. . Asked for the details of the attacks, Saldanha failed to provide me with the list of names of churches and even dates of attacks. Thus, his baseless charges against the State government now also reflect his shocking ignorance of the real religious situation in Karnataka.

I have been a freelance journalist writing regularly for several newspapers for the past thirty five years. Like most of those who have to regularly write for newspapers I need factual information. So, I diligently file press clippings so that I don't slip up on accuracy.

I am the founder and coordinator of the Bangalore Initiative for Religious Dialogue (BIRD), promoting pluralism, tolerance and understanding for a society, free of all prejudices. It provides a platform for addressing issues which are causes for religious/communal tension/resentment by inviting people of all faiths to share through it the richness of their various religious traditions and experiences.

In addition, I am at present a member of the Karnataka State Minorities Commission, representing the Christian community in the State. As a member of the Commission I have visited several places where alleged attacks against Christians took place and interacted with the victims of the alleged violence and also government officials to find out the facts behind attacks.

As far back as 2002, I was part of a fact finding team that enquired into the attack on the Holy Family Church at Hinkal in Mysore. Its report is available on the internet. In the same manner, I was a member of another fact-finding team that exposed the political conspiracy behind the Mangalore incidents of violence against Christians in 2008.

So, I have the first hand information about several of the alleged attacks against Christians in Karnataka. I can thus confidently say that the incidents of violence against Christians in Karnataka have been few and far between. However, all of them have been blown out of proportion and internationalised by a handful of leaders from the Christian community and by unscrupulous politicians. They are using ordinary Christians as pawns in their hands for their narrow selfish ends.

Reasons for Attacks

The reasons for the attacks against certain Christian groups are not difficult to ascertain. Simply put, they are a reaction to the “aggressive faith marketing,” propaganda, and mindless evangelism and conversions through foul and unethical means indulged in by Christian missionaries who denigrate and make fun of Hindu gods and abuse Hindu rituals as barbaric.

Father Adolf Washington of the Archdiocese of Bangalore wrote in a Bangalore daily:: “There are several groups of people doing the rounds in Bangalore adopting persuasive techniques not just to convert people but also to spread animosity against mainstream Christian denominations. They hurl invectives against the teachings of Christian denominations and even induce people to tender a written ‘resignation’ to the pastor or priest. Since some of these groups do not even accept the divinity of Christ, in effect, their conversion should not be understood as conversion to Christianity but to their organisation. Mainstream Christian denominations do not go on a conversion spree, only splinter groups and cultic groups do so probably for some self-gain.”

Karnataka has suddenly become the principal target for a wide range of western Christian missions, especially after the BJP government came to power in 2008. The leaders of these groups are determined to spread “the Good News” to Karnataka’s "unreached" people. The tragedy is that politically ambitious so-called Christians like Saldanha who claim to be the spokesmen and defenders of the Indian Christian community spread distress and divisions and fan the flames of hatred against peace-loving Hindu community. They spread the venom of communal hatred like butter on hot bread. To all appearances, these Christian leaders enjoy the grace and favour of the Congress Party-led Government of India. This encouragement helps the growth of powerful elements of separatism and disunity in the country. It is well-known to political observers in Karnataka that Saldanha has been currying favour with Congress leaders and waiting in the wings for a plum post in the Party.

Animosity against Christians

Saldanha is ignorant of the fact that Christians are a tiny minority in this country/state. Their attitudes often elicit counter-reaction from the lunatic fringe of Hindu community who sometimes incite violence against Christians. Many preachers of the Christian Gospel rattle off verses from the Bible to preach hellfire and damnation to those who do not agree with their interpretations of the contents of the Bible. They lay enticing traps for people whom they think must be "saved" at all costs. One hopes that the Christian merchants of hate including the retired judge will soon realize that theirs is a losing battle even if they derive their financial and other means of support from foreign funding agencies for their nefarious activities.

Simply put, the animosity against Christians is a reaction to the aggressive faith-marketing and mindless evangelism by thousands of foreign-funded, cultic, fundamentalist, fanatic and revivalist Christian groups and their half-baked preachers working among the wretched of the Indian earth. They denigrate Hindu gods and abuse Hindu rituals as barbaric. They are the root cause of tension between Christian and Hindu communities. Why should anybody be surprised if the so-called “extremists” among Hindus are offended and react violently? Invariably, incidents of violence against Christians are always bloated out of proportion and internationalized. It is, therefore, urgent that leaders of the established mainline churches, known for their erudition, equipoise, and empathy came out in the open and disowned such provocative acts of intolerance of the fundamentalist Christian groups masquerading as real Christians.

The real source of danger to the Indian Christian community is not the handful of Hindu extremists but the self-styled saviours of Christianity who assert that they alone are the holders of valid visas to heaven and paradise.

Yes, no civil society should condone violence. But mere condemnation is not a method to avert the repetition of violence. We have to find out if the violence is deliberate and unprovoked, or due to provocation. If it is the former, then there is one set of solutions, which mostly involves applying the law and severely punishing the perpetrators of the violence. However, if there is provocation, then we have to study the issue in greater detail. We have to understand why there has been a provocation for the violence, and who are the persons or organisations behind the provocation.

It is high time people like Saldanha made an earnest attempt to appreciate this basic fact. That would be true humility if that is indeed possible for them to manifest. The retired judge and his friends should apologize for their irresponsible and unsubstantiated comments that Karnataka is “the number one rogue state” in the Indian Union. They should also check and re-check their facts before deciding to disparage Hindu “extremists” in their utterances and reports.

The only way out

When greater inter-religious understanding and mutual respect is the need of the hour, leveling wild accusations that do not have any foundation is dangerous gamesmanship.

Hindu “fundamentalism” is a reaction to the provocations of Christian proselytizers. Under attack, Hindus have partly woken up to the need for self-protection and self-preservation. When they attack such Christian proselytizers they generate much criticism, especially from pseudo secularists and from the media world-wide.

People like me, who have some access to the media and are still in control of our betz cells know that all such propaganda is being peddled in the name of a bogey man called Sangh Parivar. If one is honest in one’s analysis, it is not the Sangh Parivar but certainly the actions of Christian proselytizers and jihadi Muslims who challenge the religious sensitivities of the Hindu majority in the State.

The Sangh Parivar bogey man will disappear if the mainline Churches in India come out openly and affirm that they are taking a solemn pledge in the name of Jesus Christ to abide by his admonition not to go miles to make a proselyte. If they can do that, the so-called Sangh Parivar will disappear.

India and its tolerance for the diversity of its religious communities were built up over thousands of years. But, it looks like if individuals like Saldanha and his like-minded friends are not checked and their false propaganda countered, your children and the children of India's minorities will have no future anywhere near the equity and fairness that they have so far enjoyed despite India being a predominantly Hindu nation.

Be that as it may, can Saldanha, the self-styled leader of the Christian community, light a candle amidst the encircling gloom spread by the religious conversionists of both fundamental Christianity and Jehadi Islam?

With malice towards none, and charity towards all, Indian Christians like me remain true to our guide and spiritual leader, the Jesus of Nazareth. Peace, Shanti, Salam, and Shalom!

P.N.BENJAMIN
Coordinator
Bangalore Initiative for Religious Dialogue(BIRD)

NEW YEAR THOUGHTS

2011-12-30T04:37:00.001-08:00

ECLIPSES ARE SHORT-LIVED

By P.N.BENJAMIN

THE New Year rings in new hopes and expectations, as if failures and frustrations have been rung out with the year that has just ended. To begin the New Year with forebodings may sound like a pessimist’s pastime. However, we must face it with buoyant self-confidence. And the stout-hearts among us like this writer should not lose hope, though the reality, grim and grinding, beckons the nation to a desperate prospect. The economic hardships alone do not account for the mounting discontent. Much more is involved in the present complex situation.

There is distress all over the country Deep-rooted fatalism, dumb acceptance of misery, a raging sea of poverty, and a few islands of vulgar luxury, inhabited by a few who behave as if nothing has happened. This is India today. And this should disturb every sensitive Indian today. The time is long past when one could pacify one’s conscience by angry outburst or exposure of a few misdeeds. The situation is far more serious, the prospect grimmer.

The cancers that have grown in the vitals of India are so horrendous that whole limbs may decay and die before some sort of curative effort succeeds in the rest of the system. Men of vision, integrity and merit were at the helm of affairs in the early years of this nation. A different set of qualifications has now become necessary to attain and then retain office. Men and women of merit have disappeared from the higher echelons of power.

The welter of crashing values, the miasma of poverty, the insensate outburst of religious fundamentalism and fanaticism, regionalism and casteism: it is chaotic. One is also shocked at the sight of brute force trampling upon the underprivileged, while the elite enjoy all the inevitable accompaniments of permissive morality, addiction to vicarious violence, erotic and narcotic fantasies.

Caught in the immediacy of the present we may be agonizing over these maladies. There is still hope. “There is an ebb and tide in the affairs of man. Things will change”. This may be the darkest hour before the radiant dawn. God has not gone bankrupt. He can make the blind see, the deaf hear and the lame cross the mountain. If past is any pointer to the future, there is indeed hope. There is resilience in our people, which no combination of adversities can kill. Our ideals and principles might appear to be in eclipse. But, eclipses are short-lived.

In an atmosphere surcharged with cynicism on the one hand and despair on the other, we would do well to go out anywhere, amidst the din and bustle of the factories, among the IT professionals or the vast expanses of the fields, in the beehive of busy offices or in the boisterous, crowded campuses – among men, women, the young and the old – you will hear a thousand and one questions why things have gone wrong and what’s the way out of it.

Dedicated men and women, sacrificing comfort and many allurements of the consumerist society are building a new India in the remote villages and hilly regions of this vast land of ours. There abound in this country today men and women of finest moral qualities, experts in their respective fields seeking to advance the frontiers of knowledge and to serve the community by disseminating it to the public. In the prevailing darkness they move about like figures in silhouettes; soon the sun shall arrive and identify them, and among them shall be seen new leaders with a new message of enriched patriotism. A new resolve to make this land of ours a better place to live in. The saga of such endeavours is hardly publicised by the media addicted to the burlesque of present-day politics. But they give us reasons for hope.

The reserves of India are too strong to be contained by the unworthy for too long. Today’s rulers as well as the ones waiting in their wings to be future rulers must necessarily be themselves marginalised sooner or later because they are superficial manifestations of a superficial phenomenon; neither they nor the phenomenon that sustains them have any validity in the general scheme of human progress.

Like wars, seemingly hopeless political cancers help steel a nation’s nerve and accelerate the maturing process. India will then step out of the new into the newer.

P.N.BENJAMIN
501, Indira Residency
Hennur Road
Kalyan Nagar
Bangalore 560 043
Tel. 08025435716
Mob. 09731182308

Plight of Dalit Christians- a response

2011-12-29T21:01:00.000-08:00

From: Fr. Benjamin Chinnappan
USA

Dear sir,

I read your article that you wrote in the Decan Herlad about the the Plight of the Dalit Christians. Although it was two decades ago, the situation has not improved a lot among the dalit Christians. Every word you wrote is very sharp and challenges the conscience of the Indian Catholic Church. I studied in Bangalore at St.Peter's Seminary during 1980-90 but our formation never focussed on the reality of the Indian church. Your article is definitely very powerful to meditate on the passion of our Lord. As you know, most of the bishops, priests and nuns hail from the Upper Caste Community, they do not want to acknowledge their guilt. Due to blind faith, illiteracy and poverty, the dalit Christians could not claim for their equal rights even upto this day. The Catholic church in India cannot put this drama all the time. The show will come to an end.

Father Ben, USA.
29 Dec. 2011

Responses to the Christmas Message

2011-12-25T04:01:00.000-08:00

RESPONSES TO THE CHRISTMAS MESSAGE

Dear PN,

Many thanks for your Christmas Greetings which Veena and I warmly reciprocate.

To be frank, your Christmas message is excellent. It is a gust of fresh air, so badly required in today's Church and our misguided brethren who have mistaken the wood for the trees. It is a very powerful and down to earth message. We have forgotten that Christ came and preached a simple life of love. This has been forgotten in our misplaced "social action" and bigoted behaviour.

Slovenia being an alpine country is cold. We have had some snow. The temperatures are on an average -5 to 10 degrees. However we are enjoying the place.

Regards.

Jayakar (Jerome)

Dear PN,

Thank you very much for your Christmas greetings and the attached message. The message is typical of your secular thinking and so appropriate in the present environment of fundamentalist intolerance. The saddest part is that those who profer homilies are themselves not free from what they are complaining against and that too in a spirit of condescension. And politicians add to the intlerance by their uninformed postures. I cannot help recalling Edmund Burke who famously said,""Those who carry on great public schemes must be proof against the most fatiguing delays, the most mortifying disappointments, the most shocking insults and what is worst of all, the presumptuous judgements of the ignorant"

I wish you and your family Christmas greetings and all the best during the coming new yhear.

K.V.Rajagopal

Dear brother,

Thank you for the insights into Christmas, Christ and Christ like personalities. This message will certainly reach the hearts of everyone.

Affly,

A.P.Durai

Dear Benji,

Thank you for forwarding the text of your sermon at the Institute o
World culture . It is well written and my congratulations! I am sure
people who will listen to these words will get a different word. Wish
you all the blessings
achen(Rev. K.C.Abraham)

Dear P N,

Thanks for the most inspiring message. I wish more and more people listen to such messages in these troubled times when life has lost its meaning !

Warm Regards,
Achen

Rev.Dr.M.Mani Chacko, Ph.D( Lond.)
General Secretary
The Bible Society of India
'LOGOS', # 206, Mahatma Gandhi Road
Bangalore- 560 001

Tel : 080 - 4112 4714, 4112 4715, 4151 2580 ( O )
080 - 25599020 ( R )
E. Mail : modayilmanichacko@gmail.com

Dear Benji

Very balanced speech. Good. am happy for you.
Wish you and May the blessings of Christmas.
love

joe & susheela Thomas

Dear Benji,

I am so happy to see you engaged in the good fight keeping values which many people will not be able to understand or appreciate. We are keeping well but with growing restrictions and restricted involvments. i have retired but am kept busy with grand kids and some church related activites.

Take care
Our best wishes and prayers to you , May and others in the family.
George Ninan (Bishop )
.

Benjamin, I read the message with rapt attention(which i usually do with all your text) and heart goes with you to the "so called Christians" who are more concerned about the ritualistic aspect of Christmas rather than feeling the love towards your brothers and sisters, the real spirit meant to be.

Cheers to that, hic..

The Abrahams (SOM)

A CHRISTMAS MESSAGE

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A CHRISTMAS MESSAGE
By
P. N. Benjamin
Delivered at the Indian Institute of World Culture, December 24, 2011

“LORD, make me an instrument of thy peace. Where there is hatred, let me sow love; where there is doubt, let me sow faith; where there is despair, let me bring hope; where there is sorrow, let me bring joy; where there is darkness, light. O Divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled, as to console; not so much to be understood as to understand; not so much to be loved, as to love. For, it is in giving that we receive; in pardoning that we are pardoned; in dying that we are born to eternal life.”

I am a Christian by faith, Hindu by culture, and Indian by citizenship. But, permit me to add a word about my Christian commitment and witness in this troubled times. I have always loved John Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress, perhaps because its hero remains on the move up to the very end. Even when he is crossing that last river, with Mount Zion actually in sight, he is still assailed by doubts and troubled by the hazards of his journey. I, too, have found no finality in the quest for a sure faith, and do not expect, or even hope to find one. At the same time, I dare to say as I have plodded on the light has shone a little more brightly and steadily for me. To make this light shine before men, as Christ exhorted us, has always seemed to me the highest that any communicator can hope to achieve – even if it amounts to not more than, as it were, striking a match in a dark cavern, which flares up and flickers out. Such, at any rate, is the purpose of this message, undertaken with no expert knowledge, no sudden Damascus Road illumination; representing no more than the efforts of a skeptical mind to grapple with the circumstances of his life and time.

Christmas is the feast of our common humanity. Once a year, for a brief spell, we greet one another as human beings: we shake off the trappings with which we aspire to be more than human, and give up the arrogance of treating others as less than human. The labels of race and language, caste and creed, and class are laid aside.

“Happy Christmas”, we can say to a stranger and add a smile to it – nothing would be out of place. It is as if a gust of goodwill from out of the blue has swooped into our atmosphere and we all take a whiff of it. People are kinder, handclasps are warmer, even the miser opens his purse with a sheepish smile to any one who passes the hat around.

Christmas is also a feast of affirmations – even if only once a year we need to become aware of a set of values, which we tend to ignore in the daily commerce of life. We may grope in darkness but it is good to know that there is a gleam somewhere. Amidst all disenchantment around us we need to affirm our faith – in life, in ourselves, in others and therefore in God. We need to hope – hope against hope until as Shelly says, “Hope creates from its own wreck the thing it contemplates”. And we need to love -- to rediscover that universal principle of life.

Bertrand Russell who explained to us why he could never be a Christian slipped back in another context to the core of Christmas message when he said, “The thing I mean, please forgive me for mentioning it, is love. If you feel this, you have a motive for existence, a guide in action, a reason for courage, and an imperative necessity for intellectual honesty… although you may not find happiness, you will never know the despair of those whose life is aimless and void of purpose”.

Magnificat: A Song of Deliverance

There is more to Christmas than peace and goodwill. The story of the birth of Christ begins with a revelation to a peasant girl that she would be the mother of the Messiah – the Saviour of the world. She would conceive by the Holy Spirit and give birth to the Son of God. She was so overpowered by the message that she breaks into poetic utterance:

“My soul doth magnify the Lord/ And my spirit has rejoiced in God my Saviour…/He hath showed strength with his arm/He hath scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts/He hath put down the mighty from their seats/And exalted them of low degree/He hath filled the hungry with good things/And the rich he hath sent empty away…”

This Song of Mary is called the Magnificat. Mary sees a vision of a new order of things where the weak and the poor will throw off their shackles. It is a song of liberation for all humankind. It reflects the teachings of the prophets of the Old Testament who denounced the oppressors of the people who would sell the needy for a pair of shoes. The prophets were constantly exhorting the people to “untie the knots of the yoke, and loose the fetters of justice, to set free those who have been crushed”. Mary belonged to this oppressed section of the people.

It might seem strange that in this momentous hour of her life when the angel had cast her in this stupendous role, she should be preoccupied with justice for her people. But one can well imagine that, then as now, this was a burning question. The Jews were under the Roman yoke and longed for the Messiah who would liberate them. Mary’s Song is a song of deliverance not only from foreign domination but the oppressor within the gates.

She did not know then that beginning with the Magnificat the road would end at the cross where she would stand weeping for her son who would show the world an entirely new way. But now it is a cry for justice, liberation from the tyranny of the rich and the exalted. Thus, woven into the message of peace and goodwill is also the lesson that these conditions can only come when there is social justice.

The Church has side-stepped this problem dispensing charity while ignoring the deeper claims of equality. The Song of Mary is a reminder that charity without justice is an insult, and peace only a graveyard where there is no equality.

Yes, the voice of Christmas cries in the wilderness. It is not a call to violent revolution – for violent revolutions always end in tyranny of one kind or another. Christmas calls for a change of heart, a turning away from oneself to one’s neighbour, and therefore to God. We like to imagine that religion is a love affair between man and God, but that affair is possible only when one loves one’s neighbour.

Christmas reminds us that in a creative relationship there is God, man and always his neighbour – only in such a cooperative partnership can we hope for a restructuring of the social fabric, which will be permanent. In short, Christmas comes to remind us that we are all inextricably bound together in this brief sojourn on this troubled planet that either we are ALL saved or we are ALL damned for we are all human, all vulnerable, all in need of one another.

Is Jesus the only Prince of Peace?

Christmas takes Christians to the roots of their faith, the child in a manger. It is a cluster of events – the journey to Bethlehem, the angels and shepherds, the manger, the mother and child and Joseph, even the cattle – these are enduring symbols of Christian faith.

The deeper meaning and enduring significance of Christmas point out that God’s love touches human life in a simple way – in the form of a child in the manger. Faith, in its deepest sense is a personal response to the Mystery of God that touches life but is not confined to it. It is priests and theologians who complicate it through ritual and doctrine. What can be more helpless than a new-born baby? Christmas demands that Christians joyfully accept and nurture the child to grow to maturity within their hearts and in the life of the Church.

Second, Christmas shows God’s concern for the poor and the lowly. The Church seems to have discovered Dalits and women only recently. The wise men from the East had to study the stars for a long time in order to predict the birth of this child. But to the shepherds in the field the message of hope came in a flash through song and light. What can be more lowly, more unhygienic than a manger for a baby to be born? And yet, the mother and baby survived without any complications

Third, Christmas is a community festival. It does not depend on an individual receiving a vision. From the beginning, there is a community of the faithful centered round the child, Joseph and Mary, the shepherds with their lambs, even the cattle in the corner, and later on, the three kings bearing gifts. Christmas emphasizes that the Church is not an institution with a hierarchy and doctrines but a community of believers sharing the love of God and serving the people in the name of the Prince of Peace.

The phrase “Prince of Peace” is too familiar, even too common. Like an overused coin it has lost its currency value. For instance, mass media today often overuse, misuse, even, abuse certain words. Television shapes the form of intellectual discourse. The demand for quick and short answers to serious questions that need time for reflection deprives words of their wealth and dignity. Ambiguity replaces precision.

Peace can be understood in two ways. It can mean peace within the heart, a sign of calmness, tranquility. This is what the Hindus describe as ‘shanthi’ or in Christian vocabulary it is “the peace that passes all understanding”. All religions, particularly Hinduism and Buddhism, emphasise this inward character -- the depth dimension -- of peace. But there is another way in which the word “peace” is in more urgent demand during these times of conflict. This is peace between communities, peoples and nations. It is the restoration of relationships between “enemies” through forgiveness and reconciliation. It seems to me that the Christmas message in the song of angels refers to this: Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among men (people) with whom he is pleased (Luke 2: 14). But we must note that in the Christmas message peace within the heart of the individual and peace between communities are closely related.

Christians believe that Jesus Christ is the only Prince of Peace in history. But, such a claim leads to exclusiveness and arrogance. In a pluralist society like ours different religions may be regarded as different responses to the Mystery of God or Truth or the Ultimate. The question for us today is not which among the many religions is true but what each religion can contribute to the quest for peace.

Consider, for example, the life of Gautama the Buddha. About five centuries before Jesus of Nazareth was born, the Buddha preached the message of ahimsa, which is more than just abstention from violent acts. It is a positive attitude of compassion, described as maha karuna citta (great compassionate consciousness) towards all life. The Buddha extended it towards animals as well, long before people started talking about “animal rights”. Therefore our Buddhist friends can rightly claim that for them the Buddha is the “Prince of Peace”.

It is a fact that more wars and tragedies, the use of nuclear bombs, and environmental pollution took place in the last century in countries which professed to follow Christ. However, all of us must be careful not to point accusing fingers at others. Tragedies like communal riots and atrocities against Dalits take place in our country also.

Shallow friendliness for the sake of superficial peace is morally wrong. But the Mystery of Truth or God is infinite and inexhaustible. God’s love is generous and God’s truth infinite. Can any one community of faith claim exclusive monopoly to it? For a true follower of Christ the distinctiveness of the Christian faith does not begin and end with Christmas. As the child grows to maturity his peace-making ministry passes through the garden of Gethsemane to the cross. It is the combination of Bethlehem and Golgotha, the manger and the cross. That is the distinctive marks of Christian faith. Christian brothers and sisters in this country must realize that friends of other faiths have their own distinctive mark and identity.

Mahatma Gandhi was an apostle of peace who devoted his life to bring together Hindus and Muslims. He was assassinated. Remember, Yitzhak Rabin, the late Prime Minister of Israel, was a soldier-turned-peace-maker. He too was killed in the 1990s. Mahatma Gandhi was killed by a Hindu fanatic. Yitzhak Rabin by a Jewish fanatic. Hinduism, Buddhism and Jainism are much earlier than Christianity. Every religious community has its martyrs for peace. There is no single, exclusive way to peace within the human heart or among nations. Thus, exclusive claims, religious or secular, lead to fanaticism and conflict. In pluralist Indian society, commitment to one’s faith and openness to the faiths of one’s neighbours is the path to peace.

At a time of tension and conflict in the world, including our own country, the distinctive message of Christmas for us is this: that peace is eminently desirable, that peace-making is costly, and that while peace, as the gift of God, the creator of all humanity is singular, the paths to peace are always plural.
There are people of other religions, even secular people, who criticize Christianity as a religion and the Church as an institution, but yet respect and revere Jesus Christ, his life and teachings. Therefore, it was not strange that the title of a booklet written by Swami Ranganathananda of the Ramakrishna Mission on the eve of Christmas 1949 was: “The Christ We Adore”. The Swamiji said then: “Mankind has been offering its heartfelt adoration at the altar of Jesus the Christ for over two millenniums. And even today this child of Mary remains the source of inspiration for millions the world over”.
Christians must learn to adore Christ, obey and follow him because of the message of Christmas, “ the good tidings of great joy”, contained in the song of the angels: Be not be afraid…for unto you is born this day in the city of David a saviour which is Christ the Lord (Luke 2: 10-11)

The light at midnight

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The light at midnight

By P N BENJAMIN

IT was somewhere in the neighbourhood of the present-day Bethlehem that Christ's birth took place nearly 2000 years ago. In the exposition and portrayal of it, literally billions of words, oceans of paint, acres of canvas, mountains of stone and marble have been expended, not to mention, in recent times, miles of film. Is there, then, anything left to say? Yes, there is. Christ and his story continue to attract the minds and imaginations of many.

The story of the birth of Christ begins with a revelation to a peasant girl that she would be the Saviour of the world. She would conceive by the Holy Spirit and give birth to the Son of God. She was so overpowered by the message that she breaks into poetic utterance: the greatest of all songs of motherhood.

"My soul doth magnify the Lord, and my spirit hath/ rejoiced in my God my Saviour.../ For he hath regarded the lowliness of his handmaiden/ For, behold, from henceforth all/ generations shall call me blessed./ For he that is mighty hath magnified me,/ and holy is his name.../ He hath showed strength with his arms/ He hath scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts/ He hath put down the mighty from their seats/ And exalted them of low degree/ He hath filled the hungry with good things/ And the rich, he hath sent empty away." This song of Mary is called the Magnificat. Mary sees a vision of a new order of things where the weak and the poor will throw off their shackles. It is a song of liberation for man as well as for woman.

Against oppressors

The song of Mary reflects the teaching of the prophets of the Old Testament. These prophets denounced the oppressors of the people, those who would sell the needy for a pair of shoes. They were constantly exhorting the people "to untie the knots of the yoke, and loose the fetters of justice, to set free those who have been crushed". Mary belonged to this oppressed section of the people.

Joseph, a poor carpenter from Nazareth, who married Mary, likewise understood that the child to be born to her had a special destiny in the world. Every son of every mother is a son of God, but Mary knew that her son was to have a unique relationship with God and a unique role to play in the lives of men. It was to Mary and Joseph that Christ was born in a stable, no other more suitable accommodation being available, or within the means of Mary and Joseph. The essential point about Christ's birth is that it was so poor and so humble. The Son of God was born into the world not as a prince but as a pauper. God was revealed to humankind not in the guise of power or wealth or physical beauty, but of weakness, obscurity and humility.

Each generation of Christians inevitably seeks to fashion its own Christ, from the austere figures carved in wood in the early Middle Ages, through the ebullient Renaissance Christs to the weird efforts of our time to devise a Hipster saviour. Yet, behind all this there is a real man: born, growing up, reaching maturity like other men, turning his mind to what life means rather than to what it provides; trudging through this self-same dust, and sheltering from this self-same sun; lying down at night to sleep and rising in the morning to live another day.

Christ's mission on earth reached far beyond considerations of national independence or servitude — to the roots of power itself and the fearful passion men have to dominate other men. He very humanly chose to begin his ministry in Nazareth where he was known and had grown up. Therefore, in the synagogue, he chose to read the splendid passage found in the Old Testament in which the Prophet Isaiah proclaims: "The spirit of the Lord is upon me. Because he hath annointed me to preach the gospel, to the poor: He hath sent me to heal the broken-hearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering sight to the blind. To set at liberty them that are bruised. To preach the acceptable year of the Lord."

All would have been well if Christ had just left matters there. Nothing pleases the congregation more, whether it is in a synagogue, church, temple or mosque, than to be told about preaching deliverance to captives, healing the brokenhearted etc., always being provided nothing is expected of them. But that was not to be.

Much of Christ's life appears to have been devoted to denouncing the Pharisees, the priests.. They were the fundamentalists of his time, the ultra-conservatives who spent their lives enforcing on the public their version of the "word of God", as well as their special regulations of conduct. Jesus was determined to drive puritanism and arid conformity out of men's hearts and to make them learn the habit of love.

Christ turned the world's accepted standards upside down. He affirmed the priority of justice over religion. He criticised the religion of law and priesthood and opposed the commercialisation of sacrifices and the observance of Sabbath. That God manifests himself in human mercy is the most important Christian idea. God does not reside in human-made temples. His presence is in works of human mercy.

Christ's humanity

The deity of Christ is hidden in his humanity. We understand Christ's suffering as the suffering of God. But his life was the life of a real man. The religion of the Cross seems to be capable of being assimilated into other religions. Thus in all areas of life, Christ enters. Religion, ideology, revolutionary instinct, God, son, man, painting, literature and time become the dwelling of the Saviour and testimony to his words. Therefore, the image of Christ as the one who has made the ends of the earth his own is right.

The voice of Christmas cries in the wilderness. It is not a call for violent revolution for violent revolutions always end hi tyranny of one kind or another. Christmas calls for a change of heart, a turning away from oneself to one's neighbour, and therefore to God. Christmas reminds us that in the creative relationship there is God, man and always his neighbour — only in such a co-operative partnership can we hope for a restructuring of the social fabric which is permanent.

Dalit Christians' plight

2011-12-05T22:25:00.000-08:00

I have often found it useful to revisit what one said in the past, to analyse the relevance today. In this context, I firmly believe that the following article I wrote in an edit-page article in Deccan Herald on 15 September 1990 is worthy of your consideration today. Particularly when it was written at a time when the Christian lobby, especially the Dalit warriors, was not as hysterical as it is today.

I would suggest that the present-day Christian leaders should read what was written more than twenty years ago, and realise how little their rhetoric has changed. And, more importantly, their rhetoric of the past has been responded to, but they live in a make-believe world that there is no response.

The discrimination within the Church

By P.N.BENJAMIN
(Deccan Herald, 15 Sept. 1990)

OUT of the 20 million Christians in India, over 16 "million are of Scheduled Caste background. The vast majority of the Harijan Christians are poor, landless labourers and unemployed or underemployed urban slum-dwellers.

Their problems concerning land, housing, health, education and employment are as acute and grievous as those of their fellow-Harijans, or even worse. The Christians of Harijan origin suffer from the same social, economic and educational handicaps as in their Hindu and Sikh counterparts.

Conversions have neither offered a way of escape from the bondage of caste nor have they fostered the social transformation of the Harijan Christians. They still live under the same conditions of discrimination, exploitation and oppression.

Unlike the other converts, the Harijan Christians are "twice alienated," both by the Government and the Church: on the one hand, they are denied, as Christians, the rights and benefits availed of by their fellow Harijans, and on the other, as Harijans, they are dominated and persecuted by the upper castes within the Church. The Harijan Christians, (apart from a small group of their elite) suffer grave economic disparities, demoralising social discrimination and cruel denial of political privileges.

To a religion that has always prided itself on the advocacy of complete equality of all human beings, irrespective of caste, colour or race, the charge of discrimination within its own family is galling. And the charge has been made in several quarters. Strangely enough, the Church has won its adherents in the country on the strength of its teaching about the dignity of all human beings and its rejection of distinctions based on birth, colour and race. Now it finds itself charged with failures on this very score.

To the untouchables, the oppressed and those victimised in a socially stratified society, Christianity once brought a message of hope. The reason it has lost its appeal Is not that it has ceased to preach equality, but it has lost its nerve to practise it. It has compromised its own teaching.

MANY FORMS

In Indian Christian communities caste discrimination takes many forms. There are some churches built for separate groups. These places of worship even today retain their caste identity. Another example of casteist practice is allotting separate places in church. Usually, the Christians of Scheduled Caste origin occupy the rear of the church. A glaring instance of caste distinction is found among the dead. The dead of the Harijan communities are buried in separate cemeteries or separate parts of the cemeteries.
A report by Bishop Arokiasamy of the Madurai Diocese to the Catholic Bishops' Conference of India meeting at Shillong last year says: Christians of Scheduled Caste origin are "not allowed to assist the priest or read scriptural passages during mass and not allowed to enter the sanctuary. They are denied participation in the church choir; when sacraments are being administered, the Harijan Christians have to receive them after the upper caste Christians. In death, they are allotted their own cemeteries ,, or a corner of the main cemetery, with a wall separating the section in some...In certain dioceses of central and south Kerala, the church hierarchy ignores the very existence of Pulayas because they are Harijans.

"Interdining is sacrilege, while intermarriage is unheard of. No caste Christian enters the home of a Harijan T Christian. During marriages in upper caste settlements Harijan Christians are given food outside the house, in little wicker baskets..:Caste Christians never attend weddings in Harijan colonies... Harijan Christian marriage and funeral processions are banned from passing through the streets where upper caste Christians live".

Could there be a more eloquent indictment of the Church's hypocrisy? Having so clearly failed to eradicate the caste system from its own sanctum sanctorum, the Christian leaders, bishops, priests and nuns, have today united to demand reservations for Harijan Christians. It is intriguing. It is un-Christian, to say the least.

It is interesting that the continued discrimination by Christians against people of their own faith, as set forth in the Kaka Kalekar Report and other studies, is now being advanced by Christian spokesmen as an argument for recognising the "Scheduled Castes" among Christians.

It has not escaped notice that while Christian spokesmen plead for the same preferential treatment to Christians of Scheduled Caste origin as is being given to those who stay in the Hindu or Sikh faiths, in the matter of recruitment to the public services, Christian establishments that have many jobs under their control, have not been known for their keenness to recruit Christians of Scheduled Caste origin for such jobs. (This, I must add, does not, however, exonerate the State from the charge of discrimination and of a lapse from strict adherence to secularism).

NEGLECTED

"There is total neglect of converts, both for appointments in the Christian institutions as well as for admission to their colleges. Just to quote an example, in the prestigious CMS College, Kottayam, Kerala, the present staff strength is 170. Out of that only two are from converted Christians. The proportion is more or less the same in the institutions of other church denominations also. The paradox is that the church leadership, which is not prepared to include Dalit Christians in any of their lists, is asking the government to do that. This exposes the politics of the church hierarchy". (Economic & Political Weekly, Dec. 3, 1988: M.J. Joseph: Class, Caste and Church).

The un-Christian treatment meted out to the Harijan Christians in the Indian Church hierarchy reminds one of the story of the Negro who, visiting a place in one of the southern States of1 the US went to a church on a Sunday. When the Black man was spotted he' was promptly thrown out by the White congregation. He walked off from the church, in tears over what! had happened. He had not proceeded-very far when he saw God walking? towards him. The Lord stopped and asked him why he was weeping. The Black told the Lord that he had gone to the church and been thrown out. The Lord comforted him, and said, "Don't take it to heart too much, my son; I have myself been trying to get into that church, and have so far failed".

To speak of the Harijan Christians and ask the government to uphold fairness and justice as enshrined in the Constitution is adding insult to injury. When a Harijan becomes a Christian he should be given a minimum chance of escaping from the "outcaste" status. He should be allowed to merge with the rest of the Christian community and the church should make it possible for him to start afresh. If Christians cannot treat "outcastes converts" as part of their fellowship it is better to leave them alone. Christ himself said: "You encompass sea and land to make one convert and then you make him twice the son of hell as you are".

