Latest articles from ChristianAggression.org http://www.christianaggression.org 2011-04-06T14:09:59+01:00 text/html http://www.christianaggression.org/item_display.php?type=ARTICLES&id=1302113399 In his explosive new book The Armies Of God: A Study In Militant Christianity, British-born, Malaysia-based academic Iain Buchanan blows the lid off a subject that most scholars and journalists tend to shy away from: the rise of US evangelism as a force in global affairs. His book looks at how some of the powerful evangelical outfits operate — often as US government proxies — in countries such as Indonesia, Thailand, and of course, India, and the disastrous effects this has had on the relationship between the Christian West and non-Christian cultures, religious communities and nations. He also unmasks the role played by the seemingly secular ‘success motivation’ industry, and its leadership gurus such as Zig Ziglar and Ken Blachard, who are not only management experts but also conscious agents of US-style Christian evangelism. Excerpts from an interview: What led you to write this book? I grew up in an agnostic family with respect for spirituality of all kinds — from animism to true Christianity. I suppose one of my strongest incentives for writing the book was to show how, in the West, inherently decent things like liberal secularism and Christian spirituality (no necessary conflict here!) are so deeply corrupted by political power and so dishonestly vaunted as marks of cultural superiority. Not many would want to come out in the open and talk about the issues raised in your book. Was that a concern for you? In the West, certainly, there is a reluctance to enquire too deeply into the affairs of organised Christianity — both at home and overseas. Western culture is a deeply, subliminally Christian culture, and even committed secularists have trouble avoiding Christian parameters in their arguments, and recognising the Christian capacity for wrong-doing. Among other things, this leads to a rather benign view of the behaviour of our missionaries overseas — fed partly by ignorance, and partly by a sense that the Christian mission can be equated with civilisation. And such myopia has increased dramatically over the past 40 years, as the secular West has managed to define a global order largely in its own terms, with decisive help from its Christian missionaries.By contrast, of course, the behaviour of non-Christians (especially Muslims) is scrutinised ruthlessly, misunderstood, and demonised. Academics who have attempted to study the work of missionaries in India have been accused of helping the right-wing Hindutva brigade. Has this been your experience too? The glib response to this would be to say that religious extremism of any kind needs to be exposed. But it is more complex than this. There is a need to go beyond the purely religious objection to Christian missionising, and examine the global forces which define it, and which are subverting countries like India in a far more comprehensive and profound way than most people realise. A key contention of my book is that the extremism of Christian evangelicals is no more benign than the extremism found in non-Christian religious groups. Indeed, its local impact can be hugely destructive — precisely because of its ability to draw upon a vast global network of forces (including powerful secular ones), and its ability to penetrate and shape local forces, whether they be ethnic, religious, political, or social, according to alien priorities. You speak at length of the US’s use of Christianity for it own geopolitical designs. Is this manifestly part of US strategy worldwide? Most Western leaders (not just Bush and Blair) will claim they are inspired by their Christian beliefs. Sometimes, as with both Reagan and George W Bush, they quote chapter and verse in support of policy, although usually it is not so blatant. Certainly, deep in Washington, self-professedly Christian pressure groups (like the Fellowship Foundation and the Council for National Policy) have a highly influential membership and a powerful grip on policy. Of course, one can debate whether US strategy is manifestly Christian in inspiration — few Americans would say it is not, although most would probably insist that such strategy is guided primarily by secular concerns. But there is no doubt at all that US strategy makes deliberate (and somewhat cynical) use of Christian agencies in pursuit of foreign policy — and that the distinction between the religious and the secular is deliberately blurred in the process. There are over 600 US-based evangelical groups, some as big as large corporations, and between them they constitute a vast and highly organised network of global influence, purposefully targeting non-Christians, and connecting and subverting every sector of life in the process. Most of the major evangelical corporations (like World Vision, Campus Crusade, Youth with a Mission, and Samaritan’s Purse) operate in partnership with the US government in its pursuit of foreign policy goals. World Vision, which is effectively an arm of the State Department, is perhaps the most notable example of this. There is also the benefit of a custom-built legislation, with the International Religious Freedom Act of 