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as a former citizen of India and a practicing non-brahmin Hindu, these are my observations. First off, the average Indian middle-class citizen has many many things on his mind more important to him than religion, not very unlike the average American's stance in the evolution/creationism debate. A Hindu employee will kiss his boss's Muslim/Christian ass with extreme secularism as long as it helps him pay the bills and put his kids through school.

Having said that, the Americans on this thread fail to take into account is the amount of emotional baggage most Indians still carry consciously or subconsciously. History books still remind people how emperor Auranzeb and other Islamic raiders from the west, destroyed temples and killed uncountable hindus. Most Indian neighborhoods have an old grandpa around who regales children with tales of the independence struggle against the "white-man" barely 60 years ago. To draw a parallel, what do you think would happen to a white dude who goes into any inner-city in American and hurls slavery-era slurs at the residents there?

That is the net effect on the average Indian psyche, when a political party like the BJP( and its supporters like the RSS, VHP) uses Hinduism as an electoral platform. But also to be remembered, is that the BJP was booted out after just one term because this platform is not sustainable in Indian. All religion and no development is not acceptable by the Indian people, and they demonstrated that by electing a party led by an Italian Roman Catholic Woman.

The anti-conversion proposal in its present form is stupid and unimplementable in India and is merely political posturing in my opinions. Like Cronos mentioned, if Mother Teresa preached to one of her patients and he/she wanted to convert to Christianity, there should be no State or Individual preventing him from doing so. Such a proposal should involve the state in this issue, but merely as an observer. A line should be drawn using which the judiciary (NOT THE STATE) can decide whether a particular conversion does indeed improve the socio-economic condition of an individual or is just a purchase of a person's soul for Rs.500. Akin to how the INS makes random calls to verify whether a particular marriage is genuine or has just been done for a green-card.

mindfever : "All religion and no development is not acceptable by the Indian people, and they demonstrated that by electing a party led by an Italian Roman Catholic Woman."

I dont agree with you that BJP did not do much for development. Infact it was during the 6 year tenure of BJP that the Indian economy started to grow at an 7-8% per year.That was also the period of great prorgess made at information technology (outsuorcing , software exports) and telecom in India - which were non-existant before BJP came to power , and now worth many hundred billion dollars.

A Hindu employee will kiss his boss's Muslim/Christian ass with extreme secularism as long as it helps him pay the bills and put his kids through school.

Heh-heh. I guess the same would be true for employees of all religions in India -- it's got the marvellous distinction of being a country that isn't secular in the western sense (denying all religions), rather one where you can freely practise whatever you want to as long as you don't stomp on someone else's FACE. So, festivals of all religions are celebrated by all Indians and most Indian muslims aren't as loony as the ones in Pakiland.

Having said that, the Americans on this thread fail to take into account is the amount of emotional baggage most Indians still carry consciously or subconsciously. History books still remind people how emperor Auranzeb and other Islamic raiders from the west, destroyed temples and killed uncountable hindus

Quite correct -- in most of India, the Muslim is shunned. Christians are treated as exotica in some places and as friendly souls in other, more urban surroundings.

However, I do reiterate that Christian missionaries who go about telling Hindus they worship demons are damaging Christianity itself. No one's going to listen to them after they say that, so they shoot themselves in the foot. Most Hindus, even Raj here, would not mind listening to Christian texts, but many wouldn't really care one way or the other if they were Christian or Hindu. Finally, the choice falls on the individual. Christianity IS a religion of choice and of learning.