Christian leaders have sinned more than others in perpetuating social injustice. A Church which champions the cause of the Dalit Christians can no longer go on claiming privileges or keep begging for benefits from the State. Its fearless stand for justice to| the converted Christians will let it no! longer remain silent about the discrimination within the Church, which is a matter of shame to its members and an embarrassment to its friends.

Its call for equal distribution of national resources will be heeded when its own resources, running into several thousands of crore of rupees, are reallocated and used for the poor and the downtrodden in the Church itself — yes, for the Harijan Christians.

Edit-page article in Deccan Herald, 15 Sept. 1990

Freedom of Religion Bill 197 & Christians

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Freedom of Religion Bill and Christians

By P.N. BENJAMIN
(Deccan Herald, 27 March 1979)

Freedom of Religion Bill, introduced in the Lok Sabha on December 22, 1978, seeks "to forbid conversions from one religion to another by the use of force or inducement or deceit or by any fraudulent means."

This Bill is in no way "against genuine conversions done with free consent and will." It Is meant to curb abuses, especially prevalent in the conversions of Adivasis and Harijans.
The Bill has provoked strong protests among some Christian leaders who are accusing it of being against the freedom of conscience guaranteed by the Constitution. Representatives of the Karnataka Christians Combined Action Committee recently called on the Governor and submitted a memorandum protesting against the Bill. They also "urged the Government to extend the privileges given to Scheduled Castes to Christians of Scheduled Caste origin." (D.H. March 21).

The Christian leaders seem to forget that the supreme body of the Catholic Church in Rome, the Ecumenical Council, Vatican II, itself has condemned conversion by force and allurement in the very same terms used by the Bill. Besides, the Freedom of Religion Bill will be equally applicable to all the religious communities, since it forbids forced conversion from one religion to another; so there is no valid reason why Christian leaders alone should agitate against it.

A section of the Christian Church has always wrongly emphasised conversion as the primary aim of the Christian mission, totally misunderstanding Christ's commission. In India some churches were more influenced by this misconceived idea. In the last decade, the issue attracted wide attention within and outside the Church.

At this point, one can ask whether mere conversion will any way help the Church in fulfilling the Christian duty in a society. Many will answer in negative. As long as the economic and social conditions remain unchanged, the Church's mission also will fail.
Christians have sinned more than others .in perpetuating social injustice. Therefore, to speak of the Harijan Christians and ask the Government to uphold fairness and justice is to add insult to injury. It smacks of hypocrisy.

PRESTIGIOUS

Christians run prestigious schools for the children of the affluent and even accept rich donations for admission to these Institutions. In many of these schools the authorities do not admit the children of Harijan Christians on the pretext that they cannot help their wards in their home work as they do not have "English education.' Through such schools, the class structure Is perpetuated and Christians are very much flattered by the fact that children of ' highly placed Hindu officials and businessmen seek admission in their institutions.
The Christian Church has no dearth of money and organisation. As Mr. Joachim Alva the former M.P., once said, "Christ was the son of a carpenter, with fishermen as his apostles but his Church now is ah empire!." In the last 30 years vast sums of money have come from abroad into the coffers of the Church in India. One would like to know how much of this has been spent on the welfare of Harijan Christians. The Church has done nothing substantially to wipe the" tears out of these unfortunate ones.

On the other hand, this money from abroad has been mainly used to build lavish structures in big cities and on administrative personnel who appropriate the lion's share for themselves and their satellites. Huge hospitals have been built in cities and medical aid there is beyond the means- of the poor and needy. Excepting the ones run by Mother Teresa, almost all other Christian hospitals are unapproachable to the poor.

Caste-consciousness is still prevalent in the Christian community. The caste-complex still persisting among Christians only shows that they are not yet sufficiently redeemed as they profess to be. When the higher ideals and aspirations of the Christian path are understood and when, their mentors, both clergy and the laity, inculcate true Christian spirit among its members, the community can get rid of all negative phases of casteism and transform it as an ideal and casteless society.

MINIMUM CHANCE

When a Harijan becomes Christian he should be given a minimum chance of escaping from the 'outcasts' status. He should merge with the rest of the Christian community and the Church must make it possible for him to start afresh. If Christians cannot treat outcaste converts as part of their fellowship it is better to leave them alone. Christ himself said: "You encompass sea sad land to make one convert and then you make him twice the son of hell as you are."

For many of the Harijan Christians their conversion to Christianity means nothing but substitution of social discrimination within the Churches for discrimination within the Hindu system.

As for democratic and constitutional rights, let the Church first establish true democracy within its own institutions. It is well known that power and money in the Christian organisations are held by cliques who perpetuate their positions through constant manipulation of membership of committees. If any one has the courage to raise a dissenting voice he will find himself out by the end of the year.

All this is not to say that Christians should not raise their voice against injustice and intolerance, but a parochial approach is not the way. They should not try to bargain both ways to be Christians and at the same time grab the advantages available to the Scheduled Classes. They can as well choose to go back to the Hindu faith.

Educational and employment! opportunities and concessions should be made available to the poor and economically underprivileged and should not be based on caste or creed. Th» Government should bring in legislation urgently on an all-India basis towards this end. That would be a revolutionary step indeed which would go a long way towards abolition of caste and social inequality.

Christian leaders must stop "being dazzled by their own words and ensure instead that the distance is closed between what they preach and what they practise. They must take the beams out of their own eyes before pointing out the mote in others' eyes. Like charity, fight against social evils must begin at home. Otherwise, they would be told, "Physician, I heal thyself!." The Christian leaders must present themselves as men of real Christian vision, like Martin Luther King Jr., and charisma, like Mahatma Gandhi, and lead the people against injustice and oppression.

Those who describe the Freedom of Religion Bill as a blow to Christianity forget that the minorities in independent India, especially the Christians, have been enjoying more rights both in law and substance than ever before and they are much better off as citizens of a democratic country than those in the so-called citadels of democracy in the West.
It is a fact that the Catholics in India enjoy more privileges and better rights than their Catholic counterparts in the United States of America and Britain, both allegedly Christian. But the Christian leaders in India who cry wolf against the Bill close their eyes to this fact when they shout "threat to minority rights."

While it is wrong for the majority to deny the existence of minorities, it is equally wrong for the minorities to perpetuate themselves through artificial means and vested interests.

Freedom of Religion Bill 1978

2011-11-22T05:59:00.000-08:00

From my files

Freedom of Religion Bill and Christians

By P.N. BENJAMIN
(Deccan Herald, 27 March 1979)

Freedom of Religion Bill, introduced in the Lok Sabha on December 22, 1978, seeks "to forbid conversions from one religion to another by the use of force or inducement or deceit or by any fraudulent means."

This Bill is in no way "against genuine conversions done with free consent and will." It Is meant to curb abuses, especially prevalent in the conversions of Adivasis and Harijans.
The Bill has provoked strong protests among some Christian leaders who are accusing it of being against the freedom of conscience guaranteed by the Constitution. Representatives of the Karnataka Christians Combined Action Committee recently called on the Governor and submitted a memorandum protesting against the Bill. They also "urged the Government to extend the privileges given to Scheduled Castes to Christians of Scheduled Caste origin." (D.H. March 21).

The Christian leaders seem to forget that the supreme body of the Catholic Church in Rome, the Ecumenical Council, Vatican II, itself has condemned conversion by force and allurement in the very same terms used by the Bill. Besides, the Freedom of Religion Bill will be equally applicable to all the religious communities, since it forbids forced conversion from one religion to another; so there is no valid reason why Christian leaders alone should agitate against it.

A section of the Christian Church has always wrongly emphasised conversion as the primary aim of the Christian mission, totally misunderstanding Christ's commission. In India some churches were more influenced by this misconceived idea. In the last decade, the issue attracted wide attention within and outside the Church.

At this point, one can ask whether mere conversion will any way help the Church in fulfilling the Christian duty in a society. Many will answer in negative. As long as the economic and social conditions remain unchanged, the Church's mission also will fail.
Christians have sinned more than others .in perpetuating social injustice. Therefore, to speak of the Harijan Christians and ask the Government to uphold fairness and justice is to add insult to injury. It smacks of hypocrisy.

PRESTIGIOUS

Christians run prestigious schools for the children of the affluent and even accept rich donations for admission to these Institutions. In many of these schools the authorities do not admit the children of Harijan Christians on the pretext that they cannot help their wards in their home work as they do not have "English education.' Through such schools, the class structure Is perpetuated and Christians are very much flattered by the fact that children of ' highly placed Hindu officials and businessmen seek admission in their institutions.
The Christian Church has no dearth of money and organisation. As Mr. Joachim Alva the former M.P., once said, "Christ was the son of a carpenter, with fishermen as his apostles but his Church now is ah empire!." In the last 30 years vast sums of money have come from abroad into the coffers of the Church in India. One would like to know how much of this has been spent on the welfare of Harijan Christians. The Church has done nothing substantially to wipe the" tears out of these unfortunate ones.

On the other hand, this money from abroad has been mainly used to build lavish structures in big cities and on administrative personnel who appropriate the lion's share for themselves and their satellites. Huge hospitals have been built in cities and medical aid there is beyond the means- of the poor and needy. Excepting the ones run by Mother Teresa, almost all other Christian hospitals are unapproachable to the poor.

Caste-consciousness is still prevalent in the Christian community. The caste-complex still persisting among Christians only shows that they are not yet sufficiently redeemed as they profess to be. When the higher ideals and aspirations of the Christian path are understood and when, their mentors, both clergy and the laity, inculcate true Christian spirit among its members, the community can get rid of all negative phases of casteism and transform it as an ideal and casteless society.

MINIMUM CHANCE

When a Harijan becomes Christian he should be given a minimum chance of escaping from the 'outcasts' status. He should merge with the rest of the Christian community and the Church must make it possible for him to start afresh. If Christians cannot treat outcaste converts as part of their fellowship it is better to leave them alone. Christ himself said: "You encompass sea sad land to make one convert and then you make him twice the son of hell as you are."

For many of the Harijan Christians their conversion to Christianity means nothing but substitution of social discrimination within the Churches for discrimination within the Hindu system.

As for democratic and constitutional rights, let the Church first establish true democracy within its own institutions. It is well known that power and money in the Christian organisations are held by cliques who perpetuate their positions through constant manipulation of membership of committees. If any one has the courage to raise a dissenting voice he will find himself out by the end of the year.

All this is not to say that Christians should not raise their voice against injustice and intolerance, but a parochial approach is not the way. They should not try to bargain both ways to be Christians and at the same time grab the advantages available to the Scheduled Classes. They can as well choose to go back to the Hindu faith.

Educational and employment! opportunities and concessions should be made available to the poor and economically underprivileged and should not be based on caste or creed. Th» Government should bring in legislation urgently on an all-India basis towards this end. That would be a revolutionary step indeed which would go a long way towards abolition of caste and social inequality.

Christian leaders must stop "being dazzled by their own words and ensure instead that the distance is closed between what they preach and what they practise. They must take the beams out of their own eyes before pointing out the mote in others' eyes. Like charity, fight against social evils must begin at home. Otherwise, they would be told, "Physician, I heal thyself!." The Christian leaders must present themselves as men of real Christian vision, like Martin Luther King Jr., and charisma, like Mahatma Gandhi, and lead the people against injustice and oppression.

Those who describe the Freedom of Religion Bill as a blow to Christianity forget that the minorities in independent India, especially the Christians, have been enjoying more rights both in law and substance than ever before and they are much better off as citizens of a democratic country than those in the so-called citadels of democracy in the West.
It is a fact that the Catholics in India enjoy more privileges and better rights than their Catholic counterparts in the United States of America and Britain, both allegedly Christian. But the Christian leaders in India who cry wolf against the Bill close their eyes to this fact when they shout "threat to minority rights."

While it is wrong for the majority to deny the existence of minorities, it is equally wrong for the minorities to perpetuate themselves through artificial means and vested interests.

Communal Riots

2011-11-10T21:08:00.000-08:00

STOP THE "RIOT ENTERPRENURS" IN THEIR TRACKS
P.N.BENJAMIN

On March 7, 2006, twenty persons were killed and 125 injured in twin bomb blasts in the Holy City of Varanasi. But, life returned to normal in the city quickly basically because of the remarkable restraint and control of the people of Varanasi shown in such a provocative situation. Even to this day the city presents a model of communal harmony. How did it happen?

In a show of solidarity, all sections, cutting across religious and social affiliations, observed a bandh and took out peace marches. In a spontaneous move, Benares Hindu University (BHU) students marched to the Sankat Mochan temple, where a deadly blast occurred. They reiterated their resolve to fight terrorism. Hindu and Muslim women joined hands and took out marches for communal harmony through the busy streets. So did many other organisations. They carried placards and raised slogans of Hindu-Muslim-Sikh-Christian unity and brotherhood.

Hundreds of BHU students and volunteers of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) participated in blood donation camps. There was no shortage of blood in the hospitals where the people injured in the blasts are being treated.

Abdul Batin Nomani, Mufti-e-Banaras, a respected cleric, issued appeals for maintaining peace and communal harmony. He appealed to all sections of the people and political leaders to "refrain from making our city the boxing arena for settling political scores and deriving political mileage from such tragic incidents. Hindus and Muslims here are dependent on each other. Both communities have lived in perfect harmony and enjoyed cordial relations. If weavers are Muslims, traders are Hindus. Their economic bonds are very strong and they share a remarkable trust. This fabric should not be harmed by anyone."

Similar sentiments were expressed by Sankat Mochan Temple Foundation's chief priest, Veerbhadra Mishra, who lamented the loss of lives in the terror attack. He said such attacks would change the security scenario, and even religious places would be turned into police strongholds, restricting the free movement of devotees.

Indeed, a miracle occurred in Varanasi. It once again proved Ashutosh Varshney’s deceptively simple thesis that "the greater the patterns of inter-communal civic engagement in a city, the lower the likelihood of violent conflicts and communal riots." (Ethnic Conflict & Civic Life). For example, "the Hindus of Varanasi would not attack the Muslim artisans who make the masks and effigies for the annual Ram Lila, even if an irresponsible and bigoted politician egged them on to do so."

In many parts of India, Hindus and Muslims engage with each other in strong associational forms of civic life, from political parties and non-religious movements for social justice or land reform, to trade unions and business groups. In some places, caste is a more important divider than religion. Such networks of civic engagements bring Hindu and Muslim urban communities together. These networks may take the form of associational interaction or they be everyday forms of engagement. Both forms, if inter-communal, promote peace but the capacity of associational forms to withstand events is substantially higher. Vigorous and communally integrated associational life can serve as an agent of peace by restraining those, including politicians, who would polarise Hindus and Muslims along communal lines.

Varshney's central insight is invaluable, and its buttressing with an impressive array of facts and figures from over seven years of research means that it is solidly grounded. Varshney has no illusions about how communal riots are instigated and manipulated: whatever the proximate trigger for violence, there is always a politician with an axe to grind, pulling the strings, inflaming passions, exploiting the victims for purely political ends. But the chances for success of such politicians (the breed of "riot-entrepreneurs") would be remarkably lower if there is vigorous and communally-integrated civic life, not just through everyday casual contact but through formal associations that consolidate the mutual engagement of the two communities.
.

Communal harmony is easier extolled in seminar halls than achieved on the ground. Terrorism and fundamentalism are the twin threats to communal harmony. Spunk and harmony may not foil terrorism, but they do foil the design to divide and disrupt. One hopes that politicians, in their zeal to obtain votes do not revive communal vengeance, which has done so much harm to communal harmony and peace in the country. Hindu-Muslim civic engagement should be an urgent priority for the politicians and policemen who make public policy and in whose hands lie the safety of our fellow citizens the next when a riot is instigated

THE LAST SUPPER

2011-11-10T20:47:00.000-08:00

The Last Supper: An eduring episode

By P.N.Benjamin

An enduring episode in the annals of Christian art and history is the 'Last Supper' of Jesus Christ. Hours before his fateful trial for treason, Jesus Christ had hosted his disciples a Passover meal in an upper room in Jerusalem. This was the final meal he had prior to his crucifixion. He knew that his hour was drawing near.

However, before partaking of the food, Jesus rose from the table, took off his outer garments and tied a towel around his waist. Then he poured water into a basin, and insisted washing the feet of his twelve disciples sitting around him. He was thereby showing them once more that every act of true humility is a sort of grace whereby the soul grows as the will, or ego, diminishes. Intrigued and bashful at the same time, one of them exclaimed: 'You, Lord, washing my feet?' The Great One answered: “At present you do not understand what I am doing, but one day you will.'

After washing their feet, he put on his garment and sat down again. Addressing them he said: 'do you understand what I have done for you? You call me Master and L
ord, and rightly so, because that is what I am. If I then, your lord and master, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another's feet. I have set you an example: you are to do as I have done for you.'

Yes, the Great Christ himself knelt on the hard floor, and with his graceful hands, cleansed the feet of each and every of his disciple. This inspiring parable gives us a significant insight into Christ's humility and the essentiality of his message:

"He who wants to be great must become the smallest of all." (Mark 9.35). Thus, he showed his disciples how to escape from the little dark cells our egos make. Whosoever would be great in this world, he was always telling them, is small; and whoever, through his sense of God’s greatness, realizes his own smallness, becomes spiritually great.

P.N.BENJAMIN
501 Indira Residency
167 Hennur Road
Bangalore 560 043
Mob. 9731182308

Serenity Prayer

2011-11-10T20:43:00.001-08:00

The Serenity Prayer
by Reinhold Niebuhr (1892-1971)

God, give us grace to accept with serenity
the things that cannot be changed,
Courage to change the things
which should be changed,
and the Wisdom to distinguish
the one from the other.

Living one day at a time,
Enjoying one moment at a time,
Accepting hardship as a pathway to peace,
Taking, as Jesus did,
This sinful world as it is,
Not as I would have it,
Trusting that You will make all things right,
If I surrender to Your will,
So that I may be reasonably happy in this life,
And supremely happy with You forever in the next.
Amen.

SPEAK UP...

2011-11-10T20:40:00.000-08:00

SPEAK UP

Speak: your lips are free Speak: your tongue is still yours Speak: this lissome body is yours Speak: this life is yours Speak: so that the truth can prevail ….

The secular brigade, which works itself up into just the right kind of outrage after every such carnage, could do with soul-searching on these allied issues.
But can we afford to forget the Delhi riots? Can we afford to forget the way the government in power allowed the killings to continue for days on end? Can we afford to forget the way people were roasted alive or butchered by armed gangs that walked the streets of Delhi openly and defiantly, unafraid of forces of law and order? Or, were they protected, aided and abetted by these same forces? Is there any hope that we can ever solve this problem of communal and caste violence? I don’t think so. Unless we have the will to do so. And not unless we can use every moral weapon in our armoury to make our governments more accountable, our law enforcing agencies more responsible.

Slogans and pretexts have been the secret arms of a callous elite, which has rarely been seriously concerned about the welfare of those over whom it lords. It is this callousness we must fight. Otherwise, many more Delhi will keep occurring. (Haven’t they already occurred during the last 21 years – Gujarat and Marad, for example?) Many, many more people will be killed on the pretext of religion, caste, and community. The violence will grow all around us, while its perpetrators walk the streets as free men, their chests puffed out, and their heads held high.
It is time for us to be ashamed of our silence. It is also time for us to be angry. Angry with the men who commit such heinous crimes. And also with those who stand by and watch them. Watch them maim, murder, loot, burn, destroy. Only our anger may scare them. Only our anger may force the authorities to act. To see that such terrible things are not allowed to happen, again and again.

Time has no discriminatory qualities. It heals even those wounds, which should not be healed. The tears of victims may have dried up with time, even though the residual hurt must have remained. At any rate Sikhs are a phlegmatic enough community that, has taken several hurts and prejudices in its stride. But this particular hurt is too hard to live down.

Even if all the earthly courts or commissions of inquiry were to find these monsters not guilty of any crime and set them free, we can be assured, now and always, that the heavenly court will brand them forever with the curse of God. In case they are still alive, we can be sure, theirs is a life so-called that is a million times worse than death. "There is a higher court than the courts of justice and that is the court of conscience. It supercedes all other courts"( Mahatma Gandhi).

Moral Degradation

2011-11-10T20:37:00.000-08:00

MORAL & IDEOLOGICAL RECONSTRUCTION OF POLITICS

By P.N.BENJAMIN

THOUGHTFUL and sensitive Indians have been expressing their deep concern over many disquieting tendencies and developments on the political scene.Today public debate on basic issues of political ideologies and principles, development and transformation, has fast receded into background and non-issues have assumed exaggerated significance. It is time that the healthy elements of Indian polity to raise the moral question of Indian politics today. They must stand outside the murky waters of politics and uphold the principles of morality in political life. They must also heed to the rising dissatisfaction of the large mass of nameless, ordinary men and women who are shocked by the immoral and unprincipled politics, which has emerged in the country.
The substitution of issues with non-issues reflects sharply the loss of ideological moorings of the political elite. This loss has contributed considerably towards political disorientation and the resurgence of factionalism based on petty passions and interests. Conflicts arise not over ideas and policies but over trivial issues.
To be concerned about the moral question is one thing and to be able to understand identify the deeper causes of the moral crisis and to find a way out of it is quite another. If the mere preaching of social and political morality was enough to create such a morality, India, having no dearth of sermonisers and preachers, could have solved the moral problem long ago. It may sound irrelevant but it is nevertheless true that the key to the moral question lies outside the moral sphere.
The cause for the drying up of the springs of moral energy lies in the inability of the present political elite to offer a morally electrifying goal to the country. The struggle for freedom gave a moral shake-up to the moribund Indian society in the pre-independence period. It became a moral force because it was not just a struggle for seizure of power by the nationalist elite from foreign hands, but was also the one for a "New Society". Politics can be revitalised as a moral force only if it becomes once again the instrument of the struggle for a new society.
The moral crisis of today can neither be understood nor resolved if it is only interpreted in the vulgar and narrow sense of moral lapses and aberrations of individuals. The struggle for power arouses the basest instincts if it is pursued in isolation of or in opposition to the struggle for a new society. In other words, as Gandhi so aptly summed up: "Power ennobles when it is a means of serving higher ideals. It degenerates when it becomes an end in itself or only a means of fulfilling smaller interests".
Gandhi contributed most to the uplifting of a demoralised nation from a state of passive submission to foreign rule to becoming heroic fighters against tyranny and injustice. He was a moral force because he created the consciousness of great oppression and injustice within the Indian society against the have-nots and the Dalits. It is therefore not his private ideas of moral life which made him a figure of historical significance but his contribution to the basic causes relating to India’s emergence as a new nation and a new society.
It is necessary to be free from the prison of many backward and obscurantist notions of morality if the moral energy of the people is to be released for the great challenges of building a new society. The concept of the "moral" itself has to be redefined in the light of new challenges facing the nation. In the ultimate analysis morality is not above but subordinate to the basic requirements of man’s social existence on a long-term basis. It has to be related to the dynamics of social existence.
Gandhi linked politics with philosophy in terms of such categories that derived from Indian traditions as were intelligible even to the illiterate masses of the country. After Independence, there occurred a decisive shift from ‘politics as social philosophy’ (i.e. politics as expression of evolving social consciousness of the people), to ‘politics as technique’ ( ie. politics as the art and science of acquiring and manipulating the levers of state power). This shift was a sequel to the transition from the era of national struggle to that of running the nation state.
The emergence of politics as a technique and as image-building of political leaders and manipulation of the people’s mind through the mass media has also led to modernising the coercive apparatus of the state on the model provided by advanced nations. Thus, the triumph of politics as a technique resulted in the erosion of the philosophical basis inherited from Gandhi.
The question of further development of the philosophical basis in the light of new challenges has never been put in the centre stage. It is no wonder that in the absence of a social philosophy, politics has put an exaggerated emphasis on skill rather than on motivation and commitment as the basic qualification of men and women supposed to build the new India of Gandhi’s dreams.
The weak moral consciousness of the Indian polity has its roots in the process of recruitment. In fact recruitment into politics does not involve an initiation into definite social philosophy and a code of conduct. The inner life of most political parties and their members is denuded of any interest in the question of social philosophy.
The process of building the new society must begin urgently. Its ideology and values must be brought into the centre of Indian politics. And, here individuals with unshakeable faith in the possibilities of moral reconstruction of Indian politics have an important role to play.
"One person with a belief is a social power equal to ninety nine who have interests". This statement of John Stuart Mill is relevant to the Indian situation today when most men and women dominating the Indian scene have only interests but very few have beliefs. It is the men and women with convictions who hold the key to the future. The struggle for a new society – a new India –calls both for clear definition of the new society and new men and women who can become the agents for the creation of that new society.
P.N.BENJAMIN
Apt. 501, Indira Residency
167 Hennur Road
Kalyan Nagar
Bangalore 560 043
e-mail: benjaminpn@hotmail.com

The Challenge of the Child

2011-11-10T16:16:00.000-08:00

RESPOND TO THE CHALLENGE OF THE CHILD

P.N.BENJAMIN

The character and quality of a nation is determined by how its children are fed and educated for tomorrow. Free India must learn a lesson from that India-hater, Winston Churchill, who, in his country’s gravest hour, still insisted: “There is no finer investment for any community than putting milk into babies”. We as a nation are so busy with adult agenda of personal relevance that milk for the infant and nutrition for the expectant mother, both below the bread line, must wait till it is too late. We have time only to quarrel about corruption – that perennial pragmatism of politician.

The harrowing tale of our neglected children is too tearful for words. They are the most deprived part of humanity, ill-fed and ill-clad, with little literacy and negligible chances of a decent life. They are victims of vices and moral lapses, of broken homes and juvenile crimes. We need militant laws to compel the State to nurture the neglected millions crowding in our towns and cities to pick food from garbage cans, sleep nude in the open and live like stray animals in the streets. Beggary Abolition Act gives Indian children stones, not bread! Asked Jesus: What man is there of you, if his son ask bread, will he give him a stone?” There are many of that species in the present-day India.

Rights begin with viable life in the womb. So we must protect the child in the womb, legitimate or illegitimate. Every baby is innocent. Bernard Shaw was once asked: “Do you believe in Immaculate Conception?” He replied: “I believe every conception is immaculate”. There is now a UN Declaration against branding children illegitimate. But our system of inheritance and maintenance, despite our ancient and hallowed illegitimate greats, is discriminatory, in most personal laws, against the illegitimate child

Every month almost one lakh Indian children die as a direct result of malnutrition. As even greater number die due to infectious diseases which, could have been cured but for the lowered resistance of the malnourished children. A whole spectrum of sorrows remains to be exposed, a whole saga of blood, toils, sweat and tears remains to be lived down. Until then, there is only one criminal – the society.

The first task of social justice is to save the throw-away babies who today grow up in the world of beggars and vagrants and crippled crooks, and are often pushed into crime by a society which is the criminal number one.

Our founding fathers, dreaming of a brave new Bharat and its tryst with destiny, laid down the great testament of the Constitution where the value vision for future generations was projected. Deep concern for the material and moral welfare of the juvenalia of India is underscored and social injustice anathematised. Universal primary education is assured. Freedom from labour during tender age is mandated. Special care for children’s health and growth is a first charge

Let me not be misunderstood as being negative. We have positive gains on the credit side. Our national policy on the mother and child has been spelt out in the Fundamental Law, Articles 15(3), 24, 39(e) and 45, sum up this policy. More importantly, in the backward milieu of our country, the very affirmation of equal access and non-discrimination on account of sexes and castes is a Magna Carta for the child, female and backward but innocent and sinned against. For, most parents
are destitutes and down-and-outs, unlettered and under-nourished, and their babies are the most numerous.

The Children’s Hour is with us. But the law must take militant haste to sensitise itself and speak up. The ‘miles to go’ syndrome must be overcome. The Indian State should secure ‘a social order in which justice, social, economic and political, shall inform all the institutions of national life.’ But our environment is such that expectation darkens into anxiety, anxiety into dread and dread into despair.

Mother and Child go together and the economic march to a non-exploitative society is impossible without economic welfare for the mother and investment in the infant. Nobel laureate Chilean poet, Pablo Neruda wrote in 1945: “We are guilty of many errors and many faults, but the worst crime is abandoning the children, neglecting the fountain of life. Many of the things we need can wait. The child cannot. Right now is the time his bones are being formed, his blood is being made and his senses are being developed. To him we cannot answer “tomorrow”. His name is “Today”.
Let us respond to the challenge of the child to inaugurate justice to the young – Today, not Tomorrow.

The child should become the nation’s central interest and child welfare should no longer be treated as an administrative decoration but love and labour for the lovely gifts of God – our supreme asset.

P.N.BENJAMIN
501 Indira Residency
167 Hennur Road
Adjacent to Reliance Fresh
Bangalore 560 043
Cell: 9731182308

Khandamal violence 2008. an open letter to John Dayal

2011-10-31T08:09:00.000-07:00

Kandhamal Violence

Mr PN Benjamin's appeal from Bangalore: Restore peace in Kandhamal
Dear All,

Greetings.

The democratic process can only solve any controversial problem like Kandhamal. People across the religions and communities are trying hard to bring peace in the disturbed area.

Interestingly, the Christian community is also divided on conversion and other similar issues. One section of the minority is saying that the Hindu fundamentalists like VHP is responsible for the violence in Kandhamal.

Whereas, the other section of Christian community is saying: Let us first set our house in order ; work for peace and amity. Mr PN Benjamin, head of Bangalore Initiative for Religious Dialogue (BIRD), falls in this categoy. I have received a mail from him with the title: An open letter to Mr John Dayal on Orissa inquiry. Mr Benjamin can be reached at benjaminpn@hotmail.com .

Mr Benjamin's appeal to bring peace in Orissa is important.

Regards,

Sai Prasan

An open letter to John Dayal October 2008

Dear Mr. John Dayal
Why bother about your security? You and I are Christians. And we have His assurance: Fear not, when I am with you. However, is your life more precious to you than the 'Christian' cause you are fighting for? Haven't nearly sixty Christians, according to you died in Orissa for fighting your cause? Haven't they been pawns in the hands of Christian jehadis like you?
Thanks for the offer to hold my hand and take care of my taxi fare from Bhuvaneswar. But, I am a retired bank employee, existing on a pittance as pension. So, please find a good Christian to take care of my medical needs, travel, board and lodge.
I need regular supply of the following medicines; Plendil-5mg , Lodoze 5 mg twice daily, Ramace 5mg, (morning –evening), Natrilik SR- one daily andClonotril,5mg in the night. These are for my BP. Then, human insulin Lille (30/70) 40 units in the morning and 15 in the night, Tab.Glucobay-50mg, morning and night, Riomet500GF, one in the morning for diabetes. These are the medicines I take every day. Hope you'll be kind enough to stock them for me, not forgetting an ice bag (small) to keep the insulin cool.
Looks like you have no faith in the good old Bible and the power of Jesus, our Defender and Saviour! There's no mention about it in your reply. That's why you're more concerned about your personal safety.
You refer only good old Gandhi and say you cannot be compared with him. No wonder. I respect your honesty because Gandhi never bore false witness against anyone, though he was not a Christian. But, the John Dayal, I know of dishes that out (falsehood) profusely especially when he goes to the US and appears before USCIRF and his Christian evangelist friends there who ostensibly bank-roll his activities both in the US and in India.

"There are no Christian assailants" in the Orissa incident"? That is quite a stretch when everyone who is familiar with the tribals in Orissa knows that many Maoists are converts to Christianity. Besides, to claim that there are no Christian assailants...that is another instance of bearing false witness when an 80 year old Hindu mendicant and his four associates were killed by assailants whose Christian identity is cleverly camouflaged under the guile of their being Maoists. There are Maoists who are not atheists, but still go to their respective places of worship.
Incidentally, I understand from my friends in the US, that whenever you go there and appear before the USCIRF, all the secular Indian Christians there hang their heads in shame for the presence of such a man in the US who does not seem to have an iota of national pride or is willing to credit India's 2000 plus years of history with Hinduism that has tolerated the fundamentalist preaching of the mis-quided Mullahs and the ilk of Benny Hinn (Bunny Henn?) types.
I need some clarifications. The inquiry Commission has invited you to Bhubaneshwar and not to Kandanmhal. Orissa State government to probe Dec 2007 appointed Justice Panigrahi Commission anti-Christian violence. You first boycotted it as he was not a sitting judge and then asked for extension of time. You had placed your demands before the commission before the killing of Swami Lakhmanand. Some disconnect somewhere?
Be that as it may, there can be a funeral in Bhubeneshwar for a Christian priest killed in the aftermath of the murder of Swami Laksmananda. And 3000 people can attend it. But John Dayal says that he cannot come to Bhubeneshwar to give evidence to the commission set up to inquire into many aspects surrounding the issues in Kandhamal, because he fears for his safety.

It is not only the Christian priests and bishops who are out to demonise Hindu organisations. Various laity leaders like you, who see an opportunity to make money, egg them on. It is unfortunate the John Dayals of India like the Taliban want to "Christianize" Asia because they still toe the line of the late John Paul II's Ecclesia in Asia
However, May God bless you abundantly to spread continuously hatred like butter on hot bread. In the meantime, I accept your invitation/offer/challenge to visit Orissa along with you to spread the message of peace and amity, provided you take care of the above mentioned requirements. Please do bring along with you the Bibles you promised. May be a hymnbook tooto help us sing the old-weird-colonial song: Onward Christian soldiers, marching as to war…."

PN Benjamin
Oct. 2008

CASTEISM: WHY SHOULD IT GO AWAY?

2011-10-07T22:42:00.000-07:00

"Why should caste system go away?"

Most Hindus agree that caste must go away and say that it is slowly going away.

"What language do the African Americans speak? And what did their ancestors speak 500 years ago?" "Swahili? Hausa?" "Do the African Americans worship the animist deities of their ancestors? Do they wed and bury per their ancestral customs?" The answer, "No."

One can replace African Americans with any immigrant group: The Dutch, the Germans, the French or the Latinos. What Americans proudly advertise as the melting pot actually imposed the language, culture, religion and customs of the dominant ethnic group on all others. On the other hand, visit even a small village in India with just 300 families. The chances are that this population would be made up of 10 different castes and each of them retains its distinct religious, wedding, funerary, culinary and dialectic features. This is because, as a truly pluralistic society, the Hindu India allowed each ethnic group, regardless of how numerically small it was, to retain its identity."

So, Caste is a result of this spirit of freedom and pluralism. It is something to be proud of. by the Hindus. On the other hand, the so-called melting pot is actually a result of cultural, and often physical, extermination of diverse identities by one intolerant and powerful group.

Like every other man made institution, caste too has been misused. Then, so has been every other man made institution like democracy or secularism. It was a democratically elected Hitler who exterminated 6 million Jews, Gypsies and mentally retarded patients. It was a democratically elected Jefferson who fixed the worth of every African-American child at $ 22.50 and proposed to forcibly snatch them away from their parents and ship them back to Africa after ensuring that the adult African American population does not procreate any further. It was a democratically elected Roosevelt who declared that the extermination at the hands of the Whites was the best thing that happened to the Native Americans. Stalin and Mao were secular but they mercilessly sent millions to death camps.

"Is anyone demanding that democracy or secularism be abandoned because of a Jefferson, Roosevelt, Hitler, Stalin or Mao? Why should caste be abandoned just because it was misused? Hindus have systematically addressed caste inequities over the last 100 years or so. If we assume that we rid our society of all discriminations in the next 30 years, members of every caste, be it Brahmin, Kayastha, Maratha or Paraiyah could proudly say that they follow the millennia old religion, customs and dialects of their forefathers. Suppose the Christian West similarly resolves racial discriminations, could an African American, Dutch American or Latino make similar assertion?"

In the casteless Christian West, the minorities have been forced to abandon their identities and instead have been made to imitate the dominant group in every aspect of life such as religion, language, wedding and funeral customs. Nathan Katz points out how Hindu pluralism, of which caste is an integral part, actually preserved minority customs. Katz, while discussing how the Jewish people flourished for centuries amidst the Hindus "A crucial distinction between India and the rest of the Diaspora, however, is that in India acculturation is not paid for in the currency of assimilation. By acculturation I mean fitting comfortably into a society while retaining one's own identity, whereas by assimilation I mean that the loss of that identity is a perceived condition for acceptance.