1998 providing necessary sanction to bring errant nations into line. This means that evangelisation is an intensely secular pursuit, as well as a religious one. In turn, of course, the secular powers, whether they be departments of state or corporate businesses, find such evangelicals to be very effective partners. Indeed, most missionaries are not obviously religious. A case in point is the Success Motivation industry.Many of the most popular ‘leadership gurus’ — Zig Ziglar, Paul Meyer, Os Hillman, Richard DeVos, John C. Maxwell, and Ken Blanchard, for example — are not just management experts, they are also evangelical Christians and conscious agents of US-style evangelisation. Conversely, groups which, on the face of it, are primarily religious, may also serve a powerful secular agenda, such as the collection of intelligence, the grooming of political or commercial elites, or the manipulation of local conflicts. Some accuse the church of fomenting dissent among poor tribals by exploiting them; others say the church is a liberating force. This debate has gone on for decades in India’s North-East. What is your view? The situation of India’s tribal people, like that of tribal people elsewhere in Asia, is certainly tragic. And it may be that Christian activity offers an opportunity to escape the various forms of homegrown oppression — state and corporate abuse, Hindu contempt, and so on. But Christianity in India is a very diverse thing. There are many situations where the Christian church has taken firm root, and is deeply involved in local administration, social welfare, education, and so on. Nagaland is a case in point. There are movements for tribal welfare elsewhere which are Christian-inspired and doing excellent work. But there are many cases, too, of evangelical missions which go into tribal areas with little respect for local realities, and with an agenda far removed from tribal welfare. In this, they may be no better and no worse than the home-grown oppressor. But there is an important difference. Such missionaries often belong to an evangelical network whose strategic purpose is defined elsewhere, and which has little loyalty to the local population, its cultures, its communities, and its welfare, let alone to the nation as a whole. This is particularly true of the new breed of US-inspired evangelicals, led by Baptists and Pentecostalist/Charismatics, who have spearheaded evangelisation over the past 50 years. It is the working of this wider, and self-consciously global, structure of behaviour which is of concern. It is unfortunate that missions doing good work in tribal areas have their efforts tarnished by others whose approach is more opportunistic and exploitative. For the new evangelicals, distaste for paganism is just part of the equation — oppressed tribal groups are a relatively easy target to penetrate in a much wider war against non-Christians generally, and for influence in strategic (especially border) areas. In this respect, even a relatively long-established Christian presence — as in Nagaland — has utility as a strategic outpost. These are turbulent times for India as its number of hungry and poor are growing exponentially even as the wealthy in the cities are becoming billionaires. Does this make harvesting of souls easy? Do missionaries love turbulence? It certainly seems, sometimes, that evangelicals thrive on suffering and disaster. India’s own KP Yohannan, for example, welcomed the tsunami of 2004 as “one of the greatest opportunities God has given us to share His love with people” — and he was only one of many expressing such sentiments. There is no question that many evangelicals exploit the poor and marginalised for reasons which have a lot to do with narrow theology and political self-interest, and relatively little to do with long-term practical help. But evangelicals court the wealthy and the powerful of a society with equal passion. One of the most telling features of the new evangelism is the way it has turned Christianity into a force for protecting the rich and powerful. US Protestantism, in particular, has worked hard to undermine the impulse in the church towards social justice and reform. A measure of its success has been the defeat of Liberation Theology and the remarkable expansion of US Pentecostalism in Asia, Africa, and Latin America. More than a quarter of all Christians now belong to Pentecostalist and Charismatic churches. In these, as in most new evangelical churches, great attention is paid to a ‘theology’ of economics which stresses individual profit, corporate obedience, the sanctity of making money, and the power of “miracles, signs, and wonders.”This ‘theology’ is a key part of modern imperialism: it offers something to both rich and poor, it is safely counter-revolutionary, and it ties tightly into the wider global network of more secular influences (in business, government, education, the media, the military) which underpins Western expansion. So the evangelical church has a key role to play in a society as disparate as India’s. It is a form of social management: it gives divine sanction to the rich, it gives hope to the struggling middle class, and it cultivates discipline (and distraction) amongst the poor — and it does all this with a keen