Church Lures Gujarat Tribals to Christ

tahmed32:

I have said in my earlier post that I am all for missionaries of all kinds doing something for the uplift of the downtrodden even if they sell the snake oil of religion in the process. However, your and ali-1`s interacts seem to suggest that the only way of salvation for poor Hindus is to get out of their religion. Would you give the same prescription to thousands of Mukhtaran Mais of Pakistan or haris who suffer every bit as much humiliation and persecution as the lower castes in India? Or to all Muslim women who do not get equal status under Islamic law? I wouldn`t be surprised if the thought has never occurred to you, and rightly so. The solution to the social problem is social awakening, religious reform and political empowerment, not religious conversions; any other course would be inconsistent with your claim of all religions being basically good. For this purpose, if the problem is the caste system, then it should be one`s duty to fight that system, not religious conversion. I might have agreed with your prescription if the converted Hindus from the lowest castes were able to improve their socio-economic status in the society, which is not the case in india. In fact, this does not seem to be the case in Pakistan either where low-caste Hindus who converted to Christianity at the time of Partition are still derisively referred to as Choorhas and Bhangis, even by some Pakistani elite at chowk.

samosa #52 If someone is willing to be ``bribed`` into changing religions, that is his or her choice. If someone is lied into converting, then he/she is free to change back when he/she discovers the lie. And can you any example of such a lie??

jang: Robertson rails against Islam at least as much - and probably much more so - than hinduism. So what? This is what freedom of speech is all about. That is no reason to discourage missionary activity - and if some people believe what he says and become christians, what goes it of you (to resort to the vernacular)?? :-)

Re: # 50
tahmed32, I do not mind if a hindus becomes christian and follow any other religion. I am against conversion process that start with lies and bribes. And that is what most of the missionaries do.
Chowkies who post poverty stricken pictures of pakistan or indians are not really mocking the people but poverty. Usually that kind of diatribe starts with I am better than you and the other shows no you are not. But no one in desi communities hates any downtrodden people from either country. while you take this an example for labelling the whole desi community but you forget the selfless charity performed by desis during tsunami, gujarat earthquake and even during kashmir earthquake where pakistani doctors from US, US and Canada went to Kashmir to treat the victims.
You might find robertson a nutcase but he depicts an average evangelist person viewpoint.

#50 tahmed, robertson is not a nutcase.. he raises BILLIONS of dollars and is a main-stream moral-majority christian. baptists (religion of bill clinton and jimmy carter) routinely publish pamplets on occasions like diwali..

``More than 900 million people are lost in the hopeless darkness of Hinduism…Pray that Hindus who celebrate the festival of lights would become aware of the darkness in their hearts that no lamp can dispel.``

``Mumbai is a city of spiritual darkness. Eight out of every ten people are Hindus, slaves bound by fear and tradition to false gods…Satan has retained his hold on Calcutta through Kali and other gods and goddesses of Hinduism. It’s time for Christ’s salvation to come to Calcutta.``

you being you will prolly think this is not denigrating..(rolling eye icon)

samosa: the fact that you have to point to a nut like Robertson shows you dont have any basis for claiming that christian missionaries mock hinduism. And suppose (for the sake of argument) they did. so what? hindus mock islam, and muslims mock hindus every day on chowk.

what is it so damned important to you that some hindu does not become a christian? what business is it of yours anyway?


and the fact is that christian missionaries are dedicated to making life a little easier for the downtrodden in india. while hindu and muslim extremists (the ones most opposed to these christian missionaries) are dedicated to making life miserable for those unfortunate enough to be their targets - like the communal killings in india, the sectarian killings in pakistan, the burning of two churches a few days ago in pakistan.

samosa: i already gave you an example of desis looking down on the downtrodden - mukhtaran mai.

here is another example - on chowk, you will see indians mocking pakistanis by posting pictures of poverty stricken people in pakistan, and pakistanis mocking indians by posting pictures of poverty stricken people in india. does this indicate any sympathy for the downtrodden - the same kind of downtrodden people whom christian missionaries try to help? i dont think so.

krishna #45 good. i am glad we agree here.

#46 so a christian missionary tried to convince you to become a christian. why is that wrong?

Re: # 44 tahmed
Christian groups maintain website if not individual missionaries. Do some google and you will ultimately get your proof. Meanwhile I still havent found out how you found about that desi community looks down on weakest member of society in India.
Just one small example of views of a missionary.

To begin, Robertson`s experiences in Rajahmundry are described by a narrator. The scene is of a poverty-stricken people, bathing in the river at the head of which rests a statue of Lord Siva. Water is pouring out of Siva`s head and a snake is wrapped around his head as well. Robertson and his son are found in the midst of the scene, observing and mocking the early morning prayers of Hindus.