The study of Indian Jewish communities demonstrates that in Indian culture an immigrant group gains status precisely by maintaining its own identity. Such is the experience not only of India's Jews, but also of local Christians, Zoroastrians, and recently, Tibetan Buddhists. This striking feature of Indian civilization is reflected by each of these immigrant groups.

Would this preservation have been possible without the spirit of pluralism, which was ensured by the caste system? Are the Hindus going to repeat the missionary propaganda and deny the strengths of their own civilization or are they going to understand the institution of caste dispassionately? The missionaries know that the institution of caste must be obliterated if the Hindu society were to be weakened and converted. A Hindu should critically analyze his traditions instead of uncritically absorbing propaganda.

"The genius of Hinduism, the very reason it has survived so long, is that it does not stand up and fight. It changes and adapts and modernizes and absorbs–that is the scientific and proper way of going about it. I believe that Hinduism may actually prove to be the religion of this millennium, because it can adapt itself to cha nge."

Mark Tully
__._,_.___

10th Samartha Memorial Lecture postponed

2011-10-02T22:29:00.000-07:00

PRESS RELEASE 01 Oct. 2011

Rev. Dr. Stanley Samartha Memorial Lecture

The 10th Stanley Samartha Memorial Lecture due to be held in October 2011 stands postponed to January 2012 due to unavoidable circumstances. The date, time and name of the speaker will be announced in due course.

Bangalore Initiative for Religious Dialogue (BIRD) is a low profile organization formed in 2001, by a small group of Hindus, Muslims and Christians in Bangalore, to promote inter-faith amity in line with our native wisdom of promoting inclusiveness for preserving India's religious diversity. BIRD organizes seminars, consultations, panel discussions and dialogues and an annual lecture series in memory of Rev. Dr Stanley Samartha, the first Director of the Inter-Faith Dialogue Programme of the World Council of Churches, Geneva. It is the signature event of BIRD’s inter-faith activities undertaken in the cosmopolitan city of Bangalore. It has organized nine such lectures so far.

Sir Mark Tully, former BBC’s India chief delivered the ninth Samartha Memorial lecture on 7 October 2010 while Mr. Arun Shourie, MP, and celebrated journalist and author, delivered the eighth Lecture in October 2009 . He spoke on “Rethinking Religions”.

The seventh lecture was delivered by Mr. M.J. Akbar, well known journalist and author, presently editor of India Today. The theme was: “The Power of Religion vs. the Religion of Power”.

Other speakers who delivered the lectures in the past were: Justice K.T. Thomas, former Judge of Supreme Court of India (2007), Dr. Hans Ucko, director of inter-faith dialogue division at the World Council of Churches (2006), Mar Thoma Metropolitan Bishop Philipose Mar Chrysostom (2005), Prof. M.V. Nadkarni, former Vice Chancellor(2004), Dr. C.T.Kurien, economist and Director Emeritus of Madras Inst. of Dev. Studies (2003) and Mr. Francois Gautier, author and former political correspondent of Le Fegura (2001). They spoke respectively on: “The Right to Convert & the Indian Constitution”, “Towards and Ethical Code of Conduct”, “Courage for Dialogue”, “Religion in the 21st Century: A Perspective of Hope”, “Communal Harmony- A Societal Perspective” and “The Need for Inter-Religious Dialogue’

P.N. BENJAMIN
Coordinator-BIRD

Sir Mark Tully on Indian Politics

2011-10-02T22:22:00.000-07:00

Mark Tully on Indian Politics

I was surprised when the Congress party gave me a Padma Shri – I am the only foreign journalist to ever get it. For, in my forty years of political reporting in India, I have always been a vocal critic of the Nehru dynasty. Someone even called me recently: “a vitriolic British journalist, who in his old age chose to live back in the land he never approved”.
It started with Operation Blue Star. I was one of the few western correspondents who criticized Indira. As I have said since then numerous times, the attack on the Golden Temple and the atrocities that followed the army operations, produced in all sections of the Sikhs a sense of outrage that is hard today to alleviate. I believed then that the large majority of Hindu India, even if politically hostile to Indira Gandhi, openly identified with – and exulted in – her will to overwhelmingly humble a recalcitrant minority.
As everybody knows, Indira Gandhi helped my fame grow even more, by wanting to imprison me during the Emergency she clamped and finally throwing me out of India for a short while. But the result was that the whole of India tuned in, then and thereafter, to my radio’s broadcasts, ‘The Voice of India’, to hear what they thought was ‘accurate’ coverage of events.
When Rajiv Gandhi came to power, I first believed that he was sincerely trying to change the political system, but he quickly gave-up when the old guard would not budge. I criticized him for his foolish adventure in Sri Lanka, although I felt sorry for him when he was blown to pieces by Dhanu, the Tamil Tiger. It is in Kashmir, though that I fought most viciously against his Govt and subsequent Congress ones for its human right abuses on the Kashmiri Muslims of the Valley. The Congress Governments tried indeed several times to censor me and the army even took prisoner my Kashmiri stringer, whom I had to rescue by the skin of his teeth. I am also proud that I was the first one to point out then, that the Indian Government had at that time no proof of the Pakistani involvement in the freedom movement in Kashmir. Thus I always made it a point to start my broadcasts by proclaiming that « the Indian Government accuses Pakistan of fostering terrorism», or that “elections are being held in Indian-controlled Kashmir”…
As I was so popular, all the other foreign journalists used the same parlance to cover Kashmir and they always spoke of the plight of the Muslims, never of the 400.000 Hindus, who after all were chased out of their ancestral land by sheer terror (I also kept mum about it).
As for Sonia Gandhi, I did not mind her, when she was Rajiv Gandhi’s wife, but after his death, I watched with dismay as she started stamping her authority on the Congress, which made me say in a series of broadcasts on the Nehru Dynasty: “It’s sad that the Indian National Congress should be completely dependent on one family; the total surrender of a national party to one person is deplorable. You have to ask the question: what claims does Sonia Gandhi have to justify her candidature for prime-ministership? Running a country is far more complicated than running a company. Apprenticeship is required in any profession — more so in politics”. I heard that Sonia Gandhi was unhappy about this broadcast.
Then, after President APJ Abdul Kalam called her to the Raj Bhavan and told her what some of us already knew, namely that for a long time, she had kept both her Italian and Indian passports, which disqualified her to become the Prime Minister of India, she nevertheless became the Supreme leader of India behind the scenes. It is then that I exclaimed: “the moribund and leaderless Congress party has latched onto Sonia Gandhi, who is Italian by birth and Roman Catholic by baptism”. She never forgave me for that. Yet, today I can say without the shadow of a doubt that when history will be written, the period over which she presided, both over the Congress and India, will be seen as an era of darkness, of immense corruption and of a democracy verging towards autocracy, if not disguised dictatorship, in the hands of a single person, a non Indian and a Christian like me. Truth will also come out about her being the main recipient for kickbacks from Bofors to 2G, which she uses to buy votes, as the Wikileaks have just shown.
Finally, I am sometimes flabbergasted at the fact that Indians –Hindus, sorry, as most of this country’s intelligentsia is Hindu – seem to love me so much, considering the fact that in my heydays, I considerably ran down the 850 million Hindus of this country, one billion worldwide. I have repented today: I do profoundly believe that India needs to be able to say with pride, “Yes, our civilization has a Hindu base to it.”
The genius of Hinduism, the very reason it has survived so long, is that it does not stand up and fight. It changes and adapts and modernizes and absorbs–that is the scientific and proper way of going about it. I believe that Hinduism may actually prove to be the religion of this millennium, because it can adapt itself to cha nge.

Justice K.T.Thomas & RSS

2011-08-17T07:12:00.000-07:00

KT THOMAS ON RSS

Complete Text of the Speech Delivered by Justice K T Thomas, on the Occasion of Guru Pooja at Kochi

The remarks made by Supreme Court Judge K T Thomas on Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh have been both commendable on account of its genuineness and content of truth. But political leaders like Ramesh Chennithala, President of Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee has been quick enough to spring the much expected objection, as part of their usual quota of tailor made slander. Here is the complete text of the Presidential address made by Justice K T Thomas, delivered on the occasion of Guru Pooja, at Kochi

Respected Mohanji Bhagwat, other respected men on the dais and respected members of the audience,
I was wobbling in my mind as to whether I should speak in the language in which the proceedings were being conducted thus far or in a language in which my speech would be understood by our honorable guest. I have chosen the latter. Because, if I speak in English, in a State like Kerala where the literacy rate is so high, the audience will be able to follow and our honorable guest will also be able to follow.

I deem it as a real honor and privilege that I am invited to preside over this highly venerated function, Guru Pooja. You know from my name that I am a Christian. I was born in that and I practice that religion. I am a Church-going Christian. But my advantage is that I learnt many things about the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh. I developed an admiration for this disciplined core of this country as early as 1979 when I was posted as Additional District Judge of Calicut. The Principal District Judge was Mr. A.R.Sreenivasan. Anyone who knew him will agree that his honesty was hundred percent, his integrity was transparent, his scholarship was unparalleled and his commitment to the country was unquestionable. Above all, the discipline he followed in his life was also very admirable. On his retirement, I took over as the Principal District Judge. But immediately Mr. A.R.Sreenivasan became a member of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh. We used to communicate and converse many things. That occasion gave me the advantage of jettisoning many things which the smearing and simmering propaganda made by interested persons outside about the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh. Such notions could be eliminated from my mind. I became a real admirer of this organization.

I regard many things on the objectivity point of view. Prejudice is a weakness of human being. Human being is not prepared to accept a thing without objectivity. When objectivity is applied, the smearing propaganda earlier that RSS is responsible for the murder of Mahatma Gandhi, appears to be unjust and uncharitable. I learnt more about it. Of course, the mere fact that the assassin happened to be once upon a time a member of the organization cannot make the disciplined organization responsible for the murder of the Father of the Nation. Had it been so, can you say that the entire Sikh community of India is responsible for the murder of Indira Gandhi? Can it be said that merely because Jesus Christ was crucified by Roman soldiers at the orders of a Roman Judge, that the whole Roman people at that time committed the murder of Jesus Christ?

There should be objectivity in approaching these things. And I, therefore, went and read the judgment of Justice Khosla in the Mahatma Gandhi assassination case and I found that the learned judge of Punjab High Court has completely exonerated Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh as not having anything to do with the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi. I say that this smearing campaign must end in this country. Otherwise it will really be unjust on the part of anyone. With this approach, I have seen this organization from a distance. I happen to travel with the predecessor of our honorable guest today. Mr.Sudarsanji was with me in the train from Chennai up to my home town station. We could communicate many things that time. It is amazing to learn about his great scholarship and how he insisted on a simple living. And I found out that this is a hallmark of the members of this organization. Simple living and high thinking. And thereafter, I want to tell you, that for every Christmas he used to send me a Christmas greeting card which contains a quotation from the Gospel of the Bible and a precept from Bhagavad Gita. I used to reciprocate in the same way as he did.

For me, it gave me an opportunity to learn more and more about this organization. And the best test in my life about this organization is during the dark months of Emergency when Indira Gandhi declared Constitution suspended – on the major portion – and when the whole country became benumbed before the whip swished by Indira Gandhi. The only non-political organization which worked fearlessly in the subterranean sector was the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh with the result that this country that is Bharat could be liberated from the pangs of a dictator. We owe very much to this organization for sacrificing many lives and many of the pleasures in life for regaining what our leaders had gained for this country, namely, the fundamental rights of this country.

Now I am disturbed in seeing that for the sake of vote banks, the security of the nation is compromised in many regards. Article 19 of the Constitution is a catalogue of freedoms for the Indian people. But every such freedom is restricted to one thing – that is reasonable restriction of a common factor – that is the security of the State. The Constitution makers were very insistent that primordiality should be given to the security of the State because we have to live in the State. When I come across with many official activities – governmental and political – where the security of the State is given less prominence than the vote bank, I am really disturbed. That is a matter in which the country should stand unanimously and uniformly and with a strident voice declare that we will not tolerate such a policy to be followed.

The propaganda that the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh is anti-minority is a baseless propaganda. After all, what is a minority? I have realized that according to the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, whatever religion you belong to, you must be a full patriot. Your faith is immaterial. Whichever faith you follow, only insistence for you is that you shall not have any extra-territorial loyalties. I also realize that no one is entitled to tell somebody that ‘my’ religion is better than ‘your’ religion and therefore abandon ‘your’ religion and join ‘my’ religion. No person who has any knowledge of the fundamentals of his own religion can say that. The basic precept of one’s own religion is that the other religion is not only equally important but multiplicity of religions sometimes is a gift of God to mankind because all religions have got weaknesses. And in order to replenish the weakness of one religion some benefits are given to the other religion. It is a country where a composite culture has been created; where faith is immaterial but your loyalty, your commitment and your patriotism is most important.

I have a different concept about minority. I use to speak out this aspect on many platforms for which I had received more brickbats than flowers. Who is a minority in this country? – Only that section which has got minus features. Minority is discernable from Article 29 of the Constitution where any section of India can be a minority. It can be based on culture, script, language, etc. Any section which is suffering from any disadvantage can be a minority provided they are numerically less. Faith – wise minority recognized in Article 30 is only for one limited purpose. That is for conducting educational institutions without the steamroller-majority rolling over them. If a person is able to read Article 29 first, as a student of Constitution I will tell you, it does not envisage a minority based on religion or faith. When it comes to Article 30, this word religion is meant only with regard to the educational institutions.
I was a member of the 11 Judges’ bench of the Supreme Court first, which could not complete the argument in TMA Pai case. The point of view which emerged among the majority of judges at that time was that the education which is envisaged in Article 30 should only be secular education and not professional education. When we put this to Mr. Fali S Nariman, the great lawyer became angry and he said that it is an aspect which has been concluded long, long ago and the word education will cover anything even beyond, much beyond secular education. Unfortunately our bench could not complete the arguments and hearings and the judgment could not be delivered. Many years later, after my retirement, an 11 member bench was formed and there also Fali S Nariman addressed arguments and finally the verdict came accepting that education in Article 30 means education at any level.

I am mentioning this for another purpose. That great lawyer who really is the author of this concept of the plenary meaning of the education has written an autobiography wherein he confessed that “today I intensely regret having adopted that attitude towards education.” The whole disaster in this country in the field of education is on account of pioneering that aspect in this country which the Supreme Court accepted unfortunately. I wanted to mention this in some august place. I have chosen this assembly for bringing to notice that the education in Article 30, even according to the great lawyer who once pioneered this argument, is that it should be limited to the secular education. So, that is the only area where religion has something to say about minority. Otherwise, in a big country like India, minority should have nothing to do with faith. Faith could be changed by anybody. That was exactly what happened when a medical college was started by one Palaniappa Gownder in Tamil Nadu. Later when he found that because of some new legislation he will get more benefits, he converted in to Christianity and became Deivasahayam and he is continuing the medical college now. Anyone can change religion like that.

You are making a law based on a faith! In a secular nation, in a secular republic like ours, that shall not happen. In a secular republic, religion shall not be your identity but your being an Indian shall be your identity.
That is what precisely Zakir Hussain, when he became the Rashtrapathi of India, said. He was congratulated by TVR Shenoy, the journalist. Zakir Hussain was a great scholar. He was a Vice Chancellor. When TVR Shenoy approached him and told him “Rashtrapathiji, I congratulate you because it is a great victory of secularism in India.” Zakir Hussain asked him in what way it is a victory of secularism. Shenoy said that a Muslim became the President of India is a great victory of secularism. Zakir Hussain looked at him and smiled. TVR Shenoy asked “Why Rashtrapathiji, you are smiling at me?” He answered – “Shenoy, I smiled hearing your notion about secularism.” He said, and mark the next sentence – “Secularism will be achieved in India only on that day when you do not know my religion!”

My dear friends, take it from me – secularism has nothing to do with religion in this country. You should not know my religion in the same way I shall not bother about your religion. That is your faith. And whatever way you acquire it or develop it – it is your private matter. This is something very much I learnt during my travel with Sudarsanji from Chennai to Kottayam. He insisted on that. He told me that – “Sir, you can be a pious Christian” I asked him in what way he knows that I am a pious Christian. “That is a different matter”- He said. “But we are only insisting that whatever be your faith, your primary commitment must be to this nation, to this country.” On that matter I very much admire – I am a great admirer of this organization.

The discipline exhibited everywhere – and even today – the manner in which the flowers were offered to the Dhwaj gave me the real impression that discipline has given real impetus to your working and performance. Discipline is needed for a nation and discipline is fundamental to the growth of a nation. Whichever nation has grown, you can see discipline is inculcated in the citizens. I think, on that matter, Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh is a model to me also.
Written by: India Portal on August 11, 2011.

A TALE OF THREE REPORTS - Violence against Christians

2011-08-13T07:47:00.000-07:00

Violence against Christians in Karnataka

A TALE OF THREE REPORTS AND SOME COMMENTS

By P.N. Benjamin*

The fledgling BJP Government in Karnataka confronted its first major crisis when as many as 57 Christian churches and prayer-halls were vandalized in nine districts in the State in September-October 2008 allegedly by “Hindu extremists/terrorists”. The government appointed a retired judge of the Karnataka High Court, Justice Somasekhara, as a One-man Commission to inquire into these incidents of violent attacks on Christian places of worship. He submitted his report in January this year.

During the course of the inquiry, the Commission received 1,019 petitions and examined 754 witnesses spread over a period of 300 days of judicial sittings. More than thirty advocates representing various sections of the society including the Government presented their case before the Commission and the final arguments were heard over a period of 53 sittings. As many as 2,437 documents were marked by the Commission as exhibits in addition to 34 material objects in the form of Electronic Storage Documents (ESDs).

 Detailed and transparent inquiry

The Justice B K Somasekara Commission of Inquiry has said its final report on the church attacks was prepared after a detailed and transparent inquiry but was misinterpreted by a few. Justice Somasekara stated there was no need for Christian petitioners to be apprehensive about the direct or indirect involvement of politicians, especially of the Bharatiya Janata Party, the Sangh Parivar and the State Government in the attacks. Every bit of inference and findings of the report was based on evidence and elaborate discussion of all contentions presented before the Commission.

He said there was no lapse on the part of the Commission and any fair comments were welcome. “But all such expressions by anybody shall be subject to legal consequences under Section 10A (1) of the Commission of Inquiry Act. Ignorance of the law is no excuse; and this will apply to all,” he said.

 Fraudulent conversions

The Commission said fraudulent conversions have damaged the reputation of Christians as people who serve society and contribute to nation building. It also called for some laws to regulate some organizations that indulge in conversion “uncontrolled by any law.”
The report regretted that the attacks have “deeply affected” relations between Christians and Hindus who now suspect each other.

 Absolves Government, BJP, Sangh Parivar

Justice Somasekara categorically declared that there was "… no basis to the apprehension of Christian petitioners that the BJP, Sangh Parivar and the State Government directly or indirectly, are involved in the attacks.” He also said that "…the impressions and allegations that the present ruling government is showing cold shoulders to the interest of minority Christian community in Karnataka and try to suppress them for the political ends, like vote-catching has no basis.” noting that while it was “reasonable” for victims to suspect that the government was either slow or negligent in responding to the incidents his inquiry proved otherwise.

It also mentions that the attacks on churches or places of worship has deeply affected the harmony between the members of Hindu and Christian religions and created suspicion in the minds of each other.

The Justice noted that while, “True Hindus have no role to play in any attack directly or indirectly…” the attacks were carried out by “…misguided fundamentalist miscreants of defined or undefined groups…” who believed that they would be protected by the party in power .

He advised that action be taken against Mahendra Kumar, then convener of the Bajrang Dal, “…who sought to justify the attacks on churches….” It is important to note that Mahendra Kumar recently joined the Janata Dal (Secular) party.

 Police action justified

Justice Somasekara commented on the police response, commending them for the good work but also expressing concern when their response was either weak or unclear. “The police action against the Christian protestors in several incidents were justified,” he said while confirming that the police action at St Sebastian Church, Permannur, was “unexplainably excessive, unreasonable and is in violation of the expected norms prescribed.” He dismissed out of hand the allegation that the police and the district administration had colluded with those who attacked the churches: “…the impression and allegations that the top police officers and the district administration had colluded with the attackers in attacking the churches or places of worship has no merit.”

 Critical of local administration

Justice Somashekara, however, was critical of local administration and police in Bellary and Gulbarga districts: “The failure of the district administration functionaries, including corporation, municipality, electricity board and village panchayat authorities, in protecting the rights of the religious minorities guaranteed under the Constitution and their interference in their activities by misuse of power is evident and apparent, particularly in Bellary and Gulbarga districts…. Their acts of locking the places of worship and preventing the devotees from offering prayers is unprecedented in the history of administrative process and constitutional governance.”

He castigated the police for being “… imprudent, unreasonable and inexperienced…” when they entered some churches in “… Dakshina Kannada without following legal requirements amounting to violation of religious interests and human rights protected under the Constitution of India,” but the “saving grace is that there is no evidence to conclude that it was motivated or influenced by any other force.”

He also expressed concern about some acts of the police, including the lathi-charge in some situations in Dakshina Kannada. “The impressions and allegations that the government and the district administration did not treat the Christian protestors sympathetically and with compassion is justified in a few instances noted in the report categorically,” he noted, and that the grievance expressed by some that the compensation awarded in some instances was too meager, or inadequate was justified, he said.

 All attacks were not spontaneous

A significant observation by the Justice is regarding the nature of the attacks and enmities between the two communities: “Not all attacks were spontaneous or accidental. Some were deliberate, well-planned communal antagonism with fundamentalism brewing since several years. The events leading to the attacks were many including local groupism, personal competition in trade, and education and political activities.”

Justice Somasekara noted that the allegation that some Christians and some Christian groups were indulging in “mischievous activities” including distributing “…literature maligning the Hindu religion, Hindu ancient systems, Hindu sacred beliefs, practices and sentiments….”

 Mass conversions & foreign funds

Justice Somashekara has said that “… the impression that some persons involved in conversions are getting funds from some sources including foreign countries…” and that such funds are used for “…mass conversions of innocent and helpless members of the society belonging to the weaker sections is true.”

 No conversion by Catholic Church.

The Commission has absolved the Catholic Church of any wrong-doing: “There appears to be no conversions at all by Roman Catholic churches or its members except for routine purposes like marriage or voluntary instances.”

The Commission rightly rejected some Hindu groups’ demand to ban Christian literature, including the Bible, that the groups claimed were “anathema to Hindu practices.” On the other hand it asked the government to seek the help of all religions and political parties to convince Christians to be sensitive and sympathetic to Hindu complaints.

 Grabbing of public property

About the attack on the Saint James Church at Mariyannapalya in Bangalore, did take place, said the Commission. “There appears to be a grabbing of public property by both church people and Chittiappa of Sri Adi Kaveri Trust which requires a serious inquiry and appropriate action,” it noted. There were attempts by Christians to convert people in the area, and resistance by the members of Adi Kaveri Trust of Chittiappa and local Hindus were the reasons for the incident, the Commission said.

The Commission categorically said that the Sangh Parivar had no role in the attack and it was a purely a local problem. It said that “the church should provide its own security and cooperate with the local police”.

 A make-believe attempt

Referring to St Mary’s Church in Kolar, the Commission ruled out the involvement of any Hindu organisation. The allegations of conversion are true, it noted, but that was not the reason for the attack. It was a deliberate attempt by some local group/s or political force/s to “create evidence” to link the attack to other such incidents involving churches, and to thereby demoralise or defeat the ruling BJP government.

The incident at Holy Name of Jesus Church at Rajarajeshwarinagar, according to the report was “sporadic -- carried out by either a passerby or by some miscreants to create evidence against the ruling party”.

Attack on St Anthony New Church at Yedanahalli. In this case, the report said the attack was a make-believe incident aimed at linking it with other similar incidents. The main culprits were allegedly Father Santhosh, David and his men, and two police constables, B M Nagaraj and B P Nagendra Kumar. The CoD police failed in their investigation to locate the culprits, the report said.

 Mass mobilisation of Christians & Vote bank politics

The reactions to the Commission’s findings were quick and swift. There was a mass mobilisation of Christians in Karnataka demanding the immediate withdrawal of the report and an orchestrated attempt at disseminating mischievous, unsourced, and spurious allegations about the Commission. Massive protests marches and meetings were held in many parts of the State.

However, when you politicize the church and make demands by using numerical minority vote bank for the politicians to see that we have power, then it means muscle power, which goes along with money power. To use religion and to ghetto people is divisive and anti-national. The church leaders have misused their position and authority to barter and bargain. The politicians yield not because of justice and fair play but because of the vote bank politics-this towards attaining their own power. The church leaders have been playing the game of politicians and turned themselves into semi politicians, using the ‘flock’ as tools.

Justice Saldanha’s report

I have with me a copy of the 304-page report by the retired judge Michael Saldanha, said to be based on his “independent inquiry” into the attacks on churches in Karnataka on September 14, 2008. It reads like a political party’s charge sheet against its opponent. It is far from an unbiased and independent report when the publication of the book itself has been funded by a former Congress minister T. John. To say the least, the book reads like Satan’s ‘ gospel of hatred’ – revulsive, repulsive and provocative. Needless to add, it is also meant to demoralise the law and order machinery in the State by freely and recklessly terming them (the Karnataka Police) as "state criminals", "state goondas", ‘khaki terrorists", "official terrorist of India" etc.!.

 Not unbiased.
The retired judge is the president of the Catholic Association of South Canara (Dakshina Kannada). It is therefore difficult to believe that an inquiry conducted by the president of the Catholic Association of Dakshina Kannada would be impartial. Justice Saldanha says any Commission of Inquiry set up by the government to investigate its own actions is unlikely to be impartial but gives himself privileges he denies the government. In addition, Saldanha has in the past three years persisted in demonising the BJP government in Karnataka

Justice Saldanha claims to have visited 413 places where incidents took place, obtained 673 types of evidence and testimony from 2,114 affected persons after visiting hospitals, courts, police stations, jails and government offices. Interestingly, he is not appointed by the State Government under the Commission of enquiry Act, but on the other hand self appointed and funded by Churches and discredited Congress leaders like the former minister T. John to give his ‘unbiased’ Report.

Highlights of Saldanha’s findings

 The Hindutva brigade was behind the violence, but even worse was the fact that the Chief Minister and the then Home Minister implicitly and explicitly abetted the Hindutva elements.

 The brute force of armed police, state administration and the lower judiciary was used against the hapless Christians and their institutions, who/which were soft targets in the attack, but provides no evidence of the use of what he calls “brute force”.

 The religious violence was pre-planned and executed with great precision for maximum impact which it did achieve and the persecution continues over the last three years.

 There is flagrant disregard of the rule of law and an atmosphere of anarchy prevails, with non-state & extra-constitutional players running riot and the government doing nothing.

Some genuine doubts & questions:

 No death reported

If brute force were used it would have resulted in the death of some and injuries to many Christians. Justice Saldanha has neither counted the dead (none), nor enumerated the injured, leaving us to believe that the mass circulation of hysterical pronouncements in foreign countries was the main aim of Justice Saldanha.

 One-sided report

Justice Saldanha’s Report is one-sided. Nether witnesses were examined nor allowed for Cross-Examination. No Documents are taken on record. Being a retired judge of the Karnataka High Court, it is surprising to know, he has not followed the basic principles of natural justice while giving his findings, adverse to the interested persons/groups/administration/officials.

How has the persecution of Christians for three years continued and to what effect? On the other hand, the number of Christians in Karnataka has increased and they have been able to worship and carry on their livelihood without hindrance.

Justice Saldanha hyperbolically alleges “flagrant disregard to rule of law” but if indeed what he alleges is true where is the evidence for such lawlessness? That a retired justice would stoop to such calumny is evidence of the organized challenge to the BJP-led government by Christian groups and Christian leaders who cannot stand the idea of the BJP coming to power anywhere in India.

 Blissfully unaware

Saldanha is blissfully unaware that the sordid events in Mangalore and elsewhere are the obvious result of unethical religious conversions and the denigration of Hindu practices and symbols by evangelists that polarize families and communities and aggravate long standing social conflicts as well.

He doe not seem to have read the report in Times of India on October 8, 2008 quoting Intelligence Bureau sources that the provocative activities of the New Life Christian church were a major source of disquiet in Karnataka and other States .The New Life movement has been accused of brazenly indulging in conversions in Karnataka and other states. In fact, the Catholic hierarchy is itself concerned about the activities of New Life movement which is allegedly taking many faithful members away from the mainstream Church

 Whipping up hatred against Hindus and a bluff called

Spreading hatred like butter on hot bread seems to have become a pastime for M.F. Saldanha. For example, the Compass News reported in August 2010: “Christians in Karnataka State are under an unprecedented wave of Christian persecution, having faced more than 1,000 attacks in the last 500 days, according to an independent investigation by a former judge of the Karnataka High Court".

In the meantime, the Global Council of Indian Christians (GCIC) has recorded only 72 attacks on Christians in 2009. That represents a decline from 112 attacks the previous year.

When this writer asked for the list of names of churches and dates of attacks Justice Saldanha failed to do. Justice Saldanha’s utterly false and outrageous bluff that there were 1,000 attacks against Christians in Karnataka during the last 500 days was thus called because the reality was easily verifiable. The allegation reflected his shocking ignorance about the real religious situation in Karnataka.

Report of the Citizens for Harmony

Below are details gathered by the fact-finding team sent by “Citizensfor Harmony,” a Bangalore-based voluntary organisation. The team consisted of Mr. Y R Patil (retired Inspector General of Police) and Director of Academy of Career Counseling and Coaching, Bangalore, Mrs. Vijayalakshmi, (Social worker and Creative Director, Varnila Designs, Bangalore), and P N Benjamin (founder and coordinator, Bangalore Initiative for Religious Dialogue – BIRD.

The team visited Mangalore and Udupi on September 30 and October 1, 2009 respectively, and received several complaints and representations from Hindu and Christian organizations and from individuals who did not represent any institutions. Nearly 200 affected persons deposed before the team and submitted memorandums with documentary evidences at the open hearings held at Circuit House, Mangalore and Travelers Bungalow at Udupi. The team also visited most of the trouble spots and sought to know from the local communities, their responses to the incidents of violence. Following are excerpts from the report of the fact-finding team submitted to the Chief Minister of Karnataka in November 2008.

Excerpts from the Report

 All the incidents of violence that came to the notice of the team were directed against what is known as independent churches, house churches, Christian fellowships and associations belonging to New Life, Pentecostal, Assemblies of Gods, etc. All of them are independent of the mainstream Christian churches in India.

 The Catholic Churches were targeted because of mistaken identity. The majority of Hindus cannot distinguish between the mainline churches and the independent churches. On 14th September some miscreants damaged and desecrated the idol of Jesus Christ at the Perpetual Adoration Chapel of the Monastery of the Poor Clares in the premises of Milagres Catholic church in Mangalore. The VHP and Bajrang Dal have condemned the desecration of Jesus Christ’s idol in the chapel. They have also clarified that they are not against the Catholic Church.

To a pointed question to those who deposed before the fact-finding team as to why the miscreants turned their ire against the Catholic Church the answer was simple and straightforward: “How can we – the Hindus – distinguish between Catholic Christians and evangelicals? All denominations of Christianity are one and the same in the eyes of Hindus and we need not know the differences within the Christian community.”

 The places of worship which were attacked in Mangalore
and surrounding areas included the Poor Clares of Perpetual Adoration Monastery (Mangalore), Christ Church at Kodikal near Mangalore, Believers Church of India at Puttur, Mahima Prathanalaya and Indian Pentecostal both at Madanthyar and Bethesda Aradanalaya at Sullia. In Chikumagalur, miscreants attacked Yavana Swami church at Magodu village, and Time and Paul Gospel Harvest prayer hall at Koppa. In Udupi district, New Life prayer hall located behind KSRTC bus stand was attacked apart from two other prayer halls at Shiroor and Kollur.

 Aggressive evangelization and conversion

According to depositions before the team, a large number of Hindus and organizations were highly critical of the many Christian groups that have been indulging in aggressive evangelization and conversion activities in recent years in Mangalore and surrounding districts. They denigrate Hindu gods and their rituals in their attempt to get new converts from Hindu community. These activities made a section of the Hindu community ‘very angry’, but they had internalised it for long. But the killing of the Swami in Kandhamal and the Christian leaders’ call for protest closure of schools triggered the sudden eruption of violence in Dakshina Karnataka, especially in Mangalore and Udupi, on September 14 and 15.

It was brought to the notice of the team that the Christian evangelists and missionaries have been targeting the poor and illiterate extensively as also the youth. Scheduled castes and scheduled tribes like Kudubis, Vishwakarmas and Lingayats are some who have fallen prey. Their modus operandi is to visit poor Hindu houses without their permission and distribute Christian tracts and literature. They seek those who are mentally and financially weak and induce them to give up their Hindu way of life and join the Christian religion with promises of moral and financial support on conversion to Christianity.

The team also was told that there is a drastic increase in recent times in aggressive faith marketing strategies followed by the Christian groups in this region, which has caused this anger and resentment against Christians.

 Encroachment of private and public property

There have been instances of Christian groups encroaching upon public and private properties in Mangalore. Two specific cases in point are: The Nagavana, at Shanthinagar, is a place of worship for the Kudubi tribes for centuries. The property has been encroached upon by the International Jesus Christ Church in India. A large church complex and living quarters have been built on this land by desecrating the sanctity of the Nagavana and also preventing the Kudubis from their worship at their sanctified shrine. It has led to much emotional trauma to the tribals of incomplete rituals. There has been a continuing protest by the Kudubi community but of no avail.

The same Church also causes much disturbance to the entire neighborhood with its week-end events that include loud music and dancing through the night shattering the peace and tranquility of the entire area. The leaders of the Kudubis have expressed their anger and disgust, displeasure and resentment, against the presence of this Christian group several times in the past to the civic authorities and have also legally proceeded against them in the civil court.

The founder of this church is Pastor Mani David Joseph and the present pastor is Immanuel Santosh Kumar.

 Pachinady Kurchugudde incident

This is a hillock belonging to the government. A couple of years ago, the Catholic Church authorities encroached on it and erected several crosses all around its boundaries. They also built a statue of the Crucified Jesus Christ and a house-like structure. The Mangalore Bishop inaugurated it on January 20, 2007.

The Mangalore Municipal Corporation has illegally allotted a number to the structure thus giving it a semblance of legal sanction, and creating an impression among the local people that the land and the structures are owned by the Catholic diocese.

The local residents who met the team at the site asserted that this particular property belongs to the government. They wanted to know how the Municipality had allowed the Christians to erect the structures, a statue of Crucified Jesus Christ and several concrete crosses on the said government land.

Some activists of Hindu organizations have, in the aftermath of Mangalore incidents, hoisted several flags on this land in protest against the illegal occupation of the hillock by the Catholic Church. Incidents such as these have led to growing anger, heartburn and tension amongst Hindus against Christians.

 Incidents at Holy Cross Church,
Kulshekar - A Case Study

On September 14 and 15, church bells continuously tolled in all the Catholic Churches of Mangalore signaling to the faithful that the churches were in imminent threat of destruction. Consequently, at the Holy Cross Church compound in Kulashekar, about 800 Parishioners gathered within a few minutes. In addition, many people who had attended the first Mass were holed up inside the Church. All the gates to the church premises and school building adjacent to the church were locked from within. The school was closed inspite of a government directive not to close schools.

Some miscreants from among the crowd inside the Church compound snatched away the wireless set from an Assistant Sub-Inspector (ASI). They were asked to return it and the priest was unable to convince the youngsters to do so saying that he was recently transferred to the church and did not know anyone of them personally and therefore helpless.

The police surrounded the compound from outside because all the gates were locked. Police Inspector Ganapathy repeatedly asked the miscreants on the megaphone to voluntarily come out and surrender the police wireless set. He also requested the crowd to disperse as it was against the curfew orders that had been clamped to congregate in public.