eye to the West’s self-interest. This is not to suggest that India does not have its own mechanisms for doing the same things. But such evangelisation, as a concomitant of Westernisation, is bound to strengthen as India urbanises and looks ever more Westwards. A recent issue of the Texas-based magazine, Gospel For Asia, says: “The Indian sub-continent with one billion people, is a living example of what happens when Satan rules the entire culture... India is one vast purgatory in which millions of people .... are literally living a cosmic lie! Could Satan have devised a more perfect system for causing misery?” How and why does such propaganda work in a developed country like the US in the era of the Internet and the media? There are two important points here. First, we must not assume that the ‘developed’ West is free from wilful ignorance. Indeed, wilful ignorance is often a very useful weapon. We need enemies, and, as religious people, we need demons. The utility of Islamophobia is a case in point.Besides, there’s a useful role for such bigotry within the system: as a foil for the liberal powerful to prove their liberal credentials. But such attitudes are nothing new, of course. Christians have waged such ‘spiritual warfare’ against their enemies for centuries, and with the same kind of language. What is new is the vastly increased facility, offered by the electronic media, for fighting such a war. And this is the second point. New technology is spreading, and hardening, such bigotry. Since the mid-1960s, the evangelical movement has systematically computerised its entire global operation, creating huge databases of information on its non-Christian enemies, centralising administration, and linking some 500 million ‘Christian computers’ worldwide for the purposes of fighting ‘spiritual warfare’ against non-believers in strategic places. And ‘spiritual warfare’, for the evangelical Christian movement, is not just a matter of prayers and metaphor: it is also, very decisively, a matter of ‘virtuous’ troops, tanks, and drones. text/html http://www.christianaggression.org/item_display.php?type=ARTICLES&id=1298391991 “The Gospel has been taught freely in public schools all over the world for some time. Now children in the U.S. have that opportunity, too!” – from the Child Evangelism Fellowship website A fundamentalist Christian organization, Child Evangelism Fellowship, has recently ramped up their presence on public grade school campuses. They are emboldened by a supreme court decision that said, to paraphrase: if schools lease facilities to anyone they can’t exclude religious groups like CEF. Clarence Thomas, who wrote the majority opinion, asserted that the establishment clause was not at issue, because CEF activities were clearly distinguished from school sponsored activities. But are they? Can children in first grade really tell the difference? Or has CEF crossed a line? In this interview, a Seattle parent, John Lederer, talks about what happened at his daughter’s school. Why don’t you start by telling us what Good News Clubs are. It’s easiest if I simply quote from their website: “Good News Club® is a ministry of Child Evangelism Fellowship® in which trained teachers meet with groups of children in schools, homes, community centers, churches, apartment complexes, just about anywhere the children can easily and safely meet. Each week the teacher presents an exciting Bible lesson using colorful materials from CEF Press®. This action-packed time also includes songs, Scripture memory, a missions story and review games or other activities focused on the lesson’s theme.” What is their goal? Child evangelism 24/7“Their mission speaks for itself: “CEF is a Bible-centered, worldwide organization composed of born-again believers whose purpose is to evangelize boys and girls with the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, disciple them in the Word of God and establish them in a Bible-believing church for Christian living.”. . . “As with all CEF ministries, the purpose of Good News Club is to evangelize boys and girls with the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ and establish (disciple) them in the Word of God and in a local church for Christian living.”. . . Each club includes a clear presentation of the Gospel and an opportunity for children to trust Jesus as Saviour.” These folks see the public elementary schools as a great vast recruiting ground. Currently they have 140 Good News Clubs in Washington State, 100 in public elementary schools. Their goal is to double that. They say currently one out of ten children currently has access to Good news club; they are shooting for one in five. They claim to have 3400 of these Good News Clubs in public elementary schools all around the country. Some fundamentalist parents may like having their child receive religious instruction after school, but, frankly, that is not the mission of the organization. Yikes. So what exactly do they do to “evangelize and disciple” children? If you ask, they won’t share the curriculum or lesson plans. The materials are tightly held, so parents don’t have a good idea of what this is. They had posted that parents are welcome, so we sat in on two of their sessions and saw some stuff that was not actually kosher. Then