Posted on 07/30/2006 12:56:25 AM PDT by vimto
JULIA and Richard do not look like fugitives but they could be jailed under new Indian laws to stop missionaries converting low-caste Hindus to Christianity without a magistrate’s approval. A well educated British couple with young children, they left London two years ago to teach missionary work in some of India’s poorest states, such as Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Orissa.
Last week Madhya Pradesh became the latest state to pass an anti-religious conversion bill that could leave Christian missionaries open to criminal charges. Leaders of India’s 26m Christians say the bill is an attempt to intimidate and persecute them, while increasing votes for the Hindu nationalist BJP party. Under its provisions missionaries and their converts face up to three years in jail if they do not notify a magistrate of their intentions.
Christian leaders also fear the initiative will encourage attacks against them. India’s National Commission for Minorities has voiced concern about incidents in Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan in which orphanages and schools have been targeted.
Last month police in Madhya Pradesh raided a Bible study group and arrested worshippers after complaints that they were converting Hindus. Nuns have been raped and several priests have been murdered in the past seven years. Last year 11 members of a Hindu mob that burnt an Australian missionary and his two young sons to death as they slept had their convictions overturned.
Hindu fundamentalists claim missionaries, mostly American and South Korean, prey on the ignorance of lower castes and persuade them to turn against their culture. The missionaries say they provide education and healthcare and teach the Bible to untouchables whose own religion treats them as outcasts.
(Excerpt) Read more at timesonline.co.uk ...
I wholeheartedly reject that notion. You may think Jehovah can be manifested as Shiva; I do not. Jehovah's personality is different. What He says about Himself is contradicted by what I understand is believed about Shiva. So either Jehovah is right or Shiva is right. Not both. You may say it is possible to believe in contradicting realities, but I bet you still look in both directions before crossing a street.
It is hard to believe that there are Christians today going into India and forcing people to convert using violence. Of course I am not there, but the Christian missionaries I know in SE Asia provide wells, foods, and other supplies in their effort to win converts. I just can't imagine how such a small group could get converts using violence.
I do not agree that a missionary has the right to enter a convert's home and destroy the idols. That is private property. A true convert would destroy the idol on his own volition. I also would say that a person grows in their faith and knowledge of Jesus so that they may accept Jesus's Lordship one day but require some time before realizing they must destroy the idols they have.
I do not condone a foreign missionary breaking the idols belonging to someone else. I condemn such behavior.
Christian missionaries do not have, should not have and never have had, although some have wrongly thought they did, a divine mandate to arbitrate over a person's conscience. That is the province of God alone and He jealously holds that responsibility to Himself.
A preacher is one who intends to drag you like an overbearing nanny, over the path he "thinks" is the true path of sprituality. I disagree with this definition of a preacher. A preacher is a person who exposes the Word of God to a congregation. It is a very high calling. To be sure, a preacher is just a human and capable of error. That is why each individual must search the Scripture for himself and see if the teaching conforms to God's Holy Revelation. But a preacher is to help point the way to what the Scripture says. He has a responsibility to be correct. God holds him in strict accountability for leading others astray.
The discovery of the path is not a matter of one's own conscience. It is a work of God's Holy Spirit.
It may have change behavior. It may have forced some to attend church and hold Bibles in their hands. A forced inquisition never made actual believers.
How ridiculous. People in a democracy are constantly speaking out to convert others to all kinds of positions. To exclude faith is futile and communistic.
Anyone who loves freedom.
Democracy without free speech = 2nd rate, at best. America became what it is because anyone can come here and pretty much live how they want. Thus we get the best and brightest and most productive, including many good citizens from India who practice whatever religion they choose here. It may be a dream to drive out the 'infidel' and make parts of India monolithic Hindu, but doing so will simply prevent those area emerging from the 3rd world.
Do you realize how ridiculous you sound, or just don't care? Anyone can practice any religion here, how is that intolerance? You are the one advocating banning religious speech.
Being a Christian or Hindu by faith wouldnt matter to these people. If you are not white, you are a legitimate target.
Lets fix this up a bit
I am not against Indians or Indian Hindus but I would like to see the foreign Indian Religions being banned from coming into America. Sell your wares elsewhere.
There, doesn't that make a lot more sense? NOT
It can be, just as any process can be perverted.
But seeking conversion to one's point of view should not be outlawed. That would definitely be undemocratic.
Well said.
The vast majority are NOT involved in terror. Why not draw up a list of terror organizations that are not allowed, much like the US does. But banning ALL missionaries...most of whom are NOT involved in terror is ridiculous.
Which is exactly what they're doing. The bottom castes are forced to do all the grunt work. The upper castes won't like it if the bottom castes opt out of the system and tell the Brahmins to shovel their own damn s**t
You kidding me? Hindu Missionaries in Mississipi?? lol. Till a couple of decades back these places were extremely intolerant of christians with a different skin color.
Passively practise hindu religion in SOME parts of the US is more appropriate. Many local communities do not allow hindus to build temples because of "zoning laws". It is wrong to state that Hindu missionaries would be welcome in the SOuth. First of all hindu missionaries are not even allowed inside the US.
India has a Sikh Prime Minister, a muslim president and an "Italian Catholic" - meaning a white italian catholic woman - heads the country's ruling party. Can a brown hindu woman win a Senate seat from Mississipi?? We all know the answer. Hindus and Indians dont need to be tought tolerance. IT is time they started becoming intolerant.
The greatest saints of hinduism come from the lower castes as do many hindu gods. India offers affirmative action of upto 70% seats in colleges and jobs. In sharp contrast large sections of the bible belt refused african americans the right to vote till a couple of decades ago!!
If you apply the same standards to christianity then all africans and latinos are better off converting to buddhism. . Dont worry..the current hindu nationalist movement is being led by the so called "lower castes". When they get educated, converted christians from these castes revert back to christianity.
In India, caste is probably more relevant in christianity than hinduism. Hindus worship as individuals. Whereas in churches there are separate services and/or separate pews for christians from lower castes.
The self is needed. If the self is love, (it is) few reflect it. Especially members of organized religions like Christianity.
Read just about any thread on religion at FR, for example, to prove the point.
The civil rights laws were passed over 40 years ago. We are talking today.
And for the red herring about zoning laws, those apply equally to churches, and the Supreme Court has severely limited how much a municipality can restrict any religious group from building a house of worship. And you are always still free to build a little further out. No city can 100% ban churches via zoning, they have to always have some area designated as suitable (just as they have to for sexually-oriented businesses.) By law they can't treat Hindu temples any different than Christian churches.
I'm not going to go back and forth with you on this, but once again it is a complete lie that Hindu missionaries are banned in the South. And Bobby Jindal WILL win the next governor election in Louisiana, after being elected to Congress 2 years ago.
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