The negotiations went on for almost five hours until the Superintendent of Police (Mangalore) Satheesh Kumar arrived on the scene. The situation was getting out of control. Sensing the seriousness of the situation, he entered the compound wearing a helmet supplied by a constable and broke open the gates with the help of about 50 constables.

As they moved in, they were attacked with stones and bricks from the top of the school. The photographs of youngsters – face covered with duppatas/clothes given to them by girls/women — throwing stones and roof tiles from the third and fourth floors of the school in the Church compound, are seen in the unedited videos in the possession of the fact-finding team. This was handed over to them by an amateur free-lance videographer.

When the miscreants started attacking the police, the SP had no other option but to order a lathi-charge and ultimately burst teargas shells. In the melee, several policemen were injured and a woman constable suffered serious head injuries. A Tata Sumo belonging to the Deputy Superintendent of Police was also destroyed by the miscreants.

 Church using doctored tapes to spread hatred

It has come to the notice of the fact-finding team that the Church authorities have been circulating doctored video clips of the events that day in the church. Fr. Frances Vincent of Holy Cross Church showed us the tampered video to prove that the police action against the church members, said to be numbering about 800, was brutal, inhuman and heartless. He also emphatically claimed that the police “brutality” was without provocation on September 15, and in violation of all canons of human rights.

The video clips in the possession of the Church were supplied by the same source that gave the fact finding team the unedited version of the video pictures. It is shocking that the video tapes in the possession of the fact finding team show pictures of mounds of stones, sticks and bottles stored inside the Holy Cross church. There is no explanation forthcoming from the Church as to why those materials were stored inside the church. Circulation of such doctored tapes by the church authorities has been further stoking the flames of ill-will against the police and the Hindus at large.

 Police Action

Seventy-two cases of arson were registered in Mangalore and two in Udupi. Sixty-seven policemen suffered injuries when Christians attacked the police. Twenty-six Christians and 17 Hindus were injured in police lathi-charge. The police conducted more than a mild-lathi-charge. However, it is fair to suggest that the police were also at their wit’s end having seen some of their injured colleagues and did not want to take any chance, especially when they did not have any wherewithal to judge the armed nature of the miscreants.

Incidents in other places in Karnataka: 2009-2010

As a member of the State Minorities Commission, I have visited the following places and gathered information about the alleged violent incidents reported from there during this period.

Hebbagodi attack: Infighting, the Real Cause

St. Francis De Sales church at Hebbagodi, on the outskirts of Banglaore, was attacked in the second week of September 2009. Five persons were taken into police custody in connection with the attack. It was later confirmed that the incident was an effect of the infighting and confusion between different factions in the church, mainly the Syrian and Latin Catholic groups. Many were sore with the authorities after they were forced to vacate the quarters in the rear of the church compound, where they were living for decades.

Meanwhile, a section of believers had protested against the prayers being held in different languages and also vented ire over the celebration of Onam (harvest festival of Kerala) inside the church. In addition, another section was fuming after the priests failed to give permission to bury a parishioner, Peter, who had died three months before.

St. Antony's Church in Bangalore

Miscreants broke open St. Antony’s church in Kavalbyrasandra in near Bangalore on November 7, 2008. The miscreants had probably broken open the doors of the newly built church past midnight. The main door was forcibly opened and the miscreants had obviously tried to steal the gold-plated chalice and two ciboriums kept in the tabernacle and also in the sacristy for keeping the Blessed Sacrament. The tabernacle was broken open and the communion elements were thrown out and sprinkled all over. (Deccan Herald, November 8, 2008)

Four persons including three juveniles were arrested for allegedly breaking into the St. Anthony’s Church in Kavalbyrasandra on November 11. The accused had destroyed the Holy Communion and escaped with valuables. They were drug addicts and had cases against them. The three juveniles were all 16 years old, and the fourth accused, Nauphal, is 20. On November 11, at about 2 a.m., they used iron rods to break the church door and emptied five offering boxes.

Later, they desecrated the church, broke the Holy Tabernacle, and got away with two gold-plated bowls, old iron pieces and also the crown of Christ, the police added. The accused then sold these articles in a scrap shop belonging to Alkatti Mazhar and Alkatti Wazeer at Lingrajpuram. The stolen articles were later dispersed in the Sunday bazaar (New Indian Express, December 14, 2009).

Attack on Humnabad Church

The ‘attack’ on a church in Humnabad town in November 2009 embarrassed the district administration and the police and caused quite a stir among the Christians who wanted the Government to take immediate action against those responsible for the attack. Furniture, electrical fittings in the main prayer hall, and the cross on the dome of the church were damaged.

But, according to The Hindu, December 18, 2009, police investigations revealed that the previous pastor of the church – Vasant -- had hired three goons, all belonging to the same locality, to attack and vandalise the church on November 17, 2009. Vasant was the pastor of the church till June 2009 before his transfer to a church at Basantpur in Chincholi taluk in Gulbarga district. He had conspired to damage the church with the hope that the church authorities would cancel his transfer and keep him in Humnabad.

 Reasons for violence against Christians

In most of the cases the reasons for the attacks against Christian groups are not difficult to ascertain. Simply put, they are a reaction to the “aggressive faith marketing,” propaganda, and mindless evangelism and conversions through foul and unethical means indulged in by Christian missionaries who denigrate and make fun of Hindu gods and abuse Hindu rituals as barbaric.

The Indian subcontinent has become the principal target for a wide range of western Christian missions which are determined to spread the gospel to India’s "unreached" people. There is little doubt that the current communal tension in India would not be serious if foreign-funded missionaries had been content with giving Indians the choice of Christianity and left it at that.

Christians under siege

Christians are a small minority in India. But their attitudes often elicit counter-reaction from among militant Hindus who sometimes incite violence against Christians. Many preachers of the Christian Gospel rattle off verses from the Bible to preach hellfire and damnation to those who do not agree with their interpretations of the contents of the Bible. They lay enticing traps for people whom they think must be "saved" at all costs. One hopes that the fanatics among the Christian faith will soon realize that theirs is a losing battle even if they derive their financial and other means of support from the wealthy nations overseas.

Animosity against Christians is a reaction to the aggressive propaganda and mindless evangelism of thousands of foreign-funded, cultic, fundamentalist, fanatic, and revivalist Christian groups working in India. They denigrate Hindu gods and abuse Hindu rituals as barbaric. They are the root cause of tension between Christian and Hindu communities. Invariably, incidents of violence against Christians are always bloated out of proportion and internationalized. Why should anybody be surprised if the “extremists” among Hindus are offended and react violently? It is urgent that leaders of the established mainline churches, known for their erudition, equipoise, and empathy came out in the open and disowned such provocative acts of intolerance of the fundamentalist Christian groups masquerading as real Christians.

Terms such as "evangelistic campaign," "missionary strategy," "campus crusade," "occupying non-Christian areas," a "blitzkrieg" of missionaries, and sending "reinforcements" sound more appropriate to military enterprises than to Christian witness to God's redeeming love in Jesus Christ. The statistical approach implied in the words "the unreached millions" is derogatory to neighbours of other faiths. "Unreached" by whom? When Indian Christians themselves use these phrases, which have originated outside the country, to describe their neighbours living next door to them in the community, Christians should not be surprised if the neighbours are offended, as Dr. Stanley Samartha mentioned in his book, “Courage for Dialogue”.

The real source of danger to the Indian Christian community is not the so-called Hindu extremists but the self-styled saviours of Christianity who assert that they alone are the holders of valid visas to heaven and paradise.

 Agents provocateurs or riot-entrepreneurs ?

The tragedy is that those who claim to be spokesmen and defenders of the Indian Christian community spread distress and division, and fan the flames of hatred against peace-loving Hindu community. They have turned out to be agents provocateurs who instigate and manipulate whatever the proximate trigger for violence against Christians. And, there is always a politician with an axe to grind, pulling the strings, inflaming passions, exploiting the victims for purely political ends. But the chances for success of such politicians ---the breed “riot-entrepreneurs” -- would be remarkably lower if there is vigorous and communally -- integrated civic life, not just through everyday casual contact but through formal associations that consolidate the mutual management of the two communities, Hindus and Christians.

To all appearances, these Christian leaders enjoy the grace and favour of the Congress Party and other so-called secular political parties. This encouragement helps the growth of powerful elements of separatism and disunity in the country.

It is unfortunate that there are not many Indian Christian leaders who can light a candle amidst the encircling gloom spread by religious proselytizers of both fundamental Christianity and Jihadi Islam. Most of the Christian leaders are unfortunately agents provocateurs or riot-entrepreneurs who are bank-rolled by US and other western Christian funding agencies.

It is high time Indian Christian leaders made an earnest attempt to appreciate this basic fact. That would be true humility if that is indeed possible for them to manifest. When greater inter-religious understanding and mutual respect is the need of the hour, leveling wild accusations that do not have any foundation is dangerous gamesmanship.

 Reaction to the provocations

Finally, Hindu “fundamentalism” is a reaction to the provocations of Christian proselytizers. Under attack, Hindus have partly woken up to the need for self-protection and self-preservation. When they attack such Christian proselytizers they generate much criticism, especially from Christians and their leaders and from the media world-wide.

People like me know that all such propaganda is being peddled in the name of a bogey man called Sangh Parivar. If one is honest in one’s analysis, it is not the Sangh Parivar but certainly the actions of Christian proselytizers and jihadi Muslims who challenge the religious sensitivities of the Hindu majority in the State.

 A bogeyman called Sangh parivar

The Sangh Parivar bogey man will disappear if the mainline Churches in India come out openly and affirm that they are taking a solemn pledge in the name of Jesus to abide by the admonition of Jesus not to go miles to make a proselyte. If they can do that, the so-called bogey man will disappear.

Yes, no civil society should condone violence. But mere condemnation is not a method to avert the repetition of violence. We have to find out if the violence is deliberate and unprovoked, or due to provocation. If it is the former, then there is one set of solutions, which mostly involves applying the law and severely punishing the perpetrators of the violence. However, if there is provocation, then we have to study the issue in greater detail. We have to understand why there has been a provocation for the violence, and who are the persons or organisations behind the provocation.

 Spreading animosity against mainline churches

It is worth recalling what Father Adolf Washington of the Archdiocese of Bangalore wrote in the Deccan Herald two years ago: “There are several groups of people doing the rounds in Bangalore adopting persuasive techniques not just to convert people but also to spread animosity against mainstream Christian denominations. They hurl invectives against the teachings of Christian denominations and even induce people to tender a written ‘resignation’ to the pastor or priest. Since some of these groups do not even accept the divinity of Christ, in effect, their conversion should not be understood as conversion to Christianity but to their organisation. Mainstream Christian denominations do not go on a conversion spree, only splinter groups and cultic groups do so probably for some self-gain.”

 Inter-faith dialogue: need of the hour

As in the case of all communal riots in our country, most of the incidents of violence against Christians have been instigated and manipulated: whatever the proximate trigger for violence, there have always been Christian leaders/politicians with an axe to grind, pulling the strings, inflaming passions, exploiting the victims for purely political ends. But the chances for success of such leaders -- the breed “riot-entrepreneurs” -- would be remarkably lower if we encourage a culture of inter-faith dialogue between Christians and Hindus and a vigorous and communally-integrated civic life, not just through everyday casual contact but through formal associations that consolidate the mutual management of the two communities.

 Political conspiracy

Lastly, the incidents of violence against Christians throughout Karnataka that have taken place ever since the BJP government came to power in 2008 have been minor in nature but all have been the result of jointly hatched political conspiracy by the Church with the full support of discredited parties like the Congress, Janata Dal (S) and others to destabilize the only BJP government in South India. Not a single life has been lost and thus unfortunately no martyrs for the Church!

All the incidents should have been localised and contained. But, they have been blown out of proportion and internationalized by the media and the self-styled leaders and spokesmen of the Christian community - classic examples of vested interests making mountains out of molehills and spreading distress and divisions among neighbours of different faiths and provoking religious sentiments and fanning the flames of hatred.

No civil society can condone violence. But mere condemnation is not a method to avert the repetition of violence. We have to find out if the violence is deliberate and unprovoked, or due to provocation. If it is the former, then there is one set of solutions, which mostly involve applying the law and severely punishing the perpetrators of the violence. However, if there is provocation, then we have to study the issue in greater detail. We have to understand why there has been a provocation for the violence, and who are the persons or organisations behind the provocation.

P.N.BENJAMIN
Chairman and Coordinator
Bangalore Initiative for Religious Dialogue (BIRD)
www.birdindia.org, e-mail: benjaminpn@hotmail.com
Member, Karnataka State Minorities Commission
& Bangalore-based Freelance Journalist

Thoughts on Independence Day 2011

2011-08-13T07:41:00.000-07:00

O, SWEET LAND OF LIBERTY, OF THEE I SING….

P.N.BENJAMIN

AT the stroke of midnight, August 14-15, 1947, a cry of freedom such as the world had never heard rose up from the teeming millions of India. The Indian Empire was no more. Gone forever were the pomp and magnificence of Kipling’s British Raj. “Bliss was it in that dawn to be alive/But to be young was heaven!”

How did it all happen? Long before that historic midnight, Mohamed Iqbal had filled every patriotic Indian with a sense of pride and glory with his “Sare jahamse acha, Hindusthan Hamara”. Of our India and its people he sang: “It is our rose garden, we are its nightingales.” That was how we rang in the twentieth century.

Down South, Subramanya Bharati recited to his ode to freedom, equality and brotherhood – Viduthale, Viduthale, Viduthale. Acham illai, acham illai, acham enbathu illaye, uchi meethu vaan idindhu veezhugindra podilum, acham illai, acham illai, acham enbathu illaye…(“There is no fear, there is no fear, even when the sky falls, there is no fear”, he sang.)

The sweet melody of Rabindra sangeet did not lull us to sleep but awakened us to our duties and responsibilities. Gurudev filled us with lofty ideals through Gitanjali: minds without fear, free knowledge, undivided by narrow domestic wall, clear stream of reason; that was how we were exhorted to enter the haven of freedom. How elated Indians used feel those days when young revolutionary heroes mounted the gallows singing Rabindranath Tagore’s memorable lines – “Blessed is my life that I am born in this land”. It was the same spirit, which could neither be suppressed by the bullet and the bullying of the Raj nor by the incessant ideological refrain of the White man’s superiority.

We joined the struggle for independence. An idealist led us - a “ half-naked fakir”, staff in hand, clad in loincloth, bespectacled, a cleft in the row of front teeth when he laughed or smiled (which he always did). He led us from behind, for he said, “I follow the people, because I am their leader”. He showed that empires were made of salt. With a spinning wheel he worked magic.

He spoke of his dreams: swadeshi, swaraj, panchayati raj, Harijan, Raghupathi-Eshwar-Allah, Ramrajya. He said: “The swaraj of my dreams is the poor man’s swaraj. The necessities of life should be enjoyed by you in common with those enjoyed by the princes and moneyed men…I have not the slightest doubt that swaraj is not purna swaraj until these amenities are guaranteed to you under it.”

When Independence was ushered in, Jawaharlal Nehru summed up the purpose of the “incessant striving” and ‘service of India” that lay ahead: “The service of India means…the ending of poverty and ignorance and disease and inequality of opportunity. The ambition of the greatest man of our generation has been to wipe every tear from every eye. That may be beyond us, but as long as there are tears and suffering, so, long our work will not be over”. What was promised was the ensuring of “justice and fullness of life to every man and woman”. A social structure that denied the common man the opportunity to rise to a decent standard of living “stands self-condemned and must be changed”.

Minutes before that historic midnight Dr. Radhakrishnan remarked that men like Washington and Lenin, Napoleon and Cromwell, Hitler and Mussolini, had used blood and steel to secure power. “We have opposed patience to fury, quietness of spirit to bureaucratic tyranny…History and legend will grow around this day. It marks a milestone in the march of our democracy. A significant date it is in the drama of the Indian people who are trying to rebuild and transform themselves…”

No nation was born in a more civilised way than India. But barbarity reigned on its borders. The civilised air in the Central Hall of Parliament against the barbarity on the bleeding borders reflected the state of the new nation – a backward country led by civilised men.

No doubt when we are celebrating the 64th anniversary of our independence we can look back with some satisfaction on our achievements, howsoever modest in global terms, since we became free on August 15, 1947. Compared to many of the developing countries, especially those that were under colonial rule for long years, these achievements have not been insignificant.

During the past 64 years India has striven to keep faith with the memory of the lean brown figure who led her famished millions to liberty. India was born a free nation; she sought to remain a free nation. She has tried to remain a free society respectful of the rights and dignity of its inhabitants, one in which the citizens would have the right to dissent, to protest, to express themselves freely and openly in a free press, to select their government in free, secret, honest elections.

India’s achievement in building a democratic nation is one of unsurpassed magnitude, worthy of the world’s respect, worthy above all, of the great leader who led her to the liberty that she has refused to cast away. O, sweet land of liberty/It is of thee I sing/Land where my forefathers died/Land of my pride/From east to west/north to south/let freedom ring…

The spirit of non-violence continued even while fighting a brief spell of tyranny. Perhaps nowhere else in the world was a tyranny voted out. The institutions of democratic governance, despite oft-voiced fears of erosion, have survived and gained strength. The so-called fall in Parliament’s debating standards could also reflect a pleasant reality. That, meeker mortals of the Indian earth have replaced the barristers with the right accent in the portals of Parliament. Democratic traditions have struck roots among even the unlettered millions of our country.

To record advance in different fields of economy, agriculture, industry, science and technology and developing a remarkably efficient technological manpower by world standards without in any way giving up our democratic way of life reflected in our pluralistic and multi-religious society, rich in its extraordinary diversity, has been striking to say the least. And yet a sense of deep depression grips one as one witnesses not only the all round poverty but the fact that in the last 64 years instead of markedly reducing poverty in real terms what we have done is to build islands of vulgar opulence and wealth in the vast sea of destitution and deprivation.

What is worse, the vocally influential segments of the wealthy fraction of our populace have increasingly become oblivious of the multitudes living on the fringe to eke out their pitiable existence. This has been markedly sharpened by the “market economy syndrome”. The net effect of such a phenomenon has been that we have allowed our younger generation to run after money and wealth forgetting their hapless poor neighbours barely able to survive. It has resulted in corruption and criminalisation of the polity growing leaps and bounds alongside proliferation of the black economy all around us, especially in the higher echelons of power.

That is precisely why we have to evolve a new strategy, a strategy that would aim at scaling down the mounting disparity in society, a strategy that would have to be accompanied by policies of social intervention to help ameliorate the conditions of those in the lower rungs of the socio-economic ladder. For that both decentralisation of the polity and empowerment of persons who have suffered persecution for centuries are as essential as ensuring genuine universal education and opening new avenues of productive employment so that our enormous manpower could be harnessed meaningfully in nation-building. Social, economic, educational upliftment of the people as a whole must constitute our priority task. And it is high time the rhetoric on this core is finally translated into practice. For the bulk of the populace has waited for too long. There is a limit to their patience which cannot be taxed beyond a point.

Only by such a strategy would the fullest mobilisation of our teeming multitudes be guaranteed to national reconciliation. Not only that, such a strategy would also help us to root out such vices as religious intolerance of both majority and minority communities that not only afflict the society but have also registered a sharp rise of late thereby undermining the basic values of the freedom struggle.

Building a nation-state is not a painless effort, but such pains of today are transient. Contrast them to the joys and sorrows of that historic midnight. True, the ambience, the flavour, the ethos of that midnight need the tribute not of sentimental nostalgia but of critical analysis.

Fifteenth of August continues to be a sacred day in the minds and hearts of the people of this great country. To celebrate the end of the long night of foreign rule and to breathe the air of freedom cannot but be a proud occasion even after sixtyfour long years. We should sing together today the famous American folksong: “Freedom, doesn’t come like a bird on the wings/ Doesn’t come down like summer rain. /Freedom, Freedom is a hard-won thing. /You’ve got to work for it. /Fight for it/ Day and night for it/And every generation’s/Got to win it again…”

JAI HIND!

P.N.BENJAMIN
Chairman & Coordinator
Bangalore Initiative for Religious Dialogue (BIRD
15th August 2011

USCIRF Report on Karnataka 2009-10 a response

2011-07-07T21:36:00.000-07:00

USCIRF REPORT 2010 ON INDIA’S KARNATAKA STATE: A REBUTTAL
By
P.N.BENJAMIN*
Chairman and Coordinator
Bangalore Initiative for Religious Dialogue (BIRD)
www.birdindia.org, e-mail: benjaminpn@hotmail.com
Member, Karnataka State Minorities Commission
Freelance Journalist

The US Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) annually issues its report on the status of religious freedom in other countries. However, it does not have a fair representation of religious leaders from non-Abrahamic religions on its policy making bodies. Among its nine Commissioners there is not a single one to represent faiths like Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism and other Eastern religions. Yet, the Commission feels that it is qualified to pass judgments on the extent of religious freedoms in countries like India where Hindus constitute nearly 81 percent of the country’s population, and where the Buddhist, Jain, and Sikh faiths were founded. It is in the context of the 2010 USCIRF report on India, and the criticisms made in that report that the following rebuttal is presented.

As a freelance journalist I have contributed feature articles to English-language newspapers and magazines for more than three decades. Like most of those who have to regularly write for newspapers and need factual information, I diligently file press clippings so that I don't slip up on accuracy.

I am the founder and coordinator of the Bangalore Initiative for Religious Dialogue (BIRD), promoting pluralism, tolerance and understanding for a society and a world free of all prejudices. It provides a platform for addressing issues which are causes for religious/communal tension/resentment by inviting people of all faiths to share through it the richness of their various religious traditions and experiences.

In addition, I am at present a member of the Karnataka State Minorities Commission, representing the Christian community in the State. As a member of the Commission I have visited several places where alleged attacks against Christians took place and interacted with people belonging to different faiths and also government officials to find out the facts behind attacks.

As far back as 2002, I was part of the RSS-BIRD fact finding team that enquired into the attack on the Holy Family Church at Hinkal in Mysore. And I wrote the report which is available on the internet. In the same manner, I was a member of another fact-finding team that exposed the political conspiracy behind the Mangalore incidents of violence against Christians in 2008.

So, I have the first hand information about several of the alleged attacks against Christians Karnataka. I can thus confidently say that the incidents of violence against Christians in Karnataka have been few and far between. However, all of these incidents have been blown out of proportion and internationalised by a handful of leaders from the Christian community and by unscrupulous politicians. They are using ordinary Christians as pawns for their narrow selfish ends.

Incidents in Karnataka: What really Happened

The latest (2010) report of the USCIRF on the Indian state of Karnataka is a classic example of how naively and unthinkingly US government agencies swallow the baseless propaganda against Hindu organisations. Interestingly, the report begins with the now forgotten 2008 Mangalore riots and goes on to refer to a few insignificant incidents of violence against Christians allegedly perpetrated by “Hindu extremists” until March this year in Karnataka.
It says: “Attacks in Karnataka state continued during the 2009-10 reporting period against Christians and church properties. For instance, in February 2010 Hindu extremists reportedly beat two Christian pastors unconscious after literally dragging them from their church compound. In March 2010, a pastor was assaulted during a prayer service when reportedly 15 Hindu extremists forced themselves into the meeting. In neither case did authorities bring charges against the attackers. However, in recent months, police in Karnataka have detained several pastors and held them overnight on charges of ‘forcible’ conversions. In March 2010, about 30 Hindu extremists reportedly forcibly entered the private home of a Christian family and accused the pastor of ’forceful’ conversions. Police arrested the pastor based on these allegations, while no action was taken against the intruders”.

Mangalore Violence

First things first. As the USCIRF report refers to the violence in Mangalore in 2008. I wish to go into some details I have gathered as a member of fact-finding team sent by “Citizens for Harmony,” a Bangalore-based voluntary organization. The team consisted of Mr. Y R Patil (retired Inspector General of Police) and Director of Academy of Career Counseling and Coaching, Bangalore, Mrs. Vijayalakshmi, (Social worker and Creative Director, Varnila Designs, Bangalore) and P N Benjamin (founder and coordinator, Bangalore Initiative for Religious Dialogue – BIRD.

The team visited Mangalore and Udupi on September 30 and October 1 respectively, and received several complaints and representations from Hindu and Christian organizations and from individuals who did not represent any institutions. Nearly 200 affected persons deposed before the team and submitted memorandums with documentary evidences at the open hearings held at Circuit House, Mangalore and Travelers Bungalow at Udupi. The team also visited most of the trouble spots and sought to know from the local communities, their responses to the incidents of violence. Following are excerpts from the report of the fact-finding team submitted to the Chief Minister of Karnataka in November 2008..

Excerpts from the Report

The places of worship which were attacked in Mangalore and surrounding areas included the Poor Clares of Perpetual Adoration Monastery (Mangalore), Christ Church at Kodikal near Mangalore, Believers Church of India at Puttur, Mahima Prathanalaya and Indian Pentecostal both at Madanthyar and Bethesda Aradanalaya at Sullia. In Chikumagalur, miscreants attacked Yavana Swami church at Magodu village, and Time and Paul Gospel Harvest prayer hall at Koppa. In Udupi district, New Life prayer hall located behind KSRTC bus stand was attacked apart from two other prayer halls at Shiroor and Kollur.

According to depositions before the team, a large number of Hindus and organizations were highly critical of the many Christian groups that have been indulging in aggressive evangelization and conversion activities in recent years in Mangalore and surrounding districts. They denigrate Hindu gods and their rituals in their attempt to get new converts from Hindu community. These activities made a section of the Hindu community ‘very angry’, but they had internalised it for long. But the killing of the Swami in Kandhamal and the Christian leaders’ call for protest closure of schools triggered the sudden eruption of violence in Dakshina Karnataka, especially in Mangalore and Udupi, on September 14 and 15.

It has been brought to the notice of the team that the Christian evangelists and missionaries have been targeting the poor and illiterate extensively as also the youth. Scheduled castes and scheduled tribes like Kudubis, Vishwakarmas and Lingayats are some who have fallen prey. Their modus operandi is to visit poor Hindu houses without their permission and distribute Christian tracts and literature. They seek those who are mentally and financially weak and induce them to give up their Hindu way of life and join the Christian religion with promises of moral and financial support on conversion to Christianity. The team also was told that here is a drastic increase in recent times in aggressive faith marketing strategies followed by the Christian groups in this region, which has caused this anger and resentment against Christians.

Encroachment of private and public property

There have been instances of Christian groups encroaching upon public and private properties in Mangalore. Two specific cases in point are: The Nagavana, at Shanthinagar, is a place of worship for the Kudubi tribes for centuries. The property has been encroached upon by the International Jesus Christ Church in India. A large church complex and living quarters have been built on this land by desecrating the sanctity of the Nagavana and also preventing the Kudubis from their worship at their sanctified shrine. It has led to much emotional trauma to the tribals of incomplete rituals. There has been a continuing protest by the Kudubi community but of no avail.

The same Church also causes much disturbance to the entire neighborhood with its week-end events that include loud music and dancing through the night shattering the peace and tranquility of the entire area. The leaders of the Kudubis have expressed their anger and disgust, displeasure and resentment, against the presence of this Christian group several times in the past to the civic authorities and have also legally proceeded against them in the civil court.

The founder of this church is Pastor Mani David Joseph and the present pastor is Immanuel Santosh Kumar.

Pachinady Kurchugudde

This is a hillock belonging to the government. A couple of years ago, the Catholic Church authorities encroached on it and erected several crosses all around its boundaries. They also built a statue of the Crucified Jesus Christ and a house-like structure. The Mangalore Bishop inaugurated it on January 20, 2007.

The Mangalore Municipal Corporation has illegally allotted a number to the structure thus giving it a semblance of legal sanction, and creating an impression among the local people that the land and the structures are owned by the Catholic diocese.

The local residents who met the team at the site asserted that this particular property belongs to the government. They wanted to know how the Municipality had allowed the Christians to erect the structures, a statue of Crucified Jesus Christ and several concrete crosses on the said government land.

Some activists of Hindu organizations have, in the aftermath of Mangalore incidents, hoisted several flags on this land in protest against the illegal occupation of the hillock by the Catholic Church. Incidents such as these have led to growing anger, heartburn and tension amongst Hindus against Christians.

Incidents at Holy Cross Church: A Case Study

On September 14 and 15, church bells continuously tolled in all the Catholic
Churches in Mangalore signaling to the faithful that the churches were in imminent threat of destruction. Consequently, at the Holy Cross Church compound in Kulashekar, about 800 Parishioners gathered within a few minutes. In addition, many people who had attended the first Mass were holed up inside the Church. All the gates to the church premises and school building adjacent to the church were locked from within. The school was closed inspite of a government directive not to close schools.

Some miscreants from among the crowd inside the Church compound snatched away the wireless set from an Assistant Sub-Inspector (ASI). They were asked to return it and the priest was unable to convince the youngsters to do so saying that he was recently transferred to the church and did not know anyone of them personally and therefore helpless.

The police surrounded the compound from outside because all the gates were locked. Police Inspector Ganapathy repeatedly asked the miscreants on the megaphone to voluntarily come out and surrender the police wireless set. He also requested the crowd to disperse as it was against the curfew orders that had been clamped to congregate in public.

The negotiations went on for almost five hours until the Superintendent of Police (Mangalore) Satheesh Kumar arrived on the scene. The situation was getting out of control. Sensing the seriousness of the situation, he entered the compound wearing a helmet supplied by a constable and broke open the gates with the help of about 50 constables.

As they moved in, they were attacked with stones and bricks from the top of the school. The photographs of youngsters – face covered with duppatas/clothes given to them by girls/women — throwing stones and roof tiles from the third and fourth floors of the school in the Church compound, are seen in the unedited videos in the possession of the fact-finding team. This was handed over to them by an amateur free-lance videographer.

When the miscreants started attacking the police, the SP had no other option but to order a lathi-charge and ultimately burst teargas shells. In the melee, several policemen were injured and a woman constable suffered serious head injuries. A Tata Sumo belonging to the Deputy Superintendent of Police was also destroyed by the miscreants.

Church using doctored tapes to spread hatred

It has come to the notice of the fact-finding team that the Church authorities have been circulating doctored video clips of the events that day in the church. Fr. Frances Vincent of Holy Cross Church showed us the tampered video to prove that the police action against the church members, said to be numbering about 800, was brutal, inhuman and heartless. He also emphatically claimed that the police “brutality” was without provocation on September 15, and in violation of all canons of human rights.

The video clips in the possession of the Church were supplied by the same source that gave the fact finding team the unedited version of the video pictures. It is shocking that the video tapes in the possession of the fact finding team show pictures of mounds of stones, sticks and bottles stored inside the Holy Cross church. There is no explanation forthcoming from the Church as to why those materials were stored inside the church. Circulation of such doctored tapes by the church authorities has been further stoking the flames of ill-will against the police and the Hindus at large.

Police Action

Seventy-two cases of arson were registered in Mangalore and two in Udupi. Sixty-seven policemen suffered injuries when Christians attacked the police. Twenty-six Christians and 17 Hindus were injured in police lathi-charge. The police conducted more than a mild-lathi-charge. However, it is fair to suggest that the police were also at their wit’s end having seen some of their injured colleagues and did not want to take any chance, especially when they did not have any wherewithal to judge the armed nature of the miscreants.

Findings of fact-finding team

All the incidents of violence that came to the notice of the team were directed against what is known as independent churches, house churches, Christian fellowships and associations belonging to New Life, Pentecostal, Assemblies of Gods, etc. All of them are independent of the mainstream Christian churches in India.

The Catholic Churches were targeted because of mistaken identity. The majority of Hindus cannot distinguish between the mainline churches and the independent churches. On 14th September some miscreants damaged and desecrated the idol of Jesus Christ at the Perpetual Adoration Chapel of the Monastery of the Poor Clares in the premises of Milagres Catholic church in Mangalore. The VHP and Bajrang Dal have condemned the desecration of Jesus Christ’s idol in the chapel. They have also clarified that they are not against the Catholic Church.

To the pointed questions to those who deposed before the fact-finding team as to why the miscreants turned their ire against the Catholic Church the answer was simple and straightforward: “How can we – the Hindus – distinguish between Catholic Christians and evangelicals? All denominations of Christianity are one and the same in the eyes of Hindus and we need not know the differences within the Christian community.”

The sordid events in Mangalore and elsewhere are the obvious result of unethical religious conversions and the denigration of Hindu practices and symbols by evangelists that polarize families and communities and aggravate long standing social conflicts as well.

The USCIRF has conveniently ignored the above report as well as the following news report: that appeared in Times of India of October 8, 2008 quoting Intelligence Bureau sources that the provocative activities of the New Life Christian church were a major source of disquiet in Karnataka and other states…The New Life movement has been accused of brazenly indulging in conversions in Karnataka and other states. In fact, the Catholic hierarchy is itself concerned about the activities of New Life movement which is allegedly taking many faithful members away from the mainstream Church. Its publications, “Satya Darshini”, for instance, are seen by many as having painted Hindu gods and goddesses in extremely poor light”

Incidents in other places in Karnataka: 2009-2010

As a member of the State minorities Commission, I have visited the following places and gathered information about the alleged violent incidents reported from there during this period.

Hebbagodi attack: Infighting, the Real Cause

St. Francis De Sales church at Hebbagodi, on the outskirts of Banglaore, was attacked in the second week of September 2009. Five persons were taken into police custody in connection with the attack. It was later confirmed that the incident was an effect of the infighting and confusion between different factions in the church, mainly the Syrian and Latin Catholic groups. Many were sore with the authorities after they were forced to vacate the quarters in the rear of the church compound, where they were living for decades.

Meanwhile, a section of believers had protested against the prayers being held in different languages and also vented ire over the celebration of Onam inside the church. In addition, another section was fuming after the priests failed to give permission to bury a parishioner, Peter, who had died three months before.

St. Antony's church in Bangalore: The motive was obviously theft

Miscreants broke open St. Antony’s church in Kavalbyrasandra in near Bangalore on November 7, 2008. The miscreants had probably broken open the doors of the newly built church past midnight. The main door was forcibly opened and the miscreants had obviously tried to steal the gold-plated chalice and two ciboriums kept in the tabernacle and also in the sacristy for keeping the Blessed Sacrament. The tabernacle was broken open and the communion elements were thrown out and sprinkled all over. (Deccan Herald, November 8, 2008)

Four persons including three juveniles were arrested for allegedly breaking into the St. Anthony’s Church in Kavalbyrasandra on November 11. The accused had destroyed the Holy Communion and escaped with valuables. They were drug addicts and had cases against them. The three juveniles were all 16 years old, and the fourth accused, Nauphal, is 20. On November 11 at about 2 a.m., they used iron rods to break the church door and emptied five offering boxes.

Later, they desecrated the church, broke the Holy Tabernacle, and got away with two gold-plated bowls, old iron pieces and also the crown of Christ, the police added. The accused then sold these articles in a scrap shop belonging to Alkatti Mazhar and Alkatti Wazeer at Lingrajpuram. The stolen articles were later dispersed in the Sunday bazaar. (New Indian Express, December 14, 2009)

Humnabad church attack

The ‘attack’ on a church in Humnabad town in November 2009 embarrassed the district administration and the police and caused quite a stir among the Christians who wanted the Government to take immediate action against those responsible for the attack. Furniture, electrical fittings in the main prayer hall, and the cross on the dome of the church were damaged.

But, according to The Hindu, December 18, 2009, police investigations revealed that the previous pastor of the church – Vasant -- had hired three goons, all belonging to the same locality, to attack and vandalise the church on November 17, 2009. Vasant was the pastor of the church till June 2009 before his transfer to a church at Basantpur in Chincholi taluk in Gulbarga district. He had conspired to damage the church with the hope that the church authorities would cancel his transfer and keep him in Humnabad.

Whipping up hatred against Hindus

Spreading hatred has become a pastime for several Christian leaders. For example, a retired judge of Karnataka High Court, M.F. Saldanha, claimed last August that there were 1,000 attacks against Christians in Karnataka. Compass e-magazine, August 16, 2010, repeats that false claim stating that “Christians in Karnataka State are under an unprecedented wave of Christian persecution, having faced more than 1,000 attacks in the last 500 days, according to an independent investigation by a former judge of the Karnataka High Court". But, the Global Council of Indian Christians (GCIC) has recorded only 72 attacks on Christians in 2009. That represents a decline from 112 attacks the previous year.

It proves that Justice Saldanha’s allegation that there were 1,000 attacks against Christians in Karnataka during the last 500 days is utterly false and outrageous, and the reality easily verifiable. Asked for the details of the attacks, Justice Saldanha failed to provide me with the list of names of churches and even dates of attacks. The allegation reflects his shocking ignorance about the real religious situation in Karnataka.

Reasons for Attacks

The reasons for the attacks against certain Christian groups are not difficult to ascertain. Simply put, they are a reaction to the “aggressive faith marketing,” propaganda, and mindless evangelism and conversions through foul and unethical means indulged in by Christian missionaries who denigrate and make fun of Hindu gods and abuse Hindu rituals as barbaric.

Father Adolf Washington of the Archdiocese of Bangalore has said: “There are several groups of people doing the rounds in Bangalore adopting persuasive techniques not just to convert people but also to spread animosity against mainstream Christian denominations. They hurl invectives against the teachings of Christian denominations and even induce people to tender a written ‘resignation’ to the pastor or priest. Since some of these groups do not even accept the divinity of Christ, in effect, their conversion should not be understood as conversion to Christianity but to their organisation. Mainstream Christian denominations do not go on a conversion spree, only splinter groups and cultic groups do so probably for some self-gain.”

The Indian subcontinent has become the principal target for a wide range of western Christian missions which are determined to spread the gospel to India’s "unreached" people. There is little doubt that the current communal tension in India would not be serious if foreign-funded missionaries had been content with giving Indians the choice of Christianity and left it at that.

Christians under siege

Christians are a tiny minority in India. But their attitudes often elicit counter-reaction from among militant Hindus who sometimes incite violence against Christians. “Many preachers of the Christian Gospel rattle off verses from the Bible to preach hellfire and damnation to those who do not agree with their interpretations of the contents of the Bible. They lay enticing traps for people whom they think must be "saved" at all costs. One hopes that the fanatics among the Christian faith will soon realize that theirs is a losing battle even if they derive their financial and other means of support from the wealthy nations overseas”.

Animosity against Christians is a reaction to the aggressive propaganda and mindless evangelism of thousands of foreign-funded, cultic, fundamentalist, fanatic, and revivalist Christian groups working in India. They denigrate Hindu gods and abuse Hindu rituals as barbaric. They are the root cause of tension between Christian and Hindu communities. Invariably, incidents of violence against Christians are always bloated out of proportion and internationalized. Why should anybody be surprised if the “extremists” among Hindus are offended and react violently? It is urgent that leaders of the established mainline churches, known for their erudition, equipoise, and empathy came out in the open and disowned such provocative acts of intolerance of the fundamentalist Christian groups masquerading as real Christians.

Terms such as "evangelistic campaign," "missionary strategy," "campus crusade," "occupying non-Christian areas," a "blitzkrieg" of missionaries, and sending "reinforcements" sound more appropriate to military enterprises than to Christian witness to God's redeeming love in Jesus Christ. The statistical approach implied in the words "the unreached millions" is derogatory to neighbours of other faiths. "Unreached" by whom? When Indian Christians themselves use these phrases, which have originated outside the country, to describe their neighbours living next door to them in the community, Christians should not be surprised if the neighbours are offended, as Dr. Stanley Samartha mentioned in his famous book, “Courage for Dialogue”.

The real source of danger to the Indian Christian community is not the handful of Hindu extremists but the self-styled saviours of Christianity who assert that they alone are the holders of valid visas to heaven and paradise.

The tragedy is that those who claim to be spokesmen and defenders of the Indian Christian community spread distress and division, and fan the flames of hatred against peace-loving Hindu community. To all appearances, these Christian leaders enjoy the grace and favour of the Congress Party-led Government of India. This encouragement helps the growth of powerful elements of separatism and disunity in the country.

It is unfortunate that there are not many Indian Christian leaders who can light a candle amidst the encircling gloom spread by religious proselytizers of both fundamental Christianity and Jihadi Islam. What Indian Christians today have unfortunately are leaders who are bank-rolled by US and other western funding agencies.

Yes, no civil society should condone violence. But mere condemnation is not a method to avert the repetition of violence. We have to find out if the violence is deliberate and unprovoked, or due to provocation. If it is the former, then there is one set of solutions, which mostly involves applying the law and severely punishing the perpetrators of the violence. However, if there is provocation, then we have to study the issue in greater detail. We have to understand why there has been a provocation for the violence, and who are the persons or organisations behind the provocation.

It is high time that the USICRF made an earnest attempt to appreciate this basic fact. That would be true humility if that is indeed possible for them to manifest. The USCIRF should apologize for its irresponsible and unsubstantiated comments; it should also check and re-check facts before deciding to disparage Hindu “extremists” in its reports. When greater inter-religious understanding and mutual respect is the need of the hour, leveling wild accusations that do not have any foundation is dangerous gamesmanship.

Finally, Hindu “fundamentalism” is a reaction to the provocations of Christian proselytizers. Under attack, Hindus have partly woken up to the need for self-protection and self-preservation. When they attack such Christian proselytizers they generate much criticism, especially from organizations like USCIRF and from the media world-wide.

People like me, who have access to the media, know that “all such propaganda is being peddled in the name of a bogey man called Sangh Parivar. If one is honest in one’s analysis, it is not the Sangh Parivar but certainly the actions of Christian proselytizers and jihadi Muslims who challenge the religious sensitivities of the Hindu majority in the State.

The Sangh Parivar bogey man will disappear if the mainline Churches in India come out openly and affirm that they are taking a solemn pledge in the name of Jesus to abide by the admonition of Jesus not to go miles to make a proselyte. If they can do that, the so-called Sangh Parivar will disappear” (Dr. C. Alex Alexander).

P.N.BENJAMIN
Apt. 501, Indira Residency
167 Hennur Road
Bangalore 560 043
India

A tale of three reports -Attacks on Christians: Facts, fiction & politics

2011-07-05T21:10:00.000-07:00

Violence against Christians in Karnataka

A TALE OF THREE REPORTS AND SOME COMMENTS

By P.N. Benjamin*

The fledgling BJP Government in Karnataka confronted its first major crisis when churches in eight districts were allegedly vandalized by “Hindu extremists/terrorists” in September-October of 2008. The government appointed a retired judge of the Karnataka High Court, Justice Somasekhara as a One-man Commission to inquire into the incidents of attack on Christian places of worship in the district of Dakshina Kannada. He submitted his report recently.

During the course of the inquiry, the Commission received 1,019 petitions and examined 754 witnesses spread over a period of 300 days of judicial sittings. More than thirty advocates representing various sections of the society including the Government presented their case before the Commission and the final arguments were heard over a period of 53 sittings. As many as 2,437 documents were marked by the Commission as exhibits in addition to 34 material objects in the form of Electronic Storage Documents (ESDs).

The Somashekara Commission has given a 'clean chit' to the BJP, Sangha Parivar and the state government. “There is no basis to the apprehension of petitioners that politicians, BJP, Sangha Parivar and the state government are directly or indirectly involved in the attacks”.

According to the report -- circulation of derogatory literature with "insulting attitude" against Hindus and issues of conversion were the main reasons behind the attacks.

The commission has stated that the impression and allegation that top police officers and the district administration had colluded with attackers in attacking the churches or places of worship had no merit.

However, the commission has noted that the government and district administration did not treat the Christian protesters sympathetically.

The commission in its 21 recommendations has suggested that the an exclusive police station with specially trained police officers for religious matters in each district should be constituted with special powers to function without the interference of the government.

The commission launched its investigation on October 2008 and held several sittings in Mangalore, Bangalore, Davanagere, and Udupi. It accepted a total of 1,500 petitions and 34 advocates representing various sections of society presented their cases before the commission

Churches were attacked in the districts of Mangalore, Udupi, Chikamagalur, Kolar, Chikkaballapur, Bellary and Davangere during September 2008.

• Detailed and transparent inquiry

According to Justice Somasekara the Commission’s final report on the church attacks was prepared after a detailed and transparent inquiry but was misinterpreted by a few. He also added that there was no need for Christian petitioners to be apprehensive about the direct or indirect involvement of politicians, the Bharatiya Janata Party, the Sangh Parivar and the State Government in the attacks.

Every bit of inference and findings of the report was based on evidence and elaborate discussion of all contentions presented before the Commission. The final report should be read in continuation of the interim report submitted to the government in February last, the inquiry panel chief said.

He said there was no lapse on the part of the Commission and any fair comments were welcome. “But all such expressions by anybody shall be subject to legal consequences under Section 10A (1) of the Commission of Inquiry Act. Ignorance of the law is no excuse; and this will apply to all,” he said.

• Fraudulent conversions

The Commission said fraudulent conversions have damaged the reputation of Christians as people who serve society and contribute to nation building. It also called for some laws to regulate some organizations that indulge in conversion “uncontrolled by any law.”

As many as 57 churches and prayer-halls were attacked in nine districts in the State in 2008. The report regretted that the attacks have “deeply affected” relations between Christians and Hindus who now suspect each other.

• Absolves Government, BJP, Sangh Parivar

Justice Somasekara categorically declared that there was "… no basis to the apprehension of Christian petitioners that the BJP, Sangh Parivar and the State Government directly or indirectly, are involved in the attacks.” He also said that "…the impressions and allegations that the present ruling government is showing cold shoulders to the interest of minority Christian community in Karnataka and try to suppress them for the political ends, like vote-catching has no basis.” noting that while it was “reasonable” for victims to suspect that the government was either slow or negligent in responding to the incidents his inquiry proved otherwise.

It also mentions that the attacks on churches or places of worship has deeply affected the harmony between the members of Hindu and Christian religions and created suspicion in the minds of each other.

The Justice noted that while, “True Hindus have no role to play in any attack directly or indirectly…” the attacks were carried out by “…misguided fundamentalist miscreants of defined or undefined groups…” who believed that they would be protected by the party in power .

He advised that action be taken against Mahendra Kumar, then convener of the Bajrang Dal, “…who sought to justify the attacks on churches….” It is important to note that Mahendra Kumar recently joined the Janata Dal (Secular) party.

• Police action justified

Justice Somasekara commented on the police response, commending them for the good work but also expressing concern when their response was either weak or unclear. “The police action against the Christian protestors in several incidents were justified,” he said while confirming that the police action at St Sebastian Church, Permannur, was “unexplainably excessive, unreasonable and is in violation of the expected norms prescribed.” He dismissed out of hand the allegation that the police and the district administration had colluded with those who attacked the churches: “…the impression and allegations that the top police officers and the district administration had colluded with the attackers in attacking the churches or places of worship has no merit.”

• Critical of local administration

Justice Somashekara, however, was critical of local administration and police in Bellary and Gulbarga districts: “The failure of the district administration functionaries, including corporation, municipality, electricity board and village panchayat authorities, in protecting the rights of the religious minorities guaranteed under the Constitution and their interference in their activities by misuse of power is evident and apparent, particularly in Bellary and Gulbarga districts…. Their acts of locking the places of worship and preventing the devotees from offering prayers is unprecedented in the history of administrative process and constitutional governance.”

He castigated the police for being “… imprudent, unreasonable and inexperienced…” when they entered some churches in “… Dakshina Kannada without following legal requirements amounting to violation of religious interests and human rights protected under the Constitution of India,” but the “saving grace is that there is no evidence to conclude that it was motivated or influenced by any other force.”

He also expressed concern about some acts of the police, including the lathi-charge in some situations in Dakshina Kannada. “The impressions and allegations that the government and the district administration did not treat the Christian protestors sympathetically and with compassion is justified in a few instances noted in the report categorically,” he noted, and that the grievance expressed by some that the compensation awarded in some instances was too meager, or inadequate was justified, he said.

• All attacks were spontaneous

A significant observation by the Justice is regarding the nature of the attacks and enmities between the two communities: “Not all attacks were spontaneous or accidental. Some were deliberate, well-planned communal antagonism with fundamentalism brewing since several years. The events leading to the attacks were many including local groupism, personal competition in trade, and education and political activities.”

Justice Somasekara noted that the allegation that some Christians and some Christian groups were indulging in “mischievous activities” including distributing “…literature maligning the Hindu religion, Hindu ancient systems, Hindu sacred beliefs, practices and sentiments….”

• Mass conversions & foreign funds

Justice Somashekara has said that “… the impression that some persons involved in conversions are getting funds from some sources including foreign countries…” and that such funds are used for “…mass conversions of innocent and helpless members of the society belonging to the weaker sections is true.”

• No conversion by Catholic Church.

The Commission has absolved the Catholic Church of any wrong-doing: “There appears to be no conversions at all by Roman Catholic churches or its members except for routine purposes like marriage or voluntary instances.”

The Commission rightly rejected some Hindu groups’ demand to ban Christian literature, including the Bible, that the groups claimed were “anathema to Hindu practices.” On the other hand it asked the government to seek the help of all religions and political parties to convince Christians to be sensitive and sympathetic to Hindu complaints.

• Grabbing of public property

About the attack on the Saint James Church at Mariyannapalya in Bangalore, did take place, said the Commission. “There appears to be a grabbing of public property by both church people and Chittiappa of Sri Adi Kaveri Trust which requires a serious inquiry and appropriate action,” it noted. There were attempts by Christians to convert people in the area, and resistance by the members of Adi Kaveri Trust of Chittiappa and local Hindus were the reasons for the incident, the Commission said.

The Commission categorically said that the Sangh Parivar had no role in the attack and it was a purely a local problem. It said that “the church should provide its own security and cooperate with the local police”.

•
•
• A make-believe attempt

Referring to St Mary’s Church in Kolar, the Commission ruled out the involvement of any Hindu organisation. The allegations of conversion are true, it noted, but that was not the reason for the attack. It was a deliberate attempt by some local group/s or political force/s to “create evidence” to link the attack to other such incidents involving churches, and to thereby demoralise or defeat the ruling BJP government.

The incident at Holy Name of Jesus Church at Rajarajeshwarinagar, according to the report was “sporadic -- carried out by either a passerby or by some miscreants to create evidence against the ruling party”.

Attack on St Anthony New Church at Yedanahalli. In this case, the report said the attack was a make-believe incident aimed at linking it with other similar incidents. The main culprits were allegedly Father Santhosh, David and his men, and two police constables, B M Nagaraj and B P Nagendra Kumar. The CoD police failed in their investigation to locate the culprits, the report said.

• Mass mobilisation of Christians & Vote bank politics

The reactions to the Commission’s findings were quick and organized. There was a mass mobilisation of Christians in Karnataka demanding the immediate withdrawal of the report and an orchestrated attempt at disseminating mischievous, unsourced, and spurious allegations about the Commission. Massive protests marches and meetings were held in many parts of the State.

However, when you politicize the church and make demands by using numerical minority vote bank for the politicians to see that we have power, then it means muscle power, which goes along with money power. To use religion and to ghetto people is divisive and anti-national. The church leaders have misused their position and authority to barter and bargain. The politicians yield not because of justice and fair play but because of the vote bank politics-this towards attaining their own power. The church leaders have been playing the game of politicians and turned themselves into semi politicians, using the ‘flock’ as tools.

Justice Saldanha’s report

I have with me a copy of the 304-page report by the retired judge Michael Saldanha, said to be based on his “independent inquiry” into the attacks on churches in Karnataka on September 14, 2008. It reads like a political party’s charge sheet against its opponent. It is far from an unbiased and independent report when the publication of the book itself has been funded by a former Congress minister T. John. To say the least, the book reads like Devil’s ‘ gospel of hatred’ – revulsive, repulsive and provocative. Needless to add, it is also meant to demoralise the law and order machinery in the State by freely and recklessly terming them (the Karnataka Police) as "state criminals", "state goondas", ‘khaki terrorists", "official terrorist of India" etc.!.

• Not unbiased.
The retired judge is the president of the Catholic Association of South Canara (Dakshina Kannada). It is therefore difficult to believe that an inquiry conducted by the president of the Catholic Association of Dakshina Kannada would be impartial. Justice Saldanha says any commission of inquiry set up by the government to investigate its own actions is unlikely to be impartial but gives himself privileges he denies the government. In addition, Saldanha has in the past three years persisted in demonising the BJP government in Karnataka

Justice Saldanha claims to have visited 413 places where incidents took place, obtained 673 types of evidence and testimony from 2,114 affected persons after visiting hospitals, courts, police stations, jails and government offices. Interestingly, he is not appointed by the State Government under the Commission of enquiry Act, but on the other hand self appointed and funded by Churches and discredited Congress leaders like the former minister T. John to give his ‘unbiased’ Report.

Highlights of Saldanha’s findings

• The Hindutva brigade was behind the violence, but even worse was the fact that the Chief Minister and the then Home Minister implicitly and explicitly abetted the Hindutva elements.

• The brute force of armed police, state administration and the lower judiciary was used against the hapless Christians and their institutions, who/which were soft targets in the attack, but provides no evidence of the use of what he calls “brute force”.

• The religious violence was pre-planned and executed with great precision for maximum impact which it did achieve and the persecution continues over the last three years.

• There is flagrant disregard of the rule of law and an atmosphere of anarchy prevails, with non-state & extra-constitutional players running riot and the government doing nothing.

Some genuine doubts & questions:

• No death reported

If brute force were used it would have resulted in the death of some and injuries to many Christians. Justice Saldanha has neither counted the dead (none), nor enumerated the injured, leaving us to believe that the mass circulation of hysterical pronouncements in foreign countries was the main aim of Justice Saldanha.

• One-sided report

Justice Saldanha’s Report is one-sided. Nether witnesses were examined nor allowed for Cross-Examination. No Documents are taken on record. Being a retired judge of the Karnataka High Court, it is surprising to know, he has not followed the basic principles of natural justice while giving his findings, adverse to the interested persons/groups/administration/officials.

How has the persecution of Christians for three years continued and to what effect? On the other hand, the number of Christians in Karnataka has increased and they have been able to worship and carry on their livelihood without hindrance.

Justice Saldanha hyperbolically alleges “flagrant disregard to rule of law” but if indeed what he alleges is true where is the evidence for such lawlessness? That a retired justice would stoop to such calumny is evidence of the organized challenge to the BJP-led government by Christian groups and Christian leaders who cannot stand the idea of the BJP coming to power anywhere in India.

• Blissfully unaware

Saldanha is blissfully unaware that the sordid events in Mangalore and elsewhere are the obvious result of unethical religious conversions and the denigration of Hindu practices and symbols by evangelists that polarize families and communities and aggravate long standing social conflicts as well.

He doe not seem to have read the report in Times of India on October 8, 2008 quoting Intelligence Bureau sources that the provocative activities of the New Life Christian church were a major source of disquiet in Karnataka and other States .The New Life movement has been accused of brazenly indulging in conversions in Karnataka and other states. In fact, the Catholic hierarchy is itself concerned about the activities of New Life movement which is allegedly taking many faithful members away from the mainstream Church

• Whipping up hatred against Hindus and calling a bluff

Spreading hatred like butter on hot bread seems to have become a pastime for M.F. Saldanha. For example, the Compass News reported in August 2010: “Christians in Karnataka State are under an unprecedented wave of Christian persecution, having faced more than 1,000 attacks in the last 500 days, according to an independent investigation by a former judge of the Karnataka High Court".

In the meantime, the Global Council of Indian Christians (GCIC) has recorded only 72 attacks on Christians in 2009. That represents a decline from 112 attacks the previous year.

When this writer asked for the list of names of churches and dates of attacks Justice Saldanha failed to do. Justice Saldanha’s utterly false and outrageous bluff that there were 1,000 attacks against Christians in Karnataka during the last 500 days was thus called because the reality was easily verifiable. The allegation reflected his shocking ignorance about the real religious situation in Karnataka.

Report of the Citizens for Harmony

Below are details gathered by the fact-finding team sent by “Citizens for Harmony,” a Bangalore-based voluntary organisation. The team consisted of Mr. Y R Patil (retired Inspector General of Police) and Director of Academy of Career Counseling and Coaching, Bangalore, Mrs. Vijayalakshmi, (Social worker and Creative Director, Varnila Designs, Bangalore), and P N Benjamin (founder and coordinator, Bangalore Initiative for Religious Dialogue – BIRD.

The team visited Mangalore and Udupi on September 30 and October 1, 2009 respectively, and received several complaints and representations from Hindu and Christian organizations and from individuals who did not represent any institutions. Nearly 200 affected persons deposed before the team and submitted memorandums with documentary evidences at the open hearings held at Circuit House, Mangalore and Travelers Bungalow at Udupi. The team also visited most of the trouble spots and sought to know from the local communities, their responses to the incidents of violence. Following are excerpts from the report of the fact-finding team submitted to the Chief Minister of Karnataka in November 2008.

Excerpts from the Report

• All the incidents of violence that came to the notice of the team were directed against what is known as independent churches, house churches, Christian fellowships and associations belonging to New Life, Pentecostal, Assemblies of Gods, etc. All of them are independent of the mainstream Christian churches in India.

• Catholic churches targetted due to mistaken identity

The Catholic Churches were targeted because of mistaken identity. The majority of Hindus cannot distinguish between the mainline churches and the independent churches. On 14th September some miscreants damaged and desecrated the idol of Jesus Christ at the Perpetual Adoration Chapel of the Monastery of the Poor Clares in the premises of Milagres Catholic church in Mangalore. The VHP and Bajrang Dal have condemned the desecration of Jesus Christ’s idol in the chapel. They have also clarified that they are not against the Catholic Church.

To a pointed question to those who deposed before the fact-finding team as to why the miscreants turned their ire against the Catholic Church the answer was simple and straightforward: “How can we – the Hindus – distinguish between Catholic Christians and evangelicals? All denominations of Christianity are one and the same in the eyes of Hindus and we need not know the differences within the Christian community.”

• The places of worship which were attacked in Mangalore
and surrounding areas included the Poor Clares of Perpetual Adoration Monastery (Mangalore), Christ Church at Kodikal near Mangalore, Believers Church of India at Puttur, Mahima Prathanalaya and Indian Pentecostal both at Madanthyar and Bethesda Aradanalaya at Sullia. In Chikumagalur, miscreants attacked Yavana Swami church at Magodu village, and Time and Paul Gospel Harvest prayer hall at Koppa. In Udupi district, New Life prayer hall located behind KSRTC bus stand was attacked apart from two other prayer halls at Shiroor and Kollur.

• Aggressive evangelization and conversion

According to depositions before the team, a large number of Hindus and organizations were highly critical of the many Christian groups that have been indulging in aggressive evangelization and conversion activities in recent years in Mangalore and surrounding districts. They denigrate Hindu gods and their rituals in their attempt to get new converts from Hindu community. These activities made a section of the Hindu community ‘very angry’, but they had internalised it for long. But the killing of the Swami in Kandhamal and the Christian leaders’ call for protest closure of schools triggered the sudden eruption of violence in Dakshina Karnataka, especially in Mangalore and Udupi, on September 14 and 15.

It was brought to the notice of the team that the Christian evangelists and missionaries have been targeting the poor and illiterate extensively as also the youth. Scheduled castes and scheduled tribes like Kudubis, Vishwakarmas and Lingayats are some who have fallen prey. Their modus operandi is to visit poor Hindu houses without their permission and distribute Christian tracts and literature. They seek those who are mentally and financially weak and induce them to give up their Hindu way of life and join the Christian religion with promises of moral and financial support on conversion to Christianity.

The team also was told that there is a drastic increase in recent times in aggressive faith marketing strategies followed by the Christian groups in this region, which has caused this anger and resentment against Christians.

• Encroachment of private and public property

There have been instances of Christian groups encroaching upon public and private properties in Mangalore. Two specific cases in point are: The Nagavana, at Shanthinagar, is a place of worship for the Kudubi tribes for centuries. The property has been encroached upon by the International Jesus Christ Church in India. A large church complex and living quarters have been built on this land by desecrating the sanctity of the Nagavana and also preventing the Kudubis from their worship at their sanctified shrine. It has led to much emotional trauma to the tribals of incomplete rituals. There has been a continuing protest by the Kudubi community but of no avail.

The same Church also causes much disturbance to the entire neighborhood with its week-end events that include loud music and dancing through the night shattering the peace and tranquility of the entire area. The leaders of the Kudubis have expressed their anger and disgust, displeasure and resentment, against the presence of this Christian group several times in the past to the civic authorities and have also legally proceeded against them in the civil court.

The founder of this church is Pastor Mani David Joseph and the present pastor is Immanuel Santosh Kumar.

• Pachinady Kurchugudde incident

This is a hillock belonging to the government. A couple of years ago, the Catholic Church authorities encroached on it and erected several crosses all around its boundaries. They also built a statue of the Crucified Jesus Christ and a house-like structure. The Mangalore Bishop inaugurated it on January 20, 2007.

The Mangalore Municipal Corporation has illegally allotted a number to the structure thus giving it a semblance of legal sanction, and creating an impression among the local people that the land and the structures are owned by the Catholic diocese.

The local residents who met the team at the site asserted that this particular property belongs to the government. They wanted to know how the Municipality had allowed the Christians to erect the structures, a statue of Crucified Jesus Christ and several concrete crosses on the said government land.

Some activists of Hindu organizations have, in the aftermath of Mangalore incidents, hoisted several flags on this land in protest against the illegal occupation of the hillock by the Catholic Church. Incidents such as these have led to growing anger, heartburn and tension amongst Hindus against Christians.

• Incidents at Holy Cross Church,
Kulshekar - A Case Study

On September 14 and 15, church bells continuously tolled in all the Catholic Churches of Mangalore signaling to the faithful that the churches were in imminent threat of destruction. Consequently, at the Holy Cross Church compound in Kulashekar, about 800 Parishioners gathered within a few minutes. In addition, many people who had attended the first Mass were holed up inside the Church. All the gates to the church premises and school building adjacent to the church were locked from within. The school was closed inspite of a government directive not to close schools.

Some miscreants from among the crowd inside the Church compound snatched away the wireless set from an Assistant Sub-Inspector (ASI). They were asked to return it and the priest was unable to convince the youngsters to do so saying that he was recently transferred to the church and did not know anyone of them personally and therefore helpless.

The police surrounded the compound from outside because all the gates were locked. Police Inspector Ganapathy repeatedly asked the miscreants on the megaphone to voluntarily come out and surrender the police wireless set. He also requested the crowd to disperse as it was against the curfew orders that had been clamped to congregate in public.

The negotiations went on for almost five hours until the Superintendent of Police (Mangalore) Satheesh Kumar arrived on the scene. The situation was getting out of control. Sensing the seriousness of the situation, he entered the compound wearing a helmet supplied by a constable and broke open the gates with the help of about 50 constables.

As they moved in, they were attacked with stones and bricks from the top of the school. The photographs of youngsters – face covered with duppatas/clothes given to them by girls/women — throwing stones and roof tiles from the third and fourth floors of the school in the Church compound, are seen in the unedited videos in the possession of the fact-finding team. This was handed over to them by an amateur free-lance videographer.

When the miscreants started attacking the police, the SP had no other option but to order a lathi-charge and ultimately burst teargas shells. In the melee, several policemen were injured and a woman constable suffered serious head injuries. A Tata Sumo belonging to the Deputy Superintendent of Police was also destroyed by the miscreants.

• Church using doctored tapes to spread hatred

It has come to the notice of the fact-finding team that the Church authorities have been circulating doctored video clips of the events that day in the church. Fr. Frances Vincent of Holy Cross Church showed us the tampered video to prove that the police action against the church members, said to be numbering about 800, was brutal, inhuman and heartless. He also emphatically claimed that the police “brutality” was without provocation on September 15, and in violation of all canons of human rights.

The video clips in the possession of the Church were supplied by the same source that gave the fact finding team the unedited version of the video pictures. It is shocking that the video tapes in the possession of the fact finding team show pictures of mounds of stones, sticks and bottles stored inside the Holy Cross church. There is no explanation forthcoming from the Church as to why those materials were stored inside the church. Circulation of such doctored tapes by the church authorities has been further stoking the flames of ill-will against the police and the Hindus at large.

• Police Action

Seventy-two cases of arson were registered in Mangalore and two in Udupi. Sixty-seven policemen suffered injuries when Christians attacked the police. Twenty-six Christians and 17 Hindus were injured in police lathi-charge. The police conducted more than a mild-lathi-charge. However, it is fair to suggest that the police were also at their wit’s end having seen some of their injured colleagues and did not want to take any chance, especially when they did not have any wherewithal to judge the armed nature of the miscreants.

Incidents in other places in Karnataka: 2009-2010

As a member of the State Minorities Commission, I have visited the following places and gathered information about the alleged violent incidents reported from there during this period.

Hebbagodi attack: Infighting, the Real Cause

St. Francis De Sales church at Hebbagodi, on the outskirts of Banglaore, was attacked in the second week of September 2009. Five persons were taken into police custody in connection with the attack. It was later confirmed that the incident was an effect of the infighting and confusion between different factions in the church, mainly the Syrian and Latin Catholic groups. Many were sore with the authorities after they were forced to vacate the quarters in the rear of the church compound, where they were living for decades.

Meanwhile, a section of believers had protested against the prayers being held in different languages and also vented ire over the celebration of Onam (harvest festival of Kerala) inside the church. In addition, another section was fuming after the priests failed to give permission to bury a parishioner, Peter, who had died three months before.

St. Antony's Church in Bangalore

Miscreants broke open St. Antony’s church in Kavalbyrasandra in near Bangalore on November 7, 2008. The miscreants had probably broken open the doors of the newly built church past midnight. The main door was forcibly opened and the miscreants had obviously tried to steal the gold-plated chalice and two ciboriums kept in the tabernacle and also in the sacristy for keeping the Blessed Sacrament. The tabernacle was broken open and the communion elements were thrown out and sprinkled all over. (Deccan Herald, November 8, 2008)

Four persons including three juveniles were arrested for allegedly breaking into the St. Anthony’s Church in Kavalbyrasandra on November 11. The accused had destroyed the Holy Communion and escaped with valuables. They were drug addicts and had cases against them. The three juveniles were all 16 years old, and the fourth accused, Nauphal, is 20. On November 11, at about 2 a.m., they used iron rods to break the church door and emptied five offering boxes.

Later, they desecrated the church, broke the Holy Tabernacle, and got away with two gold-plated bowls, old iron pieces and also the crown of Christ, the police added. The accused then sold these articles in a scrap shop belonging to Alkatti Mazhar and Alkatti Wazeer at Lingrajpuram. The stolen articles were later dispersed in the Sunday bazaar (New Indian Express, December 14, 2009).

Attack on Humnabad Church

The ‘attack’ on a church in Humnabad town in November 2009 embarrassed the district administration and the police and caused quite a stir among the Christians who wanted the Government to take immediate action against those responsible for the attack. Furniture, electrical fittings in the main prayer hall, and the cross on the dome of the church were damaged.

But, according to The Hindu, December 18, 2009, police investigations revealed that the previous pastor of the church – Vasant -- had hired three goons, all belonging to the same locality, to attack and vandalise the church on November 17, 2009. Vasant was the pastor of the church till June 2009 before his transfer to a church at Basantpur in Chincholi taluk in Gulbarga district. He had conspired to damage the church with the hope that the church authorities would cancel his transfer and keep him in Humnabad.

• Reasons for violence against Christians

In most of the cases the reasons for the attacks against Christian groups are not difficult to ascertain. Simply put, they are a reaction to the “aggressive faith marketing,” propaganda, and mindless evangelism and conversions through foul and unethical means indulged in by Christian missionaries who denigrate and make fun of Hindu gods and abuse Hindu rituals as barbaric.

The Indian subcontinent has become the principal target for a wide range of western Christian missions which are determined to spread the gospel to India’s "unreached" people. There is little doubt that the current communal tension in India would not be serious if foreign-funded missionaries had been content with giving Indians the choice of Christianity and left it at that.

• Christians under siege

Christians are a small minority in India. But their attitudes often elicit counter-reaction from among militant Hindus who sometimes incite violence against Christians. Many preachers of the Christian Gospel rattle off verses from the Bible to preach hellfire and damnation to those who do not agree with their interpretations of the contents of the Bible. They lay enticing traps for people whom they think must be "saved" at all costs. One hopes that the fanatics among the Christian faith will soon realize that theirs is a losing battle even if they derive their financial and other means of support from the wealthy nations overseas.

• Animosity against Christians is a reaction to
the aggressive propaganda and mindless evangelism of thousands of foreign-funded, cultic, fundamentalist, fanatic, and revivalist Christian groups working in India. They denigrate Hindu gods and abuse Hindu rituals as barbaric. They are the root cause of tension between Christian and Hindu communities. Invariably, incidents of violence against Christians are always bloated out of proportion and internationalized. Why should anybody be surprised if the “extremists” among Hindus are offended and react violently? It is urgent that leaders of the established mainline churches, known for their erudition, equipoise, and empathy came out in the open and disowned such provocative acts of intolerance of the fundamentalist Christian groups masquerading as real Christians.

Terms such as "evangelistic campaign," "missionary strategy," "campus crusade," "occupying non-Christian areas," a "blitzkrieg" of missionaries, and sending "reinforcements" sound more appropriate to military enterprises than to Christian witness to God's redeeming love in Jesus Christ. The statistical approach implied in the words "the unreached millions" is derogatory to neighbours of other faiths. "Unreached" by whom? When Indian Christians themselves use these phrases, which have originated outside the country, to describe their neighbours living next door to them in the community, Christians should not be surprised if the neighbours are offended, as Dr. Stanley Samartha mentioned in his book, “Courage for Dialogue”.

The real source of danger to the Indian Christian community is not the so-called Hindu extremists but the self-styled saviours of Christianity who assert that they alone are the holders of valid visas to heaven and paradise.

• Agents provocateurs or riot-entrepreneurs ?

The tragedy is that those who claim to be spokesmen and defenders of the Indian Christian community spread distress and division, and fan the flames of hatred against peace-loving Hindu community. They have turned out to be agents provocateurs who instigate and manipulate whatever the proximate trigger for violence against Christians. And, there is always a politician with an axe to grind, pulling the strings, inflaming passions, exploiting the victims for purely political ends. But the chances for success of such politicians ---the breed “riot-entrepreneurs” -- would be remarkably lower if there is vigorous and communally -- integrated civic life, not just through everyday casual contact but through formal associations that consolidate the mutual management of the two communities, Hindus and Christians.

• Enjoy grace and favour

To all appearances, these Christian leaders enjoy the grace and favour of the Congress Party and other so-called secular political parties. This encouragement helps the growth of powerful elements of separatism and disunity in the country.

It is unfortunate that there are not many Indian Christian leaders who can light a candle amidst the encircling gloom spread by religious proselytizers of both fundamental Christianity and Jihadi Islam. Most of the Christian leaders are unfortunately agents provocateurs or riot-entrepreneurs who are bank-rolled by US and other western Christian funding agencies.

It is high time Indian Christian leaders made an earnest attempt to appreciate this basic fact. That would be true humility if that is indeed possible for them to manifest. When greater inter-religious understanding and mutual respect is the need of the hour, leveling wild accusations that do not have any foundation is dangerous gamesmanship.

• Reaction to the provocations

Finally, Hindu “fundamentalism” is a reaction to the provocations of Christian proselytizers. Under attack, Hindus have partly woken up to the need for self-protection and self-preservation. When they attack such Christian proselytizers they generate much criticism, especially from Christians and their leaders and from the media world-wide.

People like me know that all such propaganda is being peddled in the name of a bogey man called Sangh Parivar. If one is honest in one’s analysis, it is not the Sangh Parivar but certainly the actions of Christian proselytizers and jihadi Muslims who challenge the religious sensitivities of the Hindu majority in the State.

• A bogeyman called Sangh parivar

The Sangh Parivar bogey man will disappear if the mainline Churches in India come out openly and affirm that they are taking a solemn pledge in the name of Jesus to abide by the admonition of Jesus not to go miles to make a proselyte.

Yes, no civil society should condone violence. But mere condemnation is not a method to avert the repetition of violence. We have to find out if the violence is deliberate and unprovoked, or due to provocation. If it is the former, then there is one set of solutions, which mostly involves applying the law and severely punishing the perpetrators of the violence. However, if there is provocation, then we have to study the issue in greater detail. We have to understand why there has been a provocation for the violence, and who are the persons or organisations behind the provocation.

• Spreading animosity against mainline churches

It is worth recalling what Father Adolf Washington of the Archdiocese of Bangalore wrote in the Deccan Herald two years ago: “There are several groups of people doing the rounds in Bangalore adopting persuasive techniques not just to convert people but also to spread animosity against mainstream Christian denominations. They hurl invectives against the teachings of Christian denominations and even induce people to tender a written ‘resignation’ to the pastor or priest. Since some of these groups do not even accept the divinity of Christ, in effect, their conversion should not be understood as conversion to Christianity but to their organisation. Mainstream Christian denominations do not go on a conversion spree, only splinter groups and cultic groups do so probably for some self-gain.”

• Inter-faith dialogue: need of the hour

As in the case of all communal riots in our country, most of the incidents of violence against Christians have been instigated and manipulated: whatever the proximate trigger for violence, there have always been Christian leaders/politicians with an axe to grind, pulling the strings, inflaming passions, exploiting the victims for purely political ends. But the chances for success of such leaders -- the breed “riot-entrepreneurs” -- would be remarkably lower if we encourage a culture of inter-faith dialogue between Christians and Hindus and a vigorous and communally-integrated civic life, not just through everyday casual contact but through formal associations that consolidate the mutual management of the two communities.

• Political conspiracy

Lastly, the incidents of violence against Christians throughout Karnataka that have taken place ever since the BJP government came to power in 2008 have been minor in nature but all have been the result of jointly hatched political conspiracy by the Church with the full support of discredited parties like the Congress, Janata Dal (S) and others to destabilize the only BJP government in South India. Not a single life has been lost and thus unfortunately no martyrs for the Church!

All the incidents should have been localised and contained. But, they have been blown out of proportion and internationalized by the media and the self-styled leaders and spokesmen of the Christian community - classic examples of vested interests making mountains out of molehills and spreading distress and divisions among neighbours of different faiths and provoking religious sentiments and fanning the flames of hatred.

No civil society can condone violence. But mere condemnation is not a method to avert the repetition of violence. We have to find out if the violence is deliberate and unprovoked, or due to provocation. If it is the former, then there is one set of solutions, which mostly involve applying the law and severely punishing the perpetrators of the violence. However, if there is provocation, then we have to study the issue in greater detail. We have to understand why there has been a provocation for the violence, and who are the persons or organisations behind the provocation.

P.N.BENJAMIN
Chairman and Coordinator
Bangalore Initiative for Religious Dialogue (BIRD)
www.birdindia.org, e-mail: benjaminpn@hotmail.com
Member, Karnataka State Minorities Commission
& Bangalore-based Freelance Journalist

A wonderful thought

2011-05-22T22:18:00.000-07:00

THIS IS NOT JUST A THOUGHT, BUT A WONDERFUL
THOUGHT WORTH SHARING WITH OTHERS.

The Rain

It was a busy morning, about 8:30, when an elderly gentleman in his 80's arrived to have stitches removed from his thumb. He said was in a hurry as he had an appointment at 9:00 am.
I took his vital signs and had him take a seat, knowing it would be over an hour before someone would to able to see him. I saw him looking at his watch and decided, since I was not busy with another patient, I would evaluate his wound. On exam, it was
well healed, so I talked to one of the doctors, got the needed supplies to remove his sutures and redress his wound.

While taking care of his wound, I asked him if he had another doctor's appointment this morning, as he was in such a hurry.

The gentleman told me no, that he needed to go to the nursing home to eat breakfast with his wife. I inquired as to her health.
He told me that she had been there for a while and that she was a victim of Alzheimer's Disease.

As we talked, I asked if she would be upset if he was a bit late.

He replied that she no longer knew who he was, that she had not recognized him in five years now.

I was surprised, and asked him, 'And you still go every morning, even though she doesn't know who you are?'

He smiled as he patted my hand and said,

'She doesn't know me, but I still know who she is.'

I had to hold back tears as he left, I had goose bumps on my arm, and thought, 'That is the kind of love I want in my life.'

True love is neither physical, nor romantic.
True love is an acceptance of all that is, has been, will be, and will not be.

With all the jokes and fun that are in e-mails, sometimes there is one that comes along that has an important message. This one I thought I could share with you.

The happiest people don't necessarily have the best of everything; they just make the best of everything they have.

I hope you share this with someone you care about. I just did.

Life isn't about how to survive the storm,
But how to dance in the rain.

We are all getting Older........
Tomorrow may be our turn.

Enjoy life now--it has an expiration date!!!

I believe that friends are quiet angels who lift us to our feet when our wings have trouble remembering how to fly.

Sir Mark Tully's Samatha Memorial lecture

2011-05-22T22:12:00.000-07:00

HOW CERTAIN SHOULD WE BE, THE PROBLEM OF RELIGIOUS PLURALISM

The ninth Rev. Dr. Stanley Samartha Memorial Lecture delivered by Sir Mark Tully,
on 7th October, 2010 at the Rotary House of Friendship, Bangalore, organised by the Bangalore Initiative for Religious Dialogue (BIRD)

Thank you very much for that very kind introduction. It’s a great honour to be here, but I’d say that this lecture for me is something more than an honour it’s a trial as well, because I’m speaking here in honour of a great theologian. I am a person who read theology rather inadequately and rather lazily when I was at Cambridge; and when I was asked to give a series of lectures, known as the Teape Lectures I had to start the first one by saying very firmly that I am a journalist and not as all the previous lecturers were, and as Dr Stanley Samartha undoubtedly was, a scholar.
I want to speak to you from my experience rather than from any very deep reading and I hope you will forgive me for doing that.

It seems to me that I can start off by making a rather general point. The theology that searches for pluralism is very much a theology in the Indian tradition. I was once asked to organise a meeting of people of different faiths to meet Prince Charles when he came to India, and one of those who came was Father Samuel Ryan, a Jesuit from Delhi. He told Prince Charles that it was because of the Indian tradition of pluralism and Indian Christian pluralist theology that the Roman Catholic Church had made it clear it no longer maintained there was no salvation outside the church. That is evidence of the penetration of pluralism in Indian Christianity, and it’s a reflection I believe of the pluralist nature of Indian culture. I am a firm believer that we need religious variety, and I am very interested to learn that Stanley Samartha rejoiced in variety. Perhaps I shouldn’t say this in the presence of people of the Church of South India which is a great example of oecumenicity, but I personally believe that rather than trying to jam all our churches together we should rejoice in the variety of the Christian experience and the variety of church traditions. .

To me there are two things about religion which we sometimes forget. One is that to some extent it’s culturally specific. In other words, there is a mix between religion creating a culture, and that culture having a life of its own which impacts on religion. To demonstrate that I love this story about a very orthodox young missionary priest who went to Africa. When he got there he was shocked because he found in his church that every day a group of women would come and sit around the statue of the Virgin Mary. They would talk and pray to her, and talk amongst themselves. Of course he was very concerned about this, because ,as you know the Roman Catholic church is very keen not to give the impression that the Virgin Mary is God, or equal to Jesus, or anything like that. So he hid behind the high altar one day and said in a loud voice “I am Jesus and you should be talking to me and not to Mary.” One of the women shouted back at him "Shut up, we are talking to your mom!" (Laughter) This is just one little illustration.
The other thing about religion I feel is important in the context of pluralism is that it’s always personal. There are no two Christians, no two Hindus, no two Muslims, who actually believe and behave and do everything in exactly the same way. And this is hugely true, of India. There’s a basic pluralistic culture in this country. Now, I know from experience what I am going to say now will be misinterpreted. but I think it’s justified, although controversial, to say that this Indian culture is deeply influenced by religion in this country. I’d prefer to say influenced by the development of Hinduism, although I know all about the controversies over that word. What has come about in this country is a faith which is highly individualistic, in other words it accommodates the fact I have mentioned, the fact that each person’s religion is in someway personal. But at the same time this faith is part of great historic traditions which have bound people together in common beliefs and forms of worship. Now, there are many arguments about the history of religion in this country. but the fundamental fact still remains that India has been a historic home to all great religions in the world. Of course there has been differences as there have been problems. But if you look at India today, I would ask you to compare it with the West and see the difference. See the muddle which is being created in the West, over religious pluralism, over the presence of Muslims in the West, and see India where 15 per cent of the population is Muslim, They are perfectly free to worship, no one is going to tell any woman she is not allowed to wear a burqa, or anything like that. And of course, you know, you have a substantial Christian population. This is not a recent phenomenon. It’s a historic fact that India has provided a home down the centuries for almost every religion in the world. So, I think this pluralism and this ability to recognise the individual element in your religion is culturally specific to India.

So, why is pluralism important today? Well, there are three reasons I’d give you. The first is of course the obvious one that if we don’t have understanding between religions we tend to have fights and differences can, as we see today degenerate into terrorism. But even in disputes that involve religion, it’s almost always wrong to blame religion entirely. There are usually economic, political and often ethnic reasons involved in those disputes. Nevertheless, they are fought in the name of religion..

The second reason of course is when these disputes become ugly, they defame religion. They give religion a bad name. One of the most absurd things said by the secular fundamentalist Richard Dawkins is that if there was no religion, there’d be no wars. The fact that some people are prepared to accept nonsense like that indicates the damage these disputes inflict on religion.

The third reason is in my view, is that not accepting that there are different ways to God is a hugely missed opportunity to demonstrate the validity of belief in God. The theologian we are honouring today searched for a way to demonstrate that in different cultures at different times in the history of the world in different languages, human beings have had experiences and held beliefs with a great deal in common. In other words we should search for the commonality in religions in order, in my view, to demonstrate that the religious urge is a common urge to humanity. That, if you’d like to put it crudely, is a selling point for religion. So, on the one hand you have religion defamed when religious pluralism is not practiced, on the other hand, you have evidence that can make you more secure in your faith and also able to justify it in discussions with others when you are pluralistic.

Now for Christianity, there are of course, difficulties in pluralism. One of the obvious difficulties in pluralism is of course is Christianity’s exclusiveness. Jesus’ reported statement in St John’s gospel that he is “the way the truth and life” has traditionally been taken to mean that he is the only way. It’s very interesting that perhaps one of the most outstanding Christian books on religious pluralism was written by a Belgian Jesuit who spent many years in India and was deeply influenced by the culture and religions of India, Father Jacques Dupuis. His book is called Toward A Christian Theology of religious Pluralism. Dupuis said that until recently theology often seemed in Christian circles to belong to Christianity as its exclusive property. And, in Western Christianity, first world theology, seemed to have the monopoly. Certainly when I did my theology in Cambridge, we didn’t learn about any other religion..
So Christianity not only made this exclusive claim to truth but also tended in its theology to be narrowly confined to the tradition of one part of the world. Even within that tradition because we couldn’t accept pluralism we have this long history of fighting each other. I am thankful to say things have changed. When I went to university I had many Roman Catholic friends, but they would not come to an Anglican service with me. In fact some of them were even reluctant to go into an Anglican church. Now that has changed totally. I was in Britain for the very recent visit by the Pope and one of the most touching aspects of this was the obvious friendship, despite their theological differences, between the Pope and the Archbishop of Canterbury. The Pope not only celebrated Mass in the Roman Catholic Westminister cathedral, he also took part in a special service in the Anglican Westminster Abbey.

So Christians are making what I would argue is progress. But still we do have this problem of a theology which traditionally says Christianity is the way to God. A few years ago, I had the privilege of taking the Bishop of Kingston in South London to meet a friend of mine, Maulana Wahiduddin, who is a great Islamic scholar. The bishop said to the Maulana that in his view the need for a Christian theology of pluralism was the major problem facing twenty first century theologians. The Maulana said “I have an answer to that. I believe Islam is the true way but I respect other religions.” And he certainly expresses his respect in all he writes and all he says.

But without wanting to show disrespect to the Maulana, I think the Mahatma was more profound, because he went one step further. He not only respected all religions, but believed all religions can and should learn from each other. The Mahatma said “All faiths constitute a revelation of truth but all are imperfect and liable to error. Reverence to other faiths need not blind us to their thoughts, we must be keenly alive to the defects of our own faiths also. Yet we must try to overcome these defects.” And then e Mahatma went on to say, “looking at all religions with an equal eye we should not only hesitate but it’s our duty to blend into our faiths every acceptable feature of other faiths.” That I think is a more profound way of looking at religious pluralism.

Jacque Depuis said that Hindu Vedanta may help Christians purify and deepen their faith in the divine mystery. And mystery is in some ways, is the key to this problem. Because what does mystery say? Mystery means we are talking about something mysterious. We are talking about something that we cannot write up on a blackboard and say this is who God is and this is what religion is etc etc. As Christians, those of you who are Christians, you believe that Jesus is the Son of God. But I bet, if you put five of you together all of you will have different interpretations of what Son of God means..

In the same way, with all other religions, if we remember that word mystery, then we will realise that all our beliefs are to some extent open to questioning. We do not fully understand. That great metaphysical poet George Herbert wrote a wonderful poem called Prayer, which ended with the words , “something understood”. In other words our prayers, our religious beliefs can never be absolute certainties, we will always only grasp part of the full mystery of God.

Here I would like to talk about the uncertainty of certainty, and this again is very Indian. If we believe in the uncertainty of certainty we will not take our certainties too far, and they will not get out of balance. We will realise that we will have to be open minded, look at our certainties and make sure we are maintaining our balance. You can put it very crudely that people can be too religious, people can be too certain about their faiths. And this suspicion of certainties is something which is fundamental to Indian philosophy as I understand it. It was very well put by a great scholar R C Zaehner who held the same chair at Oxford as Radhakrishnan did. Zaehner said “Hindus do not think of religious truths in dogmatic terms.” In other words, they don’t believe in certainties that can’t be questioned. According to Zaehner Hindus say, “dogmas can’t be eternal, only the transitory distorting images of truth that transcends not only them but all verbal definitions.” This is the mystery, something that transcends all verbal definitions. And then Zaehner goes on to say, “for the passio n for dogmatic certainty that has racked the religions of Semitic origins, from Judaism itself through Christianity and Islam to Marxsm they feel nothing but shocked incomprehension.”

I would put what I call Scientism in the same bracket as Marxism. By scientism I mean, the confident belief that everything can be answered by science and scientific answers are the only answers. It’s a creed which maintains that rationalism is the sole method of perception. I hasten to add here that I am not therefore saying religion can ignore reason or rationalism. Scientism is a dogmatic certainty, just as much as the belief that Jesus is the one and only one way to God is a dogmatic certainty. It’s very important, I think, to recognize that people like Richard Dawkins who popularise scientism are fundamentalists, just much as some religious people are.

By believing in Christian certainties the church has made classic blunders. It’s all right for the church to be suspicious about scientism but it has to respect scientific findings, and see how they relate to its beliefs. If it respects the fact that it’s dealing with a mystery the Church will not get involved in arguments with science which lead to blunders like the blunder over Galileo. In my view not being sufficientl,y open to scientific discoveries is producing problems at least some parts of the church are facing today. The Roman Catholic Church is deeply concerned about moral relativity, but on the other hand if we do not have an element of moral relativity we get stuck in a rut. That is why is the Christian faith fell behind in its understanding of the place of women in society in my view and fell behind in its understandi8ng of the way we should regard homosexuality as well. This is because Churches held on to outdated certainties instead of being prepared to move with the times.

I talked to you about balance. And obviously, there’s a need for balance here. If we respect the mystery, if we respect what science is saying to us, if we respect what the best of secularism is saying to us, and I firmly believe in secularism provided it’s the secularism, that leaves space for everyone, and has a genuine respect for religious belief as well as genuine respect for those who do not believe, we will be balanced. . But, secularism too has to be held in balance. The same is true for relativism. If we do not respect the need for being open to change, for a certain amount of relativism, then we get stuck in the past. On the other hand we have to be very careful that relativism doesn’t result in diluting traditional historic faith, and all that faith has stood for, so much that it loses its meaning. . If we become too relativist we will find that faith gradually withers away. There should be some ground on which we stand. And this is a matter therefore as I said of the Indian tradition of balance, the balance between the need to have an open mind, and the need to stand on some firm ground.

There are two other dangers I believe to taking relativism too far in being too open to change. One danger is what I call Pick and Mix Religion. That is when we say, “I don’t like this bit of that, and I do like that bit of that, and anyhow I am very clever and I can make it all up for myself. Therefore I am very happy to take a bit from Hinduism a bit from Islam, a bit from Christianity and mix it as I feel suits me, or I am very happy to take this from Christianity and drop the rest of it.

The other danger of relativism is its tendency to undermine all tradition. Then you find yourself saying “I don’t have any need for any institutional religion at all”. Now I know that institutional religion has problems. The church is fallible, the church has made mistakes. The church does get things wrong. But on the other hand it seems to me that unless your religious faith is rooted in the past, rooted in tradition, then in some ways it become rootless and over-personalised. Here I would like to come back to Gandhi and his famous saying that he wanted the windows of his house to be open to winds blowing from all quarters of the world, but he didn’t want to be blown off his feet. That is one of the most profound views of religious pluralism that I have ever come across.

Before I sum up, I want to give three health warnings. The first is that what ever I have said today does not mean that I am turning the whole western missionary argument on its head and, saying that Hinduism is the only valid religion.. There is a common problem in communication – how do you , prevent an audience, listeners, viewers, or readers seeing issues in black and white. So if I say something in favour of Hinduism many will take it to mean that I am opposed to every other religion, or at the least that I regard it as superior to any other religion.

There is a strange version of this black and white thinking in India. It is the type of secularism which has no place for Hinduism, and which sees anyone who says anything about that religion as a supporter of the RSS Hindu nationalism. In other words for those secularists either you are wholly white and you totally support their anti-religious point of view or you are wholly black in their eyes and support an organisation they condemn as communal. Only today I was interviewed by a journalist who said to me you have a reputation of being right-wing. When I asked what she meant by right wing she replied, “ RSS and all that.’ So I said to her, “I have written a book called India’s Unending Journey, in which I have tried to express my respect for Hinduism, as well as other religions. At the same time I made the limits of that respect absolutely clear, and criticised the RSS family. It isn’t the first time I have written or spoken like that. But because of the existence of what I’d call blind secularism in this country, and it does not include all secularists of course, expressing my appreciation of Hinduism, has, you tell me, labelled me RSS.” If you in the audience have been listening to what I have said, you will understand my understanding of Hinduism is very different to the dogmatic RSS school of Hinduism. My speech has been an appreciation of an undogmatic religion. So, that’s the second health warning that I wanted to give.

The third health warning I’d like to give is this. I may have trained to become a priest, but I only survived through two terms in the seminary before I was told by the bishop that because I liked drinking beer rather a lot, my place was in the public house rather than in the pulpit. So I hope you do not think that I have preached to you. I didn’t come here to preach. I came here to express in a sense my faith in religious pluralism. And the last thing I came to do was to preach to Hindus, because of course I have no right to do that. I have merely tried to explain to you why I see religious pluralism as so important., and how I believe the Indian tradition, the tradition of openness, the undogmatic tradition, can be the tradition that takes us down that road. As I said you already have great Indian theologians, or theologians who have been much influenced by India who are taking us down that road. There’s another person I mentioned to you, Julius Lipner who teaches Sanskrit at Cambridge, and has written a wonderful book on Hinduism. He calls himself a Catholic Hindu or Hindu Catholic depending which way he feels like saying it.

So Christian theology is on the move, and it up to all of us who are Christians to welcome that. It’s also very important that all of those who are Hindus, and who suspect Christianity of being an exclusive religion that wants to convert everyone, should realise there is a big body of Christians who want to have a dialogue. There is Christian theology to support those Christians too. But dialogue after all, is like clapping. It does require two hands. So in a sense, my appeal is to Hindus, Muslims and Christians to dialogue with each other and to learn from each other.

To sum up, the principle of religious pluralism is accepting that in religion we are dealing with a mystery, which means claims to absolute truth are inevitably open to question. If there is a doctrine, it has to develop. For doctrine to develop we shouldn’t just live with other religions but learn from them. As Jacques Dupuis said dialogue is the necessary foundation of a theology of religions. And that’s also of course what the great theologian we are celebrating today said.
Thank you all very much.

Sir Mar Tully

Calling Saldanha's bluff

2011-05-22T22:05:00.000-07:00

1,000 attacks against Christians
CALLING SALDANHA’S BLUFF

The Compass News has reported:" Christians in Karnataka State are under an unprecedented wave of Christian persecution, having faced more than 1,000 attacks in the last 500 days, according to an independent investigation by a former judge of the Karnataka High Court"

But, "the Global Council of Indian Christians (GCIC) has recorded only 72 attacks on Christians in 2009. That represents a decline from 112 attacks the previous year".

It proves that Justice Saldanha’s allegation that there were 1,000 attacks against Christians in Karnataka during the last 500 days is utterly false and outrageous, and the reality easily verifiable. The allegation reflects his shocking ignorance about the real religious situation in Karnataka.

But, people like me who have access to the media and who are still in control of our Betz cells know that all such propaganda is being peddled in the name of a bogey man called Sangh Parivar! If any one is honest in his analysis, the so-called Sangh Parivar, it is certainly the outcome of the actions of the arch conversionists of Christianity and the Jehadi Muslims who challenge the religious sensitivities of the Hindu majority in the State.

Mr. Saldanha should apologize for his irresponsible and unsubstantiated comments; he should also check and recheck facts before deciding to disparage Hindu ‘extremists’ in public. In this day and age, when greater inter religious understanding and mutual respect is the need of the hour, levelling wild accusations that do not have any foundation, in fact, can hardly help matters.

The Sangh Parivar bogey man will disappear if Saldanha and his Catholic Bishops and the Protestant Evangelical leaders will come out openly and affirm that they are taking a solemn pledge in the name of Jesus to abide by the admonition of Jesus not to go miles to make a proselyte. If they can do that, the so-called Sangh Parivar will disappear

India and its tolerance for the diversity of its religious communities were built up over thousands of years. But, it looks like if individuals like Saldanha and his like-minded friends are not checked and their false propaganda nipped in the bud, your children and the children of India's minorities will have no future anywhere near the equity and fairness that they have so far enjoyed despite India being a predominantly Hindu nation.

I marvel and admire the enormous charity and Christ-like compassion of the Hindu majority to accept a Muslim President and a Sikh President and Prime Minister and a foreign-born Christian woman Party Leader of the ruling party. No Islamic or Judeo-Christian country on this world's stage can hold a candle to the wisdom of the majority people of India who truly know what Sanatana Dharma is. It is high time that Mr.Saldanha and his protagonists make an attempt to appreciate that. That would be a true Christian,s humility if that is indeed possible for them to manifest

Is there a true Christian leader among us who can light a candle amidst the encircling gloom spread by the religious conversionists of both fundamental Christianity and Jehadi Islam?

　

P.N.BENJAMIN

RADIANT DAWN

2011-01-15T05:49:00.000-08:00

Hour before radiant dawn
P N Benjamin

Is the New Year going to be different from the old? Many in this country, millions upon millions, would certainly like to ring out the old and ring in the new with new hopes and expectations.

They would wish the spectre that haunted them in the past – natural calamities, impoverishment, unemployment, fratricidal clashes, caste, communal and terrorist violence – to disappear and not keep company with them in the journey ahead.
But, to begin the New Year with forebodings may sound like a pessimist’s pastime. But we must face it with buoyant self-confidence. And the stout-hearts among us should not lose hope.

Caught in the immediacy of the present we may be agonising over these maladies. But, there is still hope. This may be the darkest hour before the radiant dawn. God has not gone bankrupt. If past is any pointer to the future, there is indeed hope.

There is resilience in our people, which no combination of adversities can kill. Our ideals and principles might appear to be in eclipse. But, eclipses are short-lived.

In an atmosphere surcharged with cynicism on the one hand and despair on the other, we would do well to remind ourselves that our present predicament is not unique. India in the past has seen many a crisis. But, the country lives on. The present ordeal too will pass and the country will again resume the path of progress.

The old value system has collapsed, but already an intense search has begun for new values for the establishment of a new morality in public life. Dedicated men and women, sacrificing comfort and many allurements of the consumerist society are building a new India in the remote villages and hilly regions of this vast land of ours.

There abound in this country today men and women of finest moral qualities, experts in their respective fields seeking to advance the frontiers of knowledge and to serve the community by disseminating it to the public.

They are playing their role in the building of this great country and are sharers, in common with others, in the triumphs and setbacks that come their way. They give us reasons for hope. Hope, where there is despair. Light, where there is darkness. Joy, where there is sadness.

The New Year is upon us. Come, let us make it the hour before that radiant dawn. The present with all its unhappiness and misery will pass.

It is the future that counts and it is that future that beckons to us. Beyond the winter of our discontent and despondence, there is the Spring of Hope!

Deccan Herald, 31/12/2010

ECLIPSES ARE SHORT-LIVED

2010-12-28T06:57:00.000-08:00

WE SHALL OVERCOME

By P.N.BENJAMIN

Deep-rooted fatalism, dumb acceptance of misery, a raging sea of poverty, and a few islands of vulgar luxury, inhabited by a few who behave as if nothing has happened. This is India today. And this should disturb every sensitive Indian today. The time is long past when one could pacify one’s conscience by angry outburst or exposure of a few misdeeds. The situation is far more serious, the prospect grimmer.

The cancers that have grown in the vitals of India are so horrendous that whole limbs may decay and die before some sort of curative effort succeeds in the rest of the system. Men of vision, integrity and merit were at the helm of affairs in the early years of this nation. A different set of qualifications has now become necessary to attain and then retain office. Men and women of merit have disappeared from the higher echelons of power.

The welter of crashing values, the miasma of poverty, the insensate outburst of religious fundamentalism and fanaticism, regionalism and casteism: it is chaotic. One is also shocked at the sight of brute force trampling upon the underprivileged, while the elite enjoy all the inevitable accompaniments of permissive morality, addiction to vicarious violence, erotic and narcotic fantasies.

Caught in the immediacy of the present we may be agonizing over these maladies. There is still hope. “There is an ebb and tide in the affairs of man. Things will change”. This may be the darkest hour before the radiant dawn. God has not gone bankrupt. He can make the blind see, the deaf hear and the lame cross the mountain. If past is any pointer to the future, there is indeed hope. There is resilience in our people, which no combination of adversities can kill. Our ideals and principles might appear to be in eclipse. But, eclipses are short-lived.

In an atmosphere surcharged with cynicism on the one hand and despair on the other, we would do well to go out anywhere, amidst the din and bustle of the factories or vast expanses of the fields, in the beehive of busy offices or in the boisterous, crowded campuses – among men, women, the young and the old – you will hear a thousand and one questions why things have gone wrong and what’s the way out of it.

Dedicated men and women, sacrificing comfort and many allurements of the consumerist society are building a new India in the remote villages and hilly regions of this vast land of ours. There abound in this country today men and women of finest moral qualities, experts in their respective fields seeking to advance the frontiers of knowledge and to serve the community by disseminating it to the public. In the prevailing darkness they move about like figures in silhouettes; soon the sun shall arrive and identify them, and among them shall be seen new leaders with a new message of enriched patriotism. A new resolve to make this land of ours a better place to live in. The saga of such endeavours is hardly publicised by the media addicted to the burlesque of present-day politics. But they give us reasons for hope.

The reserves of India are too strong to be contained by the unworthy for too long. Today’s rulers as well as the ones waiting in their wings to be future rulers must necessarily be themselves marginalised sooner or later because they are superficial manifestations of a superficial phenomenon; neither they nor the phenomenon that sustains them have any validity in the general scheme of human progress.

Like wars, seemingly hopeless political cancers help steel a nation’s nerve and accelerate the maturing process. India will then step out of the new into the newer.

P.N.BENJAMIN
501, Indira Residency
Hennur Road
Kalyan Nagar
Bangalore 560 043
Tel. 08025435716
Mob. 09731182308

Responses to SONG OF MARY

2010-12-24T09:01:00.000-08:00

RESPONSES TO SONG OF MARY

Jeykar Jerome

Many thanks for your Christmas message. Frankly I had never thought of the Magnifact in this way. Wishing you and Mrs Benjamin (your only wife !) a Blessed Christmas and God's blessings all through the New Year.
Veena & Jayakar

Dear brother,

Thank you for the engaging article with the usual original look at history and the scripture.
Merry Christmas and a happy New Year!

Love and regards,

A.P.Durai

Mark Tully

The Song of Mary
From: markandgilly@gmail.com
To: benjaminpn@hotmail.com

Dear Benjamin, Many thanks for your theological Christmas card. Best
wishes to you and your family for Christmas and the New Year. Mark

M.V.Nadkarni

Dear Mr Benjamin,

Thank you for the beautiful song.

I wish you and your family a Merry Christmas and happy New year.

With warm regards,

Yours sincerely,
M V Nadkarni

P.N.Seshadri

Thank you Mr. Benjamin.
"sarve janah sukhinO bhavnatu" is the centarl thought that our Indian people are advised to remember always.
THE SONG OF MARY holds the same rich thought and it is universal.
I still remember from a lesson - Sermon on the mount- in my high school (1955) english book - Blessed are the Meek, for
they shall inherit the earth. Also another lesson I remember from Gurudev Tagore's Githanjali " strike, strike at the root of penury in my heart". Sometime I wonder the story of humans world over seems to has some thing else to say - obsession with acquisition and control.
No wonder Che Guvera said "My revolution stems from my love of my people". Society is being constantly and deliberately disturbed by
the modern merchants with impunity. The silent suffering cry of billions - from all forms of life - is deafening.
Regards
Seshadri

Sister Amala

Thanks !!!
Wishing you too a blessed and gracefilled Christmastide and a New Year that fulfills many of our deep desires to see the Reign of God established.
Keep up the good work !!!
Amala

--
Sr. Amala, 101 Maria Kripa Apts II,
12 Davis Rd, St Thomas Tn,
Bangalore 560084 Tel: 080-25470645
Susan Varkey

Dear Benjichayam and Maychechy,
Wish you Happy and Meaningful Christmas( in whichever way you define the word)
How is Nina and family? I had heard about Nina 's hospitalization.Thank God she is okay.
What's Maychechy up to these days?
Here we are fine. We get about 10 days of vacation. Our boys )who are away in University) will come home for Christmas.Looking forward to it
Any trips to Kerala planned?
Love and prayers, Susan.

Dr. David Scot

Dear PNji,

(Apologies for the devanagari script; my computer doesn't have the appropriate script for Kannada.

Hearty thanks for the meditation on the Magnificat, a truly revolutionary document. Indeed this is a fitting cap for the other two documents -- the USCIRF Report on Karnataka and Mark Tully's lecture -- you have sent recently.

All in all, this comes with hearty expectation and hope that the cosmic revolution initiated by the birth of the Christ will come a little closer to fulfilment in the New Year ahead.

Peace and Joy,
David Scotachen

Maher Spurgeon Madras C hristian College

Dear Brother Benjamin

Thank you for your thought provoking Christmas Thought.
Wish you a merry Christmas and a blessed New Year
Spurgeon
Chaplain
Madras Christian College

Rev. Kiran Sebastian

Dear Mr Benjamin,
This comes to thank you for your meaningful and powerful words - as usual they offer much to reflect upon and challenge us to be open to the invasion of the spirit.
Wishing you and your family all the very best for a meaningful and happy Christmas and a new year filled with invigorating hope.
With many greetings and warm good wishes,
Kiran

Rev. Dr. J. Jayakiran Sebastian
7301 Germantown Avenue
Philadelphia, PA 19119-1794

http://www.ltsp.edu/people/jsebastian

FRANCIS Good neighbor

Dear Mr. Benjamin,
Greetings!
An analytical and powerful message on the eve of Christmas!
God bless you and keep you in good health and spirits!

Regards,
M.Francis

Rev. Dr. M.J.Joseph

Dear friend

May the song of Mary be heard from the Churches, the temples .mosques and the pagoddas.May it help the worshipper to bow his/her kness and touch the earth for Peace on Earth.

Wishing you the blessings of the Almighty.

MJJ,Devalokam,Eco-Baba!

MANI CHACKO

Dear PNB,

Thanks for the most inspiring reflection on the Magnificat. I do hope it will sink deeply into the minds of those who read it.

Let me take this opportunity to wish you both a meaningful Christmas and a peaceful New year.

Warm Regards,
Achen

Rev.Dr.Mani Chacko, Ph.D( Lond.)
Director
Ecumenical Christian Centre
Post Bag 11
Whitefield
Bangalore - 560066
Karnataka
India
Telephone : 0091 80 2845 3158 ( Direct )
0091 80 2845 2270

Dear PN

What an appropriate thought on this festive occasion.You have rightly concluded it by your last two paragraphs.
Thank you and wishing you and your family all the best during this Chistmas and for ever.
Sincerely
K.v.Rajagopal

A theological Christmas card

2010-12-24T08:56:00.000-08:00

The celebrated BBC bureau chief in New Delhi for for more than thirty years, Sir Mark Tully, has described the following article by me (already posted here) as "the theological Christmas card"

THE SONG OF MARY

By P.N.Benjamin

There is more to Christmas than peace and goodwill. The story of the birth of Jesus Christ begins with a revelation to a peasant girl that she would be the mother of the Messiah – the Saviour of the world. She would conceive by the Holy Spirit and give birth to the Son of God. She was so overpowered by the message that she breaks into poetic utterance:

“My soul doth magnify the Lord/ And my spirit has rejoiced in God my Saviour…/He hath showed strength with his arm/He hath scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts/He hath put down the mighty from their seats/And exalted them of low degree/He hath filled the hungry with good things/And the rich he hath sent empty away…”

This Song of Mary is called the Magnificat. Mary sees a vision of a new order of things where the weak and the poor will throw off their shackles. It is a song of liberation for man as well as for woman.

The Song of Mary reflects the teachings of the prophets of the Old Testament in the Bible. These prophets denounced the oppressors of the people, those who would sell the needy for a pair of shoes. The prophets were constantly exhorting the people to “untie the knots of the yoke, and loose the fetters of justice, to set free those who have been crushed”. And, Mary belonged to this oppressed section of the people.

It might seem strange that in this momentous hour of her life when the angel had cast her in this stupendous role, she should be preoccupied with justice for her people. But one can well imagine that, then as now, this was a burning question. The Jews were under the Roman yoke and longed for the Messiah who would liberate them. Mary’s Song is a song of deliverance not only from foreign domination but the oppressor within the gates.

She did not know then that beginning with the Magnificat the road would end at the Cross where she would stand weeping for her son would show the world an entirely new way. But now it is a cry for justice, liberation from the tyranny of the rich and the exalted. Thus, woven into message of peace and goodwill is also the lesson that these conditions can only come when there is social justice.

It is unfortunate that the Church has sidestepped this problem dispensing charity while ignoring the deeper claims of equality. The Song of Mary is a reminder that charity without justice is an insult, and peace only a graveyard where there is no equality.

Yes, the voice of Christmas cries in the wilderness. It is not a call to violent revolution – for violent revolutions always end in tyranny of one kind or another. Christmas calls for a change of heart, a turning away from oneself to one’s neighbour, and therefore to God. We like to imagine that religion is a love affair between man and God. But the face of the neighbour intrudes.

Christmas reminds us that in a creative relationship there is God, man and always his neighbour – only in such a cooperative partnership can we hope for a restructuring of the social fabric, which will be permanent. In short, Christmas comes to remind us that we are all inextricably bound together in this brief sojourn on this troubled planet – that either we are ALL saved or we are ALL damned for we are all human, all vulnerable, all in need of one another.

With greetings of peace in this Christmas season and happy New Year.

P.N.BENJAMIN
Christmas Day 2010
Dec, 25, 2010

Demands of Christians in Karnataka

2010-12-22T20:42:00.000-08:00

The Chairman
Karnataka State Minorities Commission
Bangalore

Dear Mr. Chairman,

Christians in Karnataka
An e-mail interaction

Immediately after the Nandi Hills meeting of the Commission, I rushed the following e-mail to a group of Christian leaders and laymen belonging to various Christian denominations and churches.

My mail to them said: “I need a little help from you urgently. I shall be thankful if you could please rush me a note on the Christian community in Karnataka, their fears, anxieties, agonies, aspirations and social conditions, children's educational needs - about everything that matters to them and what they expect from the present BJP government etc. Not forgetting the developmental programmes meant for them and also about the attacks on them and then, of course, the cow-slaughter bill.”

Those who participated in interaction included:

1. Bishop Samuel Mathew (Believers Church)
2. Fr. Faustine L. Lobo (Catholic Church, Bangalore)
3. Fr. Jayanathan (Catholic Church, Bangalore)

4. Emerson Samuel (Ecumenical)
5. Georgy C. George (Catholic)

6. Brig. (Retd) Chacko Abraham (Orthodox)
7. Mrs. Molly Varghese (Mar Thoma)
8. Rev. Dr. Thomas Ninan (CSI)
9. Siddartha, Fireflies Ashram (Catholic)
10. Suhas Jeede (Methodist)
11. Dr. Thomas George (Catholic)
12. Noel Noronha (Basel Mission)
13. Ram Sunder (Catholic)
14. Dr. C. Alex Alexander (Orthodox)

15. Mr. Philip Mathew (Mar Thoma)
16. Dr. K. C. Samuel (Mar Thoma)
17. Rev. Dr. Mathew Chandrankunnel
18. Dr. Thomas George (Catholic)

19. Mathews Philip (Orthodox)
20. Rev. C. S. Hoolgery, (CSI North Karnataka)
21. Rev. Daniel Honnayakar,
22. Rev. P. F. Gedeon, (CSI KND)
23. Pastor John Wesley Baptist Church North Karnataka
24. Pastor Moses Murugavel - Baptist Church in Northern Karnataka.

What emerged from the interactions is:

1) 83% of the population of Karnataka is Hindus, 11% are Muslims, 4% are Christians, 0.78% are Jains, 0.73% are Buddhists and with the remainder belonging to other religions.

2) As for the distribution of Christian population in Karnataka, Southern Karnataka has relatively more concentration with Bangalore City accounting for 5.9%.

3) Christians by and large live above Poverty Line in cities like Bangalore, Mangalore and Mysore. But, their condition elsewhere in Karnataka is miserable and pathetic.

4) Accordingly and justifiably, the participants in the discussion felt that at least 30% of the Rs.207 crores allocated in the 2010-2011 State budget for the Karnataka State Minority Development Corporation must be utilized for the developmental schemes meant for the Christian community.

5) Several participants expressed their disappointment that poor and needy Christians have not yet been able to avail themselves of any benefits worth mentioning from the various government schemes meant for the minorities in Karnataka. They have brought to my notice that almost the entire benefits of the schemes meant for minorities in Karnataka are being used by one single community - the majority community among minority communities. This anomaly needs to be corrected urgently.

6) For instance, during 2008-2009 the Government had allocated Rs. 167 crores for minority development. Out of which Rs. 37 crore had been earmarked for housing, Rs. 15 crores for shaadi mahals and Rs. 5 crore for a Haj bhavan. But, no money seems to have been spent on the Christian community. It is also observed that the announcements of the schemes are done in Urdu and no one else can understand them except the Muslims.

7) Christians complain that they are not invited to the so-called awareness building meetings. Even when invitations are extended, they do not reach them on time. The Christian leaders felt that the community leaders should be informed of these meetings well in advance so that their members could participate in them and bring their grievances to the notice of the Commission.

8) The Minorities Commission doesn’t seem to be aware of the need for a well-planned, well-informed and properly executed awareness building meeting, which will include the Christian community representatives. The itinerary of the commission should be fixed well in advance and be made known to all the minority communities in time so that they can participate at the meeting and present their demands. On the contrary, it is unfortunate that Christians are often blamed by the Commission for not attending the meetings.

9) There is no clarity about the schemes that benefit the Christian community. How do they apply for benefits from various government schemes? Whom to apply? There is urgent need for simplifying the procedures. What can the minorities Commission do about it? Can the Commission allow the representatives from the different minority communities to choose the eligible candidates and present to the Commission?

10) There is fear and anxiety in the minds of Christians because of the continuing violence against them in various parts of the State. They are concerned about the silence of the Minorities Commission in this regard. They are intrigued by the Commission’s inaction in not sending any fact-finding teams to the trouble spots and not taking any initiatives to defuse the tension. There is no representation to the Somashekar Commission by the Minorities Commission so far on behalf of the Christian Community.

11) Their question is “If there are alleged aggressive conversion activities by some Christian preachers or extremists in Christian community who denigrate Hindu gods and their rituals as barbaric, why should the innocent be punished? However, they feel that the State is duty-bound to prevent attacks on Christian community and bring the perpetrators to books. Why the State is allowing the groups to take law into their hands? Because of the government’s apathetic reaction Christians have lost trust in the present government. What can the Commission do about it?

12) It is also true that false cases have been filed against pastors who may not have been into conversion business but who organize worships and prayers for their people. Looks like the local police all over the State is waiting for anyone to rush to them with a complaint against a Christian priest or a pastor, so that they arrest them within no time, without even checking whether there is a prima facie case at all. How does it happen without the connivance of those who are in power? So, there is room for fears and anxiety among Christians.

13) The other issue is, of course, the cow slaughter. “It is the right to food that is at stake along with the right to livelihood of those who are involved in the meat, leather and cosmetics industry”, say Christian leaders. How can the food habit of one is to be questioned? As a matter of fact, it is the farmer who is protecting the cow and not the Govu Shaalas. If cow slaughter is banned the farmer will not rear cow at all because it is not economical for him to look after the unproductive cow and rear a milch cow.

14) A Christian representative(P.N.Benjamin) wanted to know why the Commission sent a letter to the PRO of the Bangalore Catholic Diocese, calling for details about the Church’s assets. It should be borne in mind that the PRO is not the custodian of the assets of the Catholic Church and that the Catholics are NOT the only Christian denomination in Karnataka. All Catholic churches or institutions do not come under the purview of the Bangalore Diocese.

15) The participants suggested that the Minorities Commission appoint an expert committee to study the socio-economic conditions of the Christian community in Karnataka because there is no authentic data available about them in any of the official documents.

16) They pointed out that the officials of the state Minorities’ Development Corporation and the Minorities Commission make the procedures for grants and scholarships difficult and arduous whenever Christians approach them for this purpose. This has led Christians getting frustrated and thus tend to abstain from approaching the Commission or Minorities Corporation,

17) The Christians have not been able to avail themselves of the Government’s Aradhane schemes that support construction of religious places.

18) The officials make it so difficult for Christians when they approach them and the officials even indicate that without a bribe grants are not sanctioned. It sounds so absurd that one has to pay a bribe to get what is rightfully theirs. Giving a bribe is against the spirit of Christian Faith.

19) Lastly, an important suggestion made by the Christian participants in the e-mail interaction is that the chairmanship of the Commission be rotated among the other minority communities also. All the persons who occupied this post in the past have been representatives of a particular minority community which is a gross injustice and disservice to the democratic fabric of the country.

20) Lastly, there are no Christian employees/officers in the Minorities Commission or Minorities Development Corporation as well as the Minoirites Department

　
P.N.BENJAMIN
Christian Member in the KSMC
20 May 2010

Christian population in Karnataka

2010-12-22T20:40:00.000-08:00

Secretary,
Karnataka State Minorities Commission

Dear Mr. Atiq Ahmed,

greetings to you.

I have just seen on the internet that the latest(2010) estimate of population in Karnataka is as follows:

Population of Karnataka consists of:
Hindu - 83%,
Muslim - 11%,
Christian - 4%,
Jains - 0.78% and Buddhist - 0.73%

I shall be grateful if you could double-check this figures and let me know the position.

Please accept my greetings on Bakrid

Yours sincerely

Benjamin

16/11/10

Break free from evil moulds

2010-12-20T19:56:00.000-08:00

BREAK FREE FROM EVIL MOULDS

To begin the New Year with forebodings may sound like a pessimist’s pastime. But there are few stout hearts today that can face it with buoyant self-confidence. Deep-rooted fatalism, dumb acceptance of misery, a raging sea of poverty and a few islands of vulgar luxury, inhabited by a few who behave as if nothing has happened. This is India today. And this should disturb every sensitive Indian in the New Year. The time is past when one could pacify one’s conscience by angry outbursts or exposure of a few misdeeds. The situation is far more serious, the prospect grimmer.

In spite of six decades of effort, our society is still disfigured by gross unfairness which, without constant correction, feeds strongly upon itself. It has helped create a meaner, more selfish and more dangerously tense society – the crushing poverty and misery.

Gross and stubborn inequality is incompatible with justice and fairness and we cannot hope to bring about changes until we launch a major attack on the unjustified disparities that still divide us from one another. We cannot be content with anything less than the elimination of poverty as a social problem. It is a formidable task, but not an insurmountable objective.

We have to break the mould of customs, selfishness and apathy which condemns so many of our fellow-countrymen to avoidable indignity and deprivation. To do that we have to recast the mould of politics. In place of envy, we must put the politics of compassion. In place of politics of cupidity, the politics of justice. And, in place of the politics of opportunism, the politics of principles. Only so can we hope to succeed. Only so will success be worth having.

P.N.BENJAMIN
Christmas Season 2010

AMBROSE PINTO

2010-12-20T19:38:00.000-08:00

AN OPEN LETTER TO FATHER AMBROSE PINTO

Dear Father Ambrose Pinto,

It is intriguing that you have been selected by the BJP government in Karnataka as a recipient of this year’s Rajyotsava Award. Hearty congratulations.
But, touch your heart and give me an honest to God answer: Are you worthy of this honour? Can you deny the fact that every time you open your mouth and wield your pen it is only to spew venom on the Hindu community whom you have always termed as Bhraminical? RSS, VHP. Bajarangi Dal and BJP bashing has been your second nature? In addition, you have a soft-corner for anti-national elements, separatists and the Naxalites and their ideologies through your writings and speeches. I am telling you these facts because I have been critically following your writings and activities in the past two decades or more as a freelance journalist.

Needless to add, self-styled Dalit and minority leaders like you have emerged bereft of principles. Our national life has been polluted by the venality of the discredited men like you. You have therefore no moral right to criticize the ‘saffron brigade’.

My only appeal to you, in the name of the Rebel of Nazareth (Jesus of Nazareth), is to refuse to accept the award conferred on you by the ‘Hindu extremist’ BJP government – if you have an iota of that precious quality called self-respect left in you. I pity the ignorance of those who recommended your name for the coveted award.

God bless
P.N.BENJAMIN
Bangalore

THE MAGNIFICAT- the Song of Mary

2010-12-20T19:36:00.000-08:00

THE SONG OF MARY

By P.N.Benjamin

There is more to Christmas than peace and goodwill. The story of the birth of Jesus Christ begins with a revelation to a peasant girl that she would be the mother of the Messiah – the Saviour of the world. She would conceive by the Holy Spirit and give birth to the Son of God. She was so overpowered by the message that she breaks into poetic utterance:

“My soul doth magnify the Lord/ And my spirit has rejoiced in God my Saviour…/He hath showed strength with his arm/He hath scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts/He hath put down the mighty from their seats/And exalted them of low degree/He hath filled the hungry with good things/And the rich he hath sent empty away…”

This Song of Mary is called the Magnificat. Mary sees a vision of a new order of things where the weak and the poor will throw off their shackles. It is a song of liberation for man as well as for woman.

The Song of Mary reflects the teachings of the prophets of the Old Testament in the Bible. These prophets denounced the oppressors of the people, those who would sell the needy for a pair of shoes. The prophets were constantly exhorting the people to “untie the knots of the yoke, and loose the fetters of justice, to set free those who have been crushed”. And, Mary belonged to this oppressed section of the people.

It might seem strange that in this momentous hour of her life when the angel had cast her in this stupendous role, she should be preoccupied with justice for her people. But one can well imagine that, then as now, this was a burning question. The Jews were under the Roman yoke and longed for the Messiah who would liberate them. Mary’s Song is a song of deliverance not only from foreign domination but the oppressor within the gates.

She did not know then that beginning with the Magnificat the road would end at the Cross where she would stand weeping for her son would show the world an entirely new way. But now it is a cry for justice, liberation from the tyranny of the rich and the exalted. Thus, woven into message of peace and goodwill is also the lesson that these conditions can only come when there is social justice.

It is unfortunate that the Church has sidestepped this problem dispensing charity while ignoring the deeper claims of equality. The Song of Mary is a reminder that charity without justice is an insult, and peace only a graveyard where there is no equality.

Yes, the voice of Christmas cries in the wilderness. It is not a call to violent revolution – for violent revolutions always end in tyranny of one kind or another. Christmas calls for a change of heart, a turning away from oneself to one’s neighbour, and therefore to God. We like to imagine that religion is a love affair between man and God. But the face of the neighbour intrudes.

Christmas reminds us that in a creative relationship there is God, man and always his neighbour – only in such a cooperative partnership can we hope for a restructuring of the social fabric, which will be permanent. In short, Christmas comes to remind us that we are all inextricably bound together in this brief sojourn on this troubled planet – that either we are ALL saved or we are ALL damned for we are all human, all vulnerable, all in need of one another.

With greetings of peace in this Christmas season and happy New Year.

P.N.BENJAMIN

HOLY FAMILY CHURCH HINKAL MYSORE

2010-12-05T21:47:00.000-08:00

ATTACK ON HOLY FAMILY CHURCH IN MYSORE
REPORT OF THE BIRD-RSS FACT FINDING TEAM THAT VISITED MYSORE ON 19 February, 2002
PREAMBLE
THE dictum – “Let our words be matched by deed” – made full sense when the leaders of Rashtriya Swayam Sevak Sangh (RSS) in Karnataka and the Bangalore Initiative for Religious Dialogue (BIRD) decided to send a joint fact finding team to Mysore for gathering first-hand information on the violent incident on 17th February 2002 (Sunday) at the Holy Family Catholic Church. It was also to reassure the Christian community that the RSS and BIRD share their anxieties, concerns, and fears and stand by them in this hour of crisis.
The RSS was thus honouring its commitment, in letter and spirit, it made to the Christian community at the first meeting between RSS and BIRD in November at the Bible Society of India in Bangalore. The commitment was that in the event of future violence against Christian community anywhere in Karnataka, the RSS leaders would rush the trouble spot along with representatives of the BIRD to defuse the tension and restore peace and normalcy in the area.
The team led by Dr. Upendra Shenoy, included Mr. V. A. Gopala and Mr. Chandrashekar Bhandary of the RSS and Dr. Thomas George of Asian Council for Communal Harmony, and P. N. Benjamin of the BIRD. They reached Mysore by 11.30 a.m. They could not meet the Catholic Bishop Rt. Rev. Dr. Joseph Roy immediately as planned because he was leading the protest march of Christians at that time.
MEETING WITH RSS/VHP LEADERS
So, they first met Dr. V. V. Bapat. He is a well-known pediatrician and the Mysore District president of RSS. According to him the root cause for such communal tension and hatred is the issue of conversion. He agreed that there should be a mechanism to defuse communal tension and prevent violent incidents in the future.
Later the team went to the residence of Mr. V. Vittala Rao, a prominent merchant and an activist of the RSS in Mysore. There they met Mr. Sadashiva, Pracharak Pramukh of RSS (South Karnataka) and Mrs. Veena Bapat, social worker and VHP activist. Mr. Sudhakar Shetty, President, Hotel Owners’ Association, Mysore, also took part in the discussion. (The association has over a thousand members. Mr. Shetty does not belong to any groups – political or religious.)
While all of them condemned the attack on the church, they wondered why so much of media hype is given to such a minor incident of violence and questioned the authorities’ over-reaction. They expressed their dissatisfaction at the double standards followed by the media and the government in the light of the unabated violent incidents in the neighbouring Madhikere where the Hindu temples were ransacked and desecrated a few weeks back.
They also expressed their disapproval of the activities of certain Christian groups distributing pamphlets ridiculing Hindus and urging poor and lower strata of the Hindu community to convert them to Christianity. Whatever had happened at Hinakal Church, “ is nothing but an out-burst of some accumulated anger against the conversion activities systematically carried out in and around Mysore by Christians”. According to them the root cause was the distribution of the pamphlets and the attack was only its effect”. Of course, one may claim that there is nothing wrong in distributing pamphlets and may justify it as within one’s constitutional right, but if the contents of the pamphlets are outrageous to the sentiments of the majority community it is natural that they react violently. No doubt violence is unjust but unfortunately in an emotionally surcharged situation, discretion becomes the casualty”, they averred.
The fact finding team and the participants in the discussion were unanimous in their opinion that every citizen of this country has the right to preach, practise and propagate his/her own religion but that should not cross the limits of decency and should not hurt the sensitivities of adherents of other faiths.
While strongly condemning the violence in the church, Dr. Upendra Shenoy impressed upon them the urgent need to enter into an open-hearted discussion and dialogue with the Christian community to diffuse the prevailing tension and to dispel mutual fears and misunderstandings. To achieve this goal and to prevent recurrence of such incidents of violence in future, he added, they must find permanent machinery - a platform for joint meetings of representatives of the two communities. Dr. Bapat, who later joined the group, agreed, as per Dr. Upendra Shenoy’s suggestion, to coordinate the proposed peace initiative (an initiative similar to BIRD) comprising of both Hindu and Christian representatives.
DIALOGUE WITH CATHOLIC BISHOP AND OTHER LEADERS
In the afternoon (2.15 p.m.) the team met Bishop Dr. Joseph Roy at the Bishop’s House. Bishop Roy warmly welcomed the fact-finding team. Father Noronha and Father Leslie Morris were too joined the discussion. Dr. Bapat and Mr. Vittal, as representatives of RSS/VHP also participated.
Bishop Roy, Fr. Noronha, and Fr. Leslie spoke in detail about the attack on the Holy Family Church. They expressed their sorrow, anxieties, and fears about the recurring violence against the Christians. Bishop told the team that one youth, by name, Kumar, was the main culprit behind the violent incident at the church. He further told that the same youth had created a scene during December 2001. At that time when members of the Holy Family Church were visiting Catholic homes, singing carols, as is the custom among Christians everywhere in the world during Christmas season, some youngsters from nearby village led by Kumar, threatened them and damaged the musical instruments. The incident was reported to the police authorities, but no action has been taken till today on the complaint.
According to the Bishop, on Sunday, 17 February, at about 10 a.m., Kumar intruded in to the room where Father William, parish priest of the Holy Family Church was talking to four VHP leaders. He used some abusive language against the priest. The parishioners present there objected to it. This led to a commotion. Kumar went out to return immediately, accompanied by about fifty emotionally charged youths. They were at nobody’s control. They ransacked the priest’s room, entered the church and damaged some furniture and broke window glasses. In the melee a few parishioners sustained minor injuries. They included women and children.
Bishop Roy also spoke highly appreciatively about the timely intervention of Mr. Pappaya, a village leader of Hinkal, who rushed to the spot and chased the unruly mob away. It was this man, a Hindu, who prevented the situation being turned into a bloody battleground that would have resulted in unimaginable loss of property, limbs, and even innocent lives.
The Catholic priests who were present at the dialogue emphatically told RSS-BIRD team that the Catholic Church does not indulge in any conversion activities and wondered why they are being accused of these activities and why the Catholic priests and nuns and their institutions are always the targets of violent attacks and vandalism.
Mr. Benjamin shared the priests’ concern. He said that among the Christian community, only Catholic priests and nuns are murdered and raped mainly because they are easily identified as Christians by the dress they wear. They are the visible Christian missionaries in the eyes of ordinary people. They are always dressed in cassocks and robes. Most of the Hindus and other religionists, including the enlightened media persons, do not know that Christians are divided into hundreds of denominations whose priests, preachers, and pastors rarely put on their cassocks and move around. (It is said that there are about 37 Christian denominations operating in Mysore itself.) “Although my analysis may sound too simplistic, I firmly believe that it is this mistaken identity that makes the Catholic priests and nuns always the victims of vicious attacks, brutal murder and rape, while the fanatic and fundamentalist fringe of Christian denominations who provoke, ridicule and belittle the Hindu way of life go scot free”, Benjamin added.
Mr. Sadashiva, Pracharak Pramukh of RSS South Karnataka, produced two pamphlets distributed allegedly by the Holy Family Church members. On close scrutiny it was found these were printed, published and distributed by some revivalist Christian organization in Bangalore.
Dr. Upendra Shenoy appealed to the Bishop and the priests to set up a peace committee consisting of representatives of Christian and Hindu communities, which would have regular meetings and interactions so that violent incidents could be nipped in the bud itself in future. He informed the gathering that he has named four RSS/VHP leaders in Mysore to be part of the committee. They are: Dr. Srinivasa Murthy (Sanghachalak, Mysore Division of RSS), Dr. V. V. Bapat (Sanghachalak, Mysore District), Mr. Madappa, Mr. Shyam Bhat and Mr. Keshava Murthy (Advocates). Dr. Shenoy requested the Bishop to nominate Christian representatives to the committee. The Bishop agreed to consider the suggestion and would inform Dr. Bapat about it soon.
“Should there be any sign of tension building up between Hindus and Christians and possibility of recurrence of violence, please get in touch with Dr. Bapat who would in turn rush to the spot along with RSS/VHP members and help iron out differences and bring peace”, assured Dr. Shenoy on behalf of the RSS and VHP to the Church leaders present at the meeting.
Dr. Thomas George of Asian Council for Communal Harmony informed the gathering that he came with the RSS-BIRD team because the Archbishop of Bangalore, Most Rev. Dr. Ignatius Pinto, had asked him to do everything possible to bring peace between the Church and the Hindu community in Mysore. He also said that the Archbishop had informed Bishop Roy previous day itself about the team’s visit.
Mr. Vasukhi of ANI, Mr. Bhanutej of The Week, Father Melvin, and Mr. Sajan K. George, who ‘dramatically’ appeared on the scene in the midst of the talks, were present until the end of the dialogue.
Immediately after the meeting with the bishop and others, in an interview to ANI- a TV channel- Dr Upendra Shenoy condemned in strong words vandalism at worshiping places, including the violent incident occurred at the Hinkal church.
MEETING WITH ADVOCATES
Later the team met a few advocates at the District Court. Advocate Shyam Bhat whose clientele list includes local churches, questioned why the Christian missionaries are partial towards poorer section of Hindus while rendering services. He wanted to know why slums dominated by Muslim population are ignored for service activities. He also spoke about the simmering anger in the Hindu minds for various other reasons, for example, commercialisation of the Church property donated by the former Maharaja of Mysore for charitable and educational purposes. Advocate Mr. Medappa too expressed similar opinions. According to them, there is no mention in the FIR of the involvement of any advocate in the Hinkal vandalism.
The team also met Advocate Keshava Murthy who has been implicated in the case. To a blunt question by Mr. Benjamin about his reported connection with Bajarang Dal, he replied: “I am too old to be a member of Bajarang Dal. That says it all, Mr. Benjamin”. Our enquiries revealed that Mr. Keshava Murthy is a highly respected and well-known senior advocate in the Mysore Bar. He is a former principal of Hassan Law College. He is involved in various social service activities, including orphanages in slums in and around Mysore City.
VISIT TO HOLY FAMILY CHURCH
The RSS-BIRD delegation visited the Holy Family Church and met the parish priest Father William at about 6 p.m. We had a long and cordial talk with him at his residence. Dr. Upendra Shenoy and Dr. Thomas George spoke to him on behalf of the fact-finding team. They said that the team was visiting him and members of his parish to get the first hand information on the violent incident in his church and also to express their regret over it. They also assured them that they stand by the Catholic Church now and would continue to do so in the future too. They also told Father William and the parishioners that dialogue alone would be the only antidote to violence in future.
Father William told the team that when he was engaged in cordial talks with VHP leaders on Sunday morning after the Holy Mass, Kumar who had threatened the members of the parish in December, suddenly appeared on the scene and created a ruckus. (Father William’s version of the incident is exactly the same as that of the Bishop and others told us earlier. So, there’s no need for its repetition). Fr. William emphatically denied the charge that pamphlets encouraging conversion to Christianity originated from his church. They were distributed by some other Christian denominations. He too made it clear that the Catholic Church does not believe in conversion. He said: “Catholics at Hinkal live in peace with neighbours of other faiths. There has been nor quarrel or misunderstanding between them so far. Those who are involved in the incident are outsiders… It was the village leader Mr. Pappanna’s timely intervention that prevented further violence”. He also agreed that inter-religious dialogue is necessary for defusing tension among different communities. Father William said that the attack was an unexpected one. He had no knowledge of any violence brewing or erupting around his church. It looked as though it were not pre-planned, he said. The team’s visit to the church ended in a very cordial and friendly note.
Father Malcolm Bogadi, a former priest of the Holy Family Church, and Messrs. A. James, Jayakumar, Wilfred, Deepak and Ambrose (all members of the parish) were present at the meeting. The team rounded off the visit after calling on Dr. Srinivasa Murthy, Sanghachalak of RSS, Mysore Division, and listening to his version on the Church incident, which too tallied with the facts we had already gathered. He readily agreed to be on the proposed peace committee/initiative in Mysore.
FINDINGS OF THE RSS-BIRD TEAM
1. What happened at the Holy Family Church, Hinkal was a minor local incident and it should have been localized and contained.
2. There was no need for blowing it out of proportion and flashing it on national and international media. It was a classic example of making a mountain out of a molehill. On the other hand, when eight innocent Hindus, including three children were brutally massacred in J&K on the same day there was not a a word of condemnation from the so-called defenders of minorities from the secular and human rights warriors and even the media. A Hindu temple at Coorg too was under attack a couple of weeks back allegedly by a group belonging to a minority community. But why were these incidents of brutality not given wide publicity by the press. The media should have followed a similar attitude towards the Hinkal incident too.
3. We are of the opinion that the incident was not pre-planned. We agree with Father William in this context.
4. We believe that the violent incident took place due to “mistaken identity” as explained by Mr. Benjamin during the talks with Bishop Roy and others. In the eyes of the Hindus and even to the media persons, the Catholic priests and nuns are the “visible” Christian missionaries. They move around in their official dress (cassocks and robes) and are mistaken for preachers, priests, and pastors of Christian groups who use doubtful methods and words that are derogatory to neighbours of other faiths “to gain converts”. There are hundreds of varieties of Christian sects in India- a fact seems to be unknown to non-Christians and media persons alike.
5. We are convinced that the Catholic Church does not encourage conversions to Christianity.
6. We are, again, convinced that the pamphlets urging conversions were NOT distributed by or originated from the Holy Family Church. They were printed, published, and distributed by some fundamentalist Christian groups unconnected with mainline churches. The mainline churches are Catholic, CSI, CNI, Mar Thoma, Syrian Orthodox, and Jacobite.
7. Self-styled leaders of Christian community and unscrupulous politicians are using ordinary Christians as cannon fodder for their narrow and selfish ends. This seems to have happened in the Hinkal incident also. Those who claim to be spokesmen and defenders of the Christian Faith and the Indian Christian community spread distress and division and to all appearances, enjoy the grace and favour of the State Government. This encouragement helps the growth of powerful elements of separatism and disunity.
8. Whenever two communities are at loggerheads, emotions should not be allowed to take its own free course. Facts should be bared and emotions should be contained. Regular meetings among various communities will be a bulwark against the recurrence of communal tensions and passions and also ‘a guarantor of peace and amity between different religious communities. ’
THE ROAD AHEAD
1. We have underlined the importance of establishing friendly relations and collaboration on issues of common interest and in pursuit of amity and peace between Hindus and Christians in Mysore.
2. Our experience is that inter-religious communities often spring up in response to crises and public emergencies also.
3. We are aware of the vital need of forming inter-faith communities in rural areas.
4. Every person and institution, especially places of worship, should take the initiative in forming inter-religious communities in cities and rural areas.
5. Dialogue is a necessary tool for overcoming alienation and halting the march of hatred and misunderstanding.
6. Engaging in dialogue will enable us to graduate from coercion to the art of persuasion and the resources of civilized world
7. Our mission to Mysore has renewed our conviction that to be religious is to grow in openness to other traditions.
CONCLUSION
Conscious of our limitations in facing challenges posed by the prevailing tension and misunderstandings between Christians and Hindus in Mysore, consequent to the recent incident of violence at the Holy Family Church, we fellow pilgrims of inter-faith pilgrimage, affirm our faith in one another, and our hope for a society where divisions will cease and people will live together in harmony, respect, love and compassion. Our hearts are full of gratitude for the leaders of the Catholic Church and Hindu community in Mysore who extended their full support and co-operation in our humble initiative to iron out differences between the two communities through free, frank and openhearted talks and promised to establish a permanent peace initiative to continue the dialogue process in Mysore. We are confident that these leaders will be channels of peaces in that city and its surroundings so that in the days to come they will be able to prevent recurrence of communal violence.
The road ahead of the peace-makers is long, narrow, and arduous. The coming together of RSS and BIRD amounts to no more than, as it were, striking a match in a dark immense cavern, to dispel the surrounding gloom. We hope and pray such initiatives for peace and communal harmony will soon spring up in various parts of Karnataka.
We returned home on the night of 19th February confirmed in our resolve to work more effectively with added vigour and spirit for a harmonious family of faiths.
REPORT PREPARED BY:
P. N. BENJAMIN, Co-ordinator
Bangalore Initiative for Religious Dialogue (BIRD)
Tel. 080 5486880
E-mail: benjaminpn@hotmail.com
IN CONSULTATION WITH
CHANDRASHEKHAR BHANDARY V. A. GOPALA
RSS Prachar Vibhag Pramukh RSS, Prachar Vibhag Pramukh
Karnatak Uttara and Dakshina Bangalore, Tumkur and Mysore

& Dr. Thomas George

Collapse of moral standards

2010-12-05T21:44:00.000-08:00

COLLAPSE OF MORAL STANDARDS IN MEDIA

P NBENJAMIN

THE FOURTH Estate ranks first in shaping public opinion when society is politically literate and socially insensitive even in this information age and knowledge era.

We have not yet fully realized the profound importance to our democracy of an educative, objective newspaper, which publishes promptly and marshals information without fear and favour, affection and ill will. Journalistic independence, intelligence, investigative ability and probity are integral to the greatness of the Press. In the Mudroch epoch, sex, vulgar values, purchase of the readers’ souls and propaganda which beats cultural heritage and vintage traditions, are apt to captivate readership and buy up the media with monopolistic hunger. There are newspapers even today, which are no mere mechanical messengers but are dailies with a message, which makes the reader more informed, illumined and thoughtful.

John Pilger (Hidden Agenda) writes: “ I have become convinced that it is not enough for journalists to see themselves as mere messengers, without understanding the hidden agenda of the message and the myths that surround it. High on the lists is the myth that we now live in an “information age” – when, in fact, we live in a media age, in which the available information is repetitive, ‘safe’ and limited by invisible boundaries. In the day-to-day media, much of this is the propaganda of Western power, whose narcissism, dissembling language and omissions often prevent us from understanding the meaning of contemporary events. ‘Globalization’ is a prime example. This smokescreen extends to journalists themselves.

Fawning servants, obedient aides, and the symbols of success surround the powerful in the country. In our country those who reach the mountaintop are so pampered and so insulated by the trappings of power that they can easily forget that they are servants, not masters, of the nation. It is far more pleasant to write puffery about the powerful in the social, political and religious fields, of course, than it is to probe their perfidy. “ Public officeholders are usually likable; that is why they get elected (or continue to occupy high positions in public and religious and educational institutions). Many reporters taken in by this “personal charm”, are awed by the “majesty” of office/position; and they become publicists rather than critics of the men who occupy the offices”(The Anderson Papers).

Jack Anderson, wary of the collapse of moral standards in the media observes that they become the lap dogs of government (and also powerful persons in the private institutions) instead of watchdogs over them. They wag their tails and seek approval instead of growling at the abuses of power. The reporters who go along with the powerful, and act as explainers and apologists for those who violate the public trust, must be considered accessories to the pillage. Like the politician and special seekers, these men sell a little of themselves each day; and the chumminess between the power structure and the Press apparatus robs the reports of integrity. Erosion of integrity seems inevitable. If power belongs to the people and the Press is a trustee, resistance to exotic pressure is a new challenge to the Indian media

Spare a moment to consider corruption among journalists themselves? The media seldom expose journalistic corruption except when the delictum is so flagrante that there can be no conceivable defence. Members of a guild protect their own. But what about the large tracts of real estate in the State capitals and district headquarters which every State Government thinks it worthwhile labelling a Jornalists Colony? What about the gifts in cash and kind reporters on the business pages are liable to receive for lauding a particular scrip or company? What about the wining and dining journalists accept, so much so that even a charitable initiative goes without newspaper coverage if it goes without cocktails?

The editorial elite have been living off the fat of the land. This sort of culture produces its own branch of experts who know little about journalism. In the old days editors avoided parties given to launch consumer products like plague. Now virtually everybody is usually seen at such bashes. It has to expose a whole section of the incestuous elite to the loud sniggers of every video watcher.

Journalists should be pointing a finger at the mirror. Doctors on graduation vow to follow a code of ethics. Its breach may be as common as its observance, but at least they know when they transgress. Journalists have no such code. What they are taught in journalism schools I don't know; but in the profession certainly there is no consensus. Journalistic ethics, like the law, have to evolve in tune with the times, not merely become elastic.

It is high time Indian newspapers and journalists returned to their moorings and maintained their high standards. Why? Because the media influences what people think of and the way they think. If the focus is wrong, direction is lost. A people without reliable news, rooted in its vintage values and primitive of its progress will sooner or later be a people without the basis of swaraj.

Newspapers by plurality of editions, should not indulge in fragmentation and localization of news, missing the national perspective which alone keeps alive the unity and integrity of the country. They, with their long history of glory in the field of nationalist struggle and thereafter for the freedom of the Press, have a soul to preserve and a struggle to wage, so that they are no longer opium but tonic. The patriotic duty of the Fourth Estate today is to stress democratic discipline, expose untruth wrapped in gloss and party and individual interests in appealing dross.END

Mark Tully's Samartha Memorial Lecture

2010-11-13T05:54:00.000-08:00

HOW CERTAIN SHOULD WE BE, THE PROBLEM OF RELIGIOUS PLURALISM

(The ninth Rev. Dr. Stanley Samartha Memorial Lecture delivered by Sir Mark Tully,
on 7th October, 2010 at the Rotary House of Friendship, Bangalore, organised by the Bangalore Initiative for Religious Dialogue (BIRD))

Thank you very much for that very kind introduction. It’s a great honour to be here, but I’d say that this lecture for me is something more than an honour it’s a trial as well, because I’m speaking here in honour of a great theologian. I am a person who read theology rather inadequately and rather lazily when I was at Cambridge; and when I was asked to give a series of lectures, known as the Teape Lectures I had to start the first one by saying very firmly that I am a journalist and not as all the previous lecturers were, and as Dr Stanley Samartha undoubtedly was, a scholar.
I want to speak to you from my experience rather than from any very deep reading and I hope you will forgive me for doing that.

It seems to me that I can start off by making a rather general point. The theology that searches for pluralism is very much a theology in the Indian tradition. I was once asked to organise a meeting of people of different faiths to meet Prince Charles when he came to India, and one of those who came was Father Samuel Ryan, a Jesuit from Delhi. He told Prince Charles that it was because of the Indian tradition of pluralism and Indian Christian pluralist theology that the Roman Catholic Church had made it clear it no longer maintained there was no salvation outside the church. That is evidence of the penetration of pluralism in Indian Christianity, and it’s a reflection I believe of the pluralist nature of Indian culture. I am a firm believer that we need religious variety, and I am very interested to learn that Stanley Samartha rejoiced in variety. Perhaps I shouldn’t say this in the presence of people of the Church of South India which is a great example of oecumenicity, but I personally believe that rather than trying to jam all our churches together we should rejoice in the variety of the Christian experience and the variety of church traditions. .

To me there are two things about religion which we sometimes forget. One is that to some extent it’s culturally specific. In other words, there is a mix between religion creating a culture, and that culture having a life of its own which impacts on religion. To demonstrate that I love this story about a very orthodox young missionary priest who went to Africa. When he got there he was shocked because he found in his church that every day a group of women would come and sit around the statue of the Virgin Mary. They would talk and pray to her, and talk amongst themselves. Of course he was very concerned about this, because, as you know the Roman Catholic Church is very keen not to give the impression that the Virgin Mary is God, or equal to Jesus, or anything like that. So he hid behind the high altar one day and said in a loud voice “I am Jesus and you should be talking to me and not to Mary.” One of the women shouted back at him "Shut up, we are talking to your mom!" (Laughter) This is just one little illustration.

The other thing about religion I feel is important in the context of pluralism is that it’s always personal. There are no two Christians, no two Hindus, no two Muslims, who actually believe and behave and do everything in exactly the same way. And this is hugely true, of India. There’s a basic pluralistic culture in this country. Now, I know from experience what I am going to say now will be misinterpreted. but I think it’s justified, although controversial, to say that this Indian culture is deeply influenced by religion in this country. I’d prefer to say influenced by the development of Hinduism, although I know all about the controversies over that word. What has come about in this country is a faith which is highly individualistic, in other words it accommodates the fact I have mentioned, the fact that each person’s religion is in someway personal. But at the same time this faith is part of great historic traditions which have bound people together in common beliefs and forms of worship. Now, there are many arguments about the history of religion in this country. but the fundamental fact still remains that India has been a historic home to all great religions in the world. Of course there has been differences as there have been problems. But if you look at India today, I would ask you to compare it with the West and see the difference. See the muddle which is being created in the West, over religious pluralism, over the presence of Muslims in the West, and see India where 15 per cent of the population is Muslim, They are perfectly free to worship, no one is going to tell any woman she is not allowed to wear a burqa, or anything like that. And of course, you know, you have a substantial Christian population. This is not a recent phenomenon. It’s a historic fact that India has provided a home down the centuries for almost every religion in the world. So, I think this pluralism and this ability to recognise the individual element in your religion is culturally specific to India.

So, why is pluralism important today? Well, there are three reasons I’d give you. The first is of course the obvious one that if we don’t have understanding between religions we tend to have fights and differences can, as we see today degenerate into terrorism. But even in disputes that involve religion, it’s almost always wrong to blame religion entirely. There are usually economic, political and often ethnic reasons involved in those disputes. Nevertheless, they are fought in the name of religion.

The second reason of course is when these disputes become ugly, they defame religion. They give religion a bad name. One of the most absurd things said by the secular fundamentalist Richard Dawkins is that if there was no religion, there’d be no wars. The fact that some people are prepared to accept nonsense like that indicates the damage these disputes inflict on religion.

The third reason is in my view, is that not accepting that there are different ways to God is a hugely missed opportunity to demonstrate the validity of belief in God. The theologian we are honouring today searched for a way to demonstrate that in different cultures at different times in the history of the world in different languages, human beings have had experiences and held beliefs with a great deal in common. In other words we should search for the commonality in religions in order, in my view, to demonstrate that the religious urge is a common urge to humanity. That, if you’d like to put it crudely, is a selling point for religion. So, on the one hand you have religion defamed when religious pluralism is not practiced, on the other hand, you have evidence that can make you more secure in your faith and also able to justify it in discussions with others when you are pluralistic.

Now for Christianity, there are of course, difficulties in pluralism. One of the obvious difficulties in pluralism is of course is Christianity’s exclusiveness. Jesus’ reported statement in St John’s gospel that he is “the way the truth and life” has traditionally been taken to mean that he is the only way. It’s very interesting that perhaps one of the most outstanding Christian books on religious pluralism was written by a Belgian Jesuit who spent many years in India and was deeply influenced by the culture and religions of India, Father Jacques Dupuis. His book is called Toward A Christian Theology of religious Pluralism. Dupuis said that until recently theology often seemed in Christian circles to belong to Christianity as its exclusive property. And, in Western Christianity, first world theology, seemed to have the monopoly. Certainly when I did my theology in Cambridge, we didn’t learn about any other religion.
So Christianity not only made this exclusive claim to truth but also tended in its theology to be narrowly confined to the tradition of one part of the world. Even within that tradition because we couldn’t accept pluralism we have this long history of fighting each other. I am thankful to say things have changed. When I went to university I had many Roman Catholic friends, but they would not come to an Anglican service with me. In fact some of them were even reluctant to go into an Anglican Church. Now that has changed totally. I was in Britain for the very recent visit by the Pope and one of the most touching aspects of this was the obvious friendship, despite their theological differences, between the Pope and the Archbishop of Canterbury. The Pope not only celebrated Mass in the Roman Catholic Westminster cathedral, he also took part in a special service in the Anglican Westminster Abbey.

So Christians are making what I would argue is progress. But still we do have this problem of a theology which traditionally says Christianity is the way to God. A few years ago, I had the privilege of taking the Bishop of Kingston in South London to meet a friend of mine, Maulana Wahiduddin, who is a great Islamic scholar. The bishop said to the Maulana that in his view the need for a Christian theology of pluralism was the major problem facing twenty first century theologians. The Maulana said, “I have an answer to that. I believe Islam is the true way but I respect other religions.” And he certainly expresses his respect in all he writes and all he says.

But without wanting to show disrespect to the Maulana, I think the Mahatma was more profound, because he went one step further. He not only respected all religions, but also believed all religions can and should learn from each other. The Mahatma said “All faiths constitute a revelation of truth but all are imperfect and liable to error. Reverence to other faiths need not blind us to their thoughts; we must be keenly alive to the defects of our own faiths also. Yet we must try to overcome these defects.” And then e Mahatma went on to say, “looking at all religions with an equal eye we should not only hesitate but it’s our duty to blend into our faiths every acceptable feature of other faiths.” That I think is a more profound way of looking at religious pluralism.

Jacque Depuis said that Hindu Vedanta might help Christians purify and deepen their faith in the divine mystery. And mystery is in some ways, is the key to this problem. Because what does mystery say? Mystery means we are talking about something mysterious. We are talking about something that we cannot write up on a blackboard and say this is who God is and this is what religion is etc etc. As Christians, those of you who are Christians, you believe that Jesus is the Son of God. But I bet, if you put five of you together all of you will have different interpretations of what Son of God means.

In the same way, with all other religions, if we remember that word mystery, then we will realise that all our beliefs are to some extent open to questioning. We do not fully understand. That great metaphysical poet George Herbert wrote a wonderful poem called Prayer, which ended with the words, “something understood”. In other words our prayers, our religious beliefs can never be absolute certainties; we will always only grasp part of the full mystery of God.

Here I would like to talk about the uncertainty of certainty, and this again is very Indian. If we believe in the uncertainty of certainty we will not take our certainties too far, and they will not get out of balance. We will realise that we will have to be open minded, look at our certainties and make sure we are maintaining our balance. You can put it very crudely that people can be too religious, people can be too certain about their faiths. And this suspicion of certainties is something which is fundamental to Indian philosophy, as I understand it. It was very well put by a great scholar R C Zaehner who held the same chair at Oxford as Radhakrishnan did. Zaehner said “Hindus do not think of religious truths in dogmatic terms.” In other words, they don’t believe in certainties that can’t be questioned. According to Zaehner Hindus say, “dogmas can’t be eternal, only the transitory distorting images of truth that transcends not only them but all verbal definitions.” This is the mystery, something that transcends all verbal definitions. And then Zaehner goes on to say, “for the passion for dogmatic certainty that has racked the religions of Semitic origins, from Judaism itself through Christianity and Islam to Marxism they feel nothing but shocked incomprehension.”

I would put what I call Scientism in the same bracket as Marxism. By scientism I mean, the confident belief that everything can be answered by science and scientific answers are the only answers. It’s a creed which maintains that rationalism is the sole method of perception. I hasten to add here that I am not therefore saying religion can ignore reason or rationalism. Scientism is a dogmatic certainty, just as much as the belief that Jesus is the one and only one way to God is a dogmatic certainty. It’s very important, I think, to recognize that people like Richard Dawkins who popularise scientism are fundamentalists, just much as some religious people are.

By believing in Christian certainties the church has made classic blunders. It’s all right for the church to be suspicious about scientism but it has to respect scientific findings, and see how they relate to its beliefs. If it respects the fact that it’s dealing with a mystery the Church will not get involved in arguments with science which lead to blunders like the blunder over Galileo. In my view not being sufficiently open to scientific discoveries is producing problems at least some parts of the church are facing today. The Roman Catholic Church is deeply concerned about moral relativity, but on the other hand if we do not have an element of moral relativity we get stuck in a rut. That is why is the Christian faith fell behind in its understanding of the place of women in society in my view and fell behind in its understandi8ng of the way we should regard homosexuality as well. This is because Churches held on to outdated certainties instead of being prepared to move with the times.

I talked to you about balance. And obviously, there’s a need for balance here. If we respect the mystery, if we respect what science is saying to us, if we respect what the best of secularism is saying to us, and I firmly believe in secularism provided it’s the secularism, that leaves space for everyone, and has a genuine respect for religious belief as well as genuine respect for those who do not believe, we will be balanced. . But, secularism too has to be held in balance. The same is true for relativism. If we do not respect the need for being open to change, for a certain amount of relativism, then we get stuck in the past. On the other hand we have to be very careful that relativism doesn’t result in diluting traditional historic faith, and all that faith has stood for, so much that it loses its meaning. . If we become too relativist we will find that faith gradually withers away. There should be some ground on which we stand. And this is a matter therefore as I said of the Indian tradition of balance, the balance between the need to have an open mind, and the need to stand on some firm ground.

There are two other dangers I believe to taking relativism too far in being too open to change. One danger is what I call Pick and Mix Religion. That is when we say, “I don’t like this bit of that, and I do like that bit of that, and anyhow I am very clever and I can make it all up for myself. Therefore I am very happy to take a bit from Hinduism a bit from Islam, a bit from Christianity and mix it as I feel suits me, or I am very happy to take this from Christianity and drop the rest of it.

The other danger of relativism is its tendency to undermine all tradition. Then you find yourself saying, “I don’t have any need for any institutional religion at all”. Now I know that institutional religion has problems. The church is fallible; the church has made mistakes. The church does get things wrong. But on the other hand it seems to me that unless your religious faith is rooted in the past, rooted in tradition, then in some ways it become rootless and over-personalised. Here I would like to come back to Gandhi and his famous saying that he wanted the windows of his house to be open to winds blowing from all quarters of the world, but he didn’t want to be blown off his feet. That is one of the most profound views of religious pluralism that I have ever come across.

Before I sum up, I want to give three health warnings. The first is that what ever I have said today does not mean that I am turning the whole western missionary argument on its head and, saying that Hinduism is the only valid religion. There is a common problem in communication – how do you, prevent an audience, listeners, viewers, or readers seeing issues in black and white. So if I say something in favour of Hinduism many will take it to mean that I am opposed to every other religion, or at the least that I regard it as superior to any other religion.

There is a strange version of this black and white thinking in India. It is the type of secularism which has no place for Hinduism, and which sees anyone who says anything about that religion as a supporter of the RSS Hindu nationalism. In other words for those secularists either you are wholly white and you totally support their anti-religious point of view or you are wholly black in their eyes and support an organisation they condemn as communal. Only today I was interviewed by a journalist who said to me you have a reputation of being right-wing. When I asked what she meant by right wing she replied, “ RSS and all that.’ So I said to her, “I have written a book called India’s Unending Journey, in which I have tried to express my respect for Hinduism, as well as other religions. At the same time I made the limits of that respect absolutely clear, and criticised the RSS family. It isn’t the first time I have written or spoken like that. But because of the existence of what I’d call blind secularism in this country, and it does not include all secularists of course, expressing my appreciation of Hinduism, has, you tell me, labelled me RSS.” If you in the audience have been listening to what I have said, you will understand my understanding of Hinduism is very different to the dogmatic RSS school of Hinduism. My speech has been an appreciation of an undogmatic religion. So, that’s the second health warning that I wanted to give.

The third health warning I’d like to give is this. I may have trained to become a priest, but I only survived through two terms in the seminary before I was told by the bishop that because I liked drinking beer rather a lot, my place was in the public house rather than in the pulpit. So I hope you do not think that I have preached to you. I didn’t come here to preach. I came here to express in a sense my faith in religious pluralism. And the last thing I came to do was to preach to Hindus, because of course I have no right to do that. I have merely tried to explain to you why I see religious pluralism as so important. and how I believe the Indian tradition, the tradition of openness, the undogmatic tradition, can be the tradition that takes us down that road. As I said you already have great Indian theologians, or theologians who have been much influenced by India who are taking us down that road. There’s another person I mentioned to you, Julius Lipner who teaches Sanskrit at Cambridge, and has written a wonderful book on Hinduism. He calls himself a Catholic Hindu or Hindu Catholic depending which way he feels like saying it.

So Christian theology is on the move, and it up to all of us who are Christians to welcome that. It’s also very important that all of those who are Hindus, and who suspect Christianity of being an exclusive religion that wants to convert everyone, should realise there is a big body of Christians who want to have a dialogue. There is Christian theology to support those Christians too. But dialogue after all, is like clapping. It does require two hands. So in a sense, my appeal is to Hindus, Muslims and Christians to dialogue with each other and to learn from each other.

To sum up, the principle of religious pluralism is accepting that in religion we are dealing with a mystery, which means claims to absolute truth are inevitably open to question. If there is a doctrine, it has to develop. For doctrine to develop we shouldn’t just live with other religions but learn from them. As Jacques Dupuis said dialogue is the necessary foundation of a theology of religions. And that’s also of course what the great theologian we are celebrating today said.

Thank you all very much.

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Press Release

2010-09-16T23:32:00.000-07:00

Bangalore Initiative for Religious Dialogue (BIRD)
Apt. 501, Indira Residency, 167 Hennur Road, Kalyan Nagar, Bangalore 560 043
Tel. 080 25435716, Mob. 097311 82308 e-mail: benjaminpn@hotmail.com

PRESS RELEASE

Dr. Stanley Samartha Memorial Lecture

The Bangalore Initiative for Religious Dialogue (BIRD) is a low-key organisation of theologically and socially interested people, which has attempted to be a forum for people of different religions to talk things over in times of strife and peace over the last decade.

The BIRD has an annual lecture series named after its inspiration, the late Dr Stanley Samartha, an ordained priest of the Church of South India and theology teacher from Karnataka (born in Karkala), who lived his Christian faith and practice in harmony with his Hindu tradition and culture during his ministry.

Samartha was the first director of the Inter-Faith Dialogue Program of the World Council of Churches in Geneva (1970-81). Earlier he was the Principal of the Karnataka Theological College, Mangalore and also the Serampore College, West Bengal. He was a professor at the United Theological College, Bangalore in 1960s.

Samartha is known as a the “Christian prophet of religious pluralism”, who famously declared himself "a Hindu by culture, Christian by faith, Indian by citizenship and ecumenical by choice".

I am happy to inform you that the 9th Rev. Dr.Stanley Samartha Memorial lecture organized by the Bangalore Initiative for Religious Dialogue (BIRD) will be delivered by Sir Mark Tully on 7th October 5 pm. at the Rotary House of Friendship, Lavelle Road, Bangalore.

Sir Mark Tully, KBE is the former Chief of Bureau, BBC, New Delhi. He worked for BBC for a period of 30 years before resigning in July 1994.He held the position of Chief of Bureau, BBC, Delhi for 20 years. Since 1994 he has been working as a freelance journalist and broadcaster based in New Delhi

The lecture last year was delivered by Arun Shourie on ‘Rethinking Religions’. In years before that, we have had M.J.Akbar, Justice K.T.Thomas, Metropolitan Philipose Mar Chrysotom of Mar Thoma Church, Dr. Hans Ucko of World Council of Churches, Dr. M.V. Nadkarni, Dr. C.T.Kurien and Francois Gautier.

BIRD is entirely dependent on small contributions from people of diverse faiths who are strongly convinced about the dire need to preserve inter-faith amity in the true and abiding traditions of India, which is a living symbol of religious diversity and inclusiveness.

P.N. BENJAMIN
Coordinator-BIRD
Apt. No. 501, Indira Residency,
167 Hennur Road
Kalyan Nagar
Bangalore 560 043
INDIA
Mobile: 09731182308
Res. 090 25435716

Methodist Church land dispute- a rejoinder to CSF

2010-09-14T23:05:00.000-07:00

JUDASES AMONG CHRISTIAN COMMUNITY

Your call to protest against the BJP MLA and his ‘hoodlums’ for usurping the Methodist Church land in Belgaum reminds me of what Jesus tells us: “Do not look for the mote in the eyes of your neighbor when we may have a pillar stuck in our sclera”.

Following are a couple of instances in which the Judases of the Christian community sold/usurped the Church land for just thirty pieces of silver.

1. 15 acres of Bangalore YMCA land has been sold to a Hindu real estate developer for Rs. 9 crores. Transparency International Karnataka Chapter headed by Justice M.F. Saldanha discovered that the land was worth a minimum of Rs. Rs. 32 crore. Who pocketed the kick-back. Those involved in it are all Christians – including a former Catholic Christian minister/MLA. Mind you, YMCA is a Protestant, evangelical organisation where the Catholics should not have a say at all.
2. The plan to sell about 7 acres of land of Vishranthi Nilayam belonging to the Order of Sisters (nuns) of the Church of South India in the heart of Bangalore City – just a kilometer away from Raj Bhavan Bangalore and in the neigbhourhood of Malayala Manorama- The Hindu- Indian Express- Coffee Board – Police Commissioner’s HQ – was foiled for the time being by the timely intervention and protests of 33 elderly nuns in April this year. Don’t you want to know who were behind this move? They were two respectable Christian leaders and friends of CSF! The land were to be sold to a Muslim land developer!!! The same vultures are still eyeing the property.
3. The 150-year old CLS Press ( Methodist Press) on Dickenson Road was usurped by a Christian Congress leader, former minister and today sitting MLA. He built a huge shopping center, that encroached upon about 80 feet into the adjacent property where stands the British Methodist Bishop’s House which is today occupied by Mr. John Zac, Bishop Cotton Boys’ School Principal. It belongs to CSI. No one protested. This property known as 4 M.G. Road has been eyed by several land developers many of whom are Muslims. However, it cannot be alienated because there’s an undertaking by the diocese in the High Court of Karnataka that the land can be used ONLY for educational purposes.
4. The same Congress leader and family have cornered the priceless Bangalore Tract & Book Society property adjacent to the Bible Society – Karnataka Auxillary. The place where Bibles were sold since 1912 has been converted into lounge bar and dance hall for the rich and powerul. No Christian leader protested.
5. In 1990s, the CSI Karnataka Central diocese entered into an agreement to lease out the East Parade Church property for 99 years to a German Bank( Deutche Bank) or to be precise a Muslim builder. But, sustained public protests, write-ups in news papers, and a petition signed by almost 2,000 members of the East parade Church Malayalam Congregation and general public forced the diocese to beat a hasty retreat. The ‘reigning’ moderator of the Church of South India was the vice president of the diocese, And fortunately, I led the campaign against commercialisation of East Parade Church.
6. It is to my credit – sorry for patting on my own shoulders – that several Church properties have been saved in the last 20 or 30 years because of the campaign I unleashed against commercialisation with the support of the enlightened public opinion expressed through the newspapers.
7. The historic Trinity Church land which was leased out to build a thirteen storeyed shopping complex was stopped midway by a writ petition filed by the late Rev. C. Arangaden and me .The late Barrister Balakrishna Rao in late 1980s presented the case free of charges. The stay continues even to this day and no portion of any Garrison Church can be commercialised today.
8. The alert public opinion mobilised by me through news papers and other sources has helped preserve and save several church properties in Bangalore, including the St. Anrews Church on Cubbon Road.
8 In 2008 about 60,000 sq. ft. of YMCA land on on Nrupatunga Road was sold to a Hindu – not BJP - land developer by the help of the same Catholic YMCA President – Congress leader and DCC president . The property is adjacent to the Police HQ and abutting into the Cubbon Park. Here again, I led the charge against the move with the help of the media and forced the YMCA to withdraw from the deal. But, the same Catholic president and Congress leader is back in the saddle and the property is not safe.
9 There are several other land grabs by Muslim land grabbers of Catholic diocesan property ably supported by friends of CSF. For instance, the precious land on Residency Road that housed an old age home has been converted into a commercial hub with the help of a former archbishop of Bangalore.

If you need documentary evidences, please feel free to get in touch with me. In the meantime, let us urge the churches to allot/distribute the excess lands in their possession, including the Methodist land in Belgaum, to the poorest of the poor in Christian community, especially the Dalit Christians.

How many among us know that the Idgah maidan in Hubli was originally belonged to the Basel Mission? We have no guts to reclaim it.

PNBENJAMIN

Bangalore Initiative for Religious Dialogue (BIRD)

2010-09-11T20:11:00.001-07:00

An Appeal for a small contribution

Bangalore Initiative for Religious Dialogue (BIRD) is a low profile organization formed in 2001, by a small group of Hindus, Muslims and Christians in Bangalore, to promote inter-faith amity in line with our native wisdom of promoting inclusiveness for preserving India's religious diversity.

BIRD has been organizing seminars, consultations, panel discussions and dialogues. The annual lecture series in memory of Rev. Dr Stanley Samartha remains the signature event of BIRD’s inter-faith activities undertaken in the cosmopolitan city of Bangalore. This year’s lecture will be delivered by Sir Mark Tully on 7th October

BIRD is entirely supported by small contributions from people of diverse faiths who are deeply convinced about the urgent need to preserve inter-faith amity in the true and abiding tradition of India, which is a living symbol of religious diversity and inclusiveness.

May I request you to consider making a small contribution to BIRD for its activities? Grateful if you please write a cheque in favour of BIRD and mail it to the following address:

P.N. BENJAMIN
Coordinator-BIRD
Apt. No. 501, Indira Residency,
167 Hennur Road
Kalyan Nagar
Bangalore 560 043
India

Remembering Raimon Pannikkar

2010-09-11T20:06:00.000-07:00

Raimon Panikkar, Catholic Theologian, Is Dead at 91
BY WILLIAM GRIMES

Mr. Panikkar was a Roman Catholic whose embrace of Hindu
scriptures and Buddhism made him an influential voice for
promoting dialogue between the world's religions.

Continue reading at: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/05/us/05panikkar.html?emc=eta1
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

In the Sept. 5th New York Times, there was an obituary of the distinguished Roman Catholic theologian Raimundo Panikker which is worth reading, especially with regard to Panikker's discovery of the value of delving into the scriptures of eastern religions.

Panikker was born in Spain to a Spanish mother and an Indian father. He became a Catholic monk and then went to India to study eastern religions. An 0ft-quoted comment of his is, "I left Europe as a Christian, I discovered I was a Hindu and returned as a Buddhist without ever having ceased to be Christian". That is the great contribution that a study of eastern religions imparts on any serious student of religions. Professor Diana Eck discovered likewise in her "Encountering God: A spiritual Journey from Bozeman to Benares".

And, yet one finds that most theologians of monotheism see little or no value in either studying eastern faiths or engaging in any serious dialog with followers of eastern religions. It is most pronounced among Islamic theologians, Christian proselytizers in that order, and least prevalent among the Jewish Rabbis.

Panikkar also averred that "if the Church wishes to live, it should not be afraid of assimilating elements that come from other religious traditions, whose existence it can today no longer ignore".

C. Alex Alexander

Raimon Panikkar who was and is a hero of Indian Christian Theology. All Indian Christians should read his position on the approach to Hinduism while remaining a true Christian. Mr. Panikkar has amazingly brought up the truth of Christ whom Christians simply say, " He is the light of the world" but would not mean anything to
the world. Christians must be able to know Christ an THE example of representation of HUMANS who can penetrate through the human history without any barriers of religion or even denominations. That is also the Christ who penetrates through genders, cultures, politics, language etc. that divide humanity foolishly. Christians' inability to understand and uphold that Christ who can enlighten the
entire world has become the biggest obstruction for Christ to be seen through the Church to the rest of the world. But it is still possible for Christians to come out of its petiness and see Christ 'AS HE IS' and the world would say, "we need HIM".

Fr. M .K Kuriakose, Philadelphia

Pannikar and Kaaj Baago

Raimon Panikkar averred that "if the Church wishes to live, it should not be afraid of assimilating elements that come from other religious traditions, whose existence it can today no longer ignore".

Almost in the same vein, a brilliant Danish Professor, Dr. Kaaj Baago, in the United Theological College, Bangalore, made history when he said in the 1960s: “Hindus, Muslims and Buddhists should never give up their religion to join the Christian Church”. On the other hand the Church should humble itself and find ways of identifying itself with other groups, taking Christ with them. Christ, he said, was not the chairman of the Christian party. If God is the Lord of the universe he will work through every culture and religion. We must give up the crusading spirit of the colonial era and stop singing weird hymns like “Onward Christian soldiers marching as to war”. This will lead to Hindu Christianity or Buddhist Christianity.

It must involve the disappearance of the Indian Christian community, but he reminded us: “a grain of wheat remains a solitary grain unless it falls to the ground and dies”. Needless to say, the Indian Christians were furious. He left the College, the Church and the mission and took refuge with the Danish Foreign Service!!

He later returned to India as his country’s Ambassador and died in harness in 1988.

PNBenjamin

Attacks against Christians: Justice Saldanha's Bluff

2010-09-11T19:57:00.000-07:00

CALLING SALDANHA’S BLUFF

The Compass News has reported:” Christians in Karnataka State are under an unprecedented wave of Christian persecution, having faced more than 1,000 attacks in the last 500 days, according to an independent investigation by a former judge of the Karnataka High Court”

But, “the Global Council of Indian Christians (GCIC) has recorded only 72 attacks on Christians in 2009. That represents a decline from 112 attacks the previous year”.

It proves that Justice Saldanha’s allegation that there were 1,000 attacks against Christians in Karnataka during the last 500 days is utterly false and outrageous, and the reality easily verifiable. The allegation reflects his shocking ignorance about the real religious situation in Karnataka.

But, people like me who have access to the media and who are still in control of our Betz cells know that all such propaganda is being peddled in the name of a bogey man called Sangh Parivar! If any one is honest in his analysis, the so-called Sangh Parivar, it is certainly the outcome of the actions of the arch conversionists of Christianity and the Jehadi Muslims who challenge the religious sensitivities of the Hindu majority in the State.

Mr. Saldanha should apologize for his irresponsible and unsubstantiated comments; he should also check and recheck facts before deciding to disparage Hindu ‘extremists’ in public. In this day and age, when greater inter religious understanding and mutual respect is the need of the hour, levelling wild accusations that do not have any foundation, in fact, can hardly help matters.

The Sangh Parivar bogey man will disappear if Saldanha and his Catholic Bishops and the Protestant Evangelical leaders will come out openly and affirm that they are taking a solemn pledge in the name of Jesus to abide by the admonition of Jesus not to go miles to make a proselyte. If they can do that, the so-called Sangh Parivar will disappear

India and its tolerance for the diversity of its religious communities were built up over thousands of years. But, it looks like if individuals like Saldanha and his like-minded friends are not checked and their false propaganda nipped in the bud, your children and the children of India's minorities will have no future anywhere near the equity and fairness that they have so far enjoyed despite India being a predominantly Hindu nation.

I marvel and admire the enormous charity and Christ-like compassion of the Hindu majority to accept two Muslim Presidents, a Sikh President and a Dalit President and at present a Sikh Prime Minister and a foreign-born Christian woman Party Leader of the ruling party.Not forgetting the present Christian Defence Minister, Anthony. No Islamic or Judeo-Christian country on this world's stage can hold a candle to the wisdom of the majority people of India who truly know what Sanatana Dharma is. It is high time that Mr.Saldanha and his protagonists make an attempt to appreciate that. That would be a true Christian,s humility if that is indeed possible for them to manifest

Is there a true Christian leader among us who can light a candle amidst the encircling gloom spread by the religious conversionists of both funddamental Christianity and Jehadi Islam?

Peace, Shanti, Salam and Shalom. With malice towards none, and charity towards all, I remain true to my guide and spiritual leader, the Jesus of Nazareth.

P.N.BENJAMIN

9th Stanley Samartha Memorial Lecture

2010-09-10T11:00:00.000-07:00

Rev. Dr. Stanley Samartha Memorial Lecture-2010

The Bangalore Initiative for Religious Dialogue (BIRD) is pleased to announce that the the 9th Rev. Dr. Stanley Samartha Memorial Lecture will be delivered by Sir Mark Tully* on 7 October 2010 in Bangalore at 5 p.m. at the Rotary House of Friendship, Lavelle Road.

Please mark your calendar and participate in the event if your schedule permits.

P.N.BENJAMIN
Coordinator
BIRD

*Sir Mark Tully, KBE is the former Chief of Bureau, BBC, New Delhi. He worked for BBC for a period of 30 years before resigning in July 1994.He held the position of Chief of Bureau, BBC, Delhi for 20 years. Since 1994 he has been working as a freelance journalist and broadcaster based in New Delhi

Mark Tully joined the BBC in 1964 and moved to India in 1965 to work as the India Correspondent. He covered all major incidents in South Asia during his tenure, ranging from India-Pakistan conflicts, Bhopal gas tragedy, Operation Blue Star (and the subsequent assassination of Indira Gandhi, anti-Sikh riots), Assassination of Rajiv Gandhi to the Demolition of Babri Masjid.

Tully was made an Officer of the Order of the British Empire in 1985 and was awarded the Padma Shree in 1992. He was knighted in the New Year Honours 2002] and in 2005 he received the Padma Bhushan.

Tully has written several books based on India including India in Slow Motion (co-author Gillian Wright), No Full Stops in India, The Heart of India, Divide & Quit, Last Children of the Raj, From Raj To Rajiv- 40 Years Of Indian Independence, India – 50 years of Independence, India's Unending Journey and Amritsar: Mrs. Gandhi's Last Battle. In the area of religion Sir Mark has authored The Lives of Jesus to accompany the BBC series and Four Faces: A Journey in Search of Jesus the Divine, the Jew, the Rebel, the Sage.

Stanley Samartha Memorial Lecture 2010

2010-08-16T22:50:00.000-07:00

Bangalore Initiative for Religious Dialogue (BIRD)thanks the Hindu American Foundation(HAF)for its kind offer to sponsor the 9th Rev. Dr. Stanley Samartha Memorial lecture to be held on 7th October 2010 at the Rotary House of Friendship in Bangalore. Sir Mark Tully KBE will deliver the lecture.

P.N.BENJAMIN
Coordinator
BIRD
17/08/2010

Plight of Dalit Christians

2010-07-21T21:52:00.000-07:00

Plight of Dalit Christians
By P.N.Benjamin

As per the 2001 census, there are 24.20 million Christians in India of which the Christians of South India constitute 12.5 million, more than half the total Christian population of India, and those of the North-east, 5.4 million. The total population of Tamil Nadu Christians is 3.8 million, Karnataka one million, Kerala 6 million, Andhra Pradesh 1.2 million and Goa 0.4 million. Dalits constitute 65% of the total South Indian Christian population. Some Christian groups even claim that dalits constitute 70% of the Christians of Tamil Nadu.

To corrupt George Orwell's famous aphorism: "all Indian Christians are equal, but some are more equal than others". By embracing Christianity, the Dalits have not found themselves emancipated from economic and social inequalities. Conversions have neither offered the Dalits a way of escape from the bondage of caste nor have they fostered the social transformation of the Dalit Christians. They still live under the same conditions of discrimination, exploitation and oppression.

Bishop Dr D.K. Sahu, a former general secretary of the National Christian Council of India (NCCI) once said: "The Indian church has to make a confession first. If you are alienated in society and you become a Christian, you are alienated again. We tell them, 'if you become Christian then there is no discrimination', but once they become Christian they are looked down upon by Christians of higher castes. A higher caste Christian will never marry a Dalit Christian, yet we say we are all one."

By embracing Christianity the Dalits have not found themselves emancipated from economic and social inequities. On the other hand they even find themselves to be victims of double discrimination in their new religion. Jesus himself has said that those who proselytize end up making their "victims" twice as miserable. That is what is happening in the case of Dalits, regardless of whether they seek refuge in Christianity, Islam or Buddhism. Their initial caste identity persists unless they relocate and live in areas where no one knows their antecedents. But, then they become caught up in a quandary when they would like to access the benefits of affirmative action programs such as admissions to educational institutions, government jobs etc by reclaiming their Dalit status. It becomes a CATCH-22 situation.

The Church has sinned more than others in perpetuating social injustices against Dalit Christians. Casteism is rampant in the Church. Caste discrimination takes many forms among Indian Christians. In rural areas they cannot own or rent houses, however well placed they may be. Inter-caste marriages are frowned upon and caste tags are still appended to the Christian names of high caste people. Humiliating discrimination on the basis of caste does not spare the Dalit Christians even in death. Separate places are marked out for them in the parish churches and burial grounds.

Charity begins at home. But, the home (Church) where it begins, the Dalits Christians do not belong. According to a study, all the landed properties of churches in India put together, the church is the second biggest landlord in the country, next only to the Government. In addition, the Church - Catholic, Protestant, Pentecostal and all other denominations- its institutions and Church-led NGOs receive millions of dollars worth foreign financial support every year. However, there is no transparency with regard to these funds as well the massive income accruing from the elite schools, colleges and hospitals and also shopping complexes built all over the major cities in the country.

“Christians are a mere 2.5 per cent of the Indian population. But the Church in India suffers from a case of plenty, says Remy Denis, All India Catholic Union President. According to him Church authorities control funds equivalent to the Indian Navy’s annual budget. But, the poor Dalit Christian does not even get the crumbs, leave alone participation in Church matters. The Indian Church has miserably failed to take care of Dalits converted to Christianity

Besides, indiscriminate conversions have ruined the spirit of Christianity into savagery. Christianity is a path paved with suffering and service. Christ said: "If any one wants to follow me, let him take up the Cross and follow me”. But, the Indian Church leaders want the Government to carry the cross of Dalit Christians. That’s why they have been demanding reservation to Dalit Christians in education, Central and State Government jobs and social welfare schemes.

Church leaders have tamed the Dalit Christians and reduced them to eternal slaves of organized Church bodies. On the one hand, the Church demands reservation for Dalit Christians from the government while on the other, it opposes and refuses to provide them reservation in the Church structure.

Thus, the Church's call for re-distribution of national resources in favor of Dalit Christians will be heeded only when its own resources are re-allocated and used with a clear partiality for Dalits in its own fold. The Church's fearless stand for justice will no longer let it remain silent about the discrimination within the Church - a matter of shame to its members and an embarrassment to its friends.

Dalit Christians have been used as cannon fodder by Church leaders and Dalit NGOs. These leaders have grown fat and powerful and enjoy better standards of living and greater prestige than the poor and ordinary Dalit Christians. Their eyes are turned westward even more than during the Pax Britannica, and they draw their inspiration not so much from the poverty, inequality and indignities faced by the Dalit Christians within the Church but from the next seminar in Geneva or other western capitals.

It is time Dalit Christians stood united and fought for their rights in the Church until they are equals in the Christian fraternity first before seeking equal treatment from the government. It would be futile to expect others to give them support with a real change of heart. This goal can be achieved by following intelligently Ambedkar's exhortation: "educate, organize and agitate.

Dalit Christians' plight calls for a deeper analysis of the problem so that Christian leaders do not throw stones at the caste system prevailing in Hinduism but look to something more meaningful and constructive. Without going into details of how enlightened Hindus have dealt with the unconscionable practice of untouchability, the Church in India must audit its own record with regard to the dalit Christians.

P.N.BENJAMIN
Coordinator,
Bangalore Initiative for Religious Dialogue (BIRD)