they told us that we were no longer welcome. They teach a very fairy tale version of the Christian faith. For example, they give the kids little puzzle toys that are fun to play with but really it is a wordless tract. A black heart shows the original sin in each child, gold is heaven, a red cross represents the blood of Christ, a white heart represents the pure child who has found salvation. My kid played with it for 20 minutes. I didn’t tell her what it is supposed to represent. The idea is that the kids bring it to school and other kids ask about it. These kids are easy to manipulate. Cake, cookies, balloons are very attractive to them. They use enticements like these to get children to say to their parents, “Can I go?” Children can’t tell the difference between good news club and school sponsored activities like chess club. I take it you are not a fan of religion. On the contrary. We are an interfaith family, and we regularly attend Trinity United Methodist Church with our children. But as parents, we want to be the ones who teach our children about spiritual matters. I resent that there is an organization trying to go around me and recruit my child through her peers in her school to forms of belief that we do not share. They are interfering with what that first spiritual learning is going to be, which I believe should be between a parent and child. How did you get caught up with this issue? In November or December of 2008, my daughter was in 1st grade. I was on the playground volunteering, and another parent said, “Did you know that there was this evangelical group running a program out of the school?” They had sent a flyer home by kid mail. I was surprised. I thought it was illegal. Why were they showing up in my child’s school? When I read their mission statement and values and principles it was clear that this was a very theologically conservative, right wing and evangelical form of Christian faith. My initial concern wasn’t that they existed but that they had targeted my child’s school and my child is only 6 years old. They are targeting very very young children. But they are renting the space, right? Isn’t that what the supreme court approved? Well, that’s another story. In Seattle, all of this is being subsidized by us the tax payers because they get the space for free. Two policies apply: Religious groups can rent facilities but need to pay the rates prescribed. Religious activities can’t be held during school hours except in areas that have been leased. But Community use by certain groups that are engaged in youth character building youth sports, YMCA, . . . boys and girls club are able to use school facilities after hours at no charge. So in their application they called it ‘building character in children with biblical principles.” Initially it was classified as a religious organization. Then it was reclassified. They claimed to be child character building and the district never asked to see the curriculum. The district made their decision on the basis of not wanting to be sued. This has happened repeatedly across the country. The CEF website says explicitly that they are about religious instruction, which means that providing space for free, subsidizing their facilities costs, is a tacit endorsement of their teachings. How can this Not be an issue of church state boundaries? There is an actual supreme court decision that made this possible in 2001. In a nutshell, prior to 2001 a religious organization couldn’t rent space at a public school and provide religious education. That was seen to be in violation of the establishment clause of the constitution. In 2001, a decision was written by Clarence Thomas in a case known as Good News Club vs. Milford School District. It was a six to threedecision, but there were five separate opinions among the nine judges. They couldn’t agree about how to justify their decisions. The basic finding was that if a school district makes its facilities available to community organization they can’t discriminate. It doesn’t raise an establishment clause issue because there was no way that any of the students, staff or parents could perceive that it was endorsed by the school. It was held after school, no teachers involved, no staff involved, no way that anyone could think it was a school or PTA activity. For that reason the establishment clause was irrelevant. Since the decision that part of his reasoning has been ignored by the actions of CEF. Are they in violation of the Supreme Court decision and the establishment clause? Child Evangelism Fellowship recruitingCEF has systematically violated all of the conditions of the supreme court decision. They clearly are not about character education they are about reaching children who are unchurched and bringing them into their belief system. In this mission, they try to leverage the legitimacy of the school setting. By putting fliers in kids’ back packs they are clearly using the school’s communication channels. By trying to put an Ad in the PTA auction book at our school they tried to use the other vehicles of the school to legitimize what they are doing and to integrate it with the school’s activities. But the third and most egregious example of overstepping at Loyal Heights was when the leader of the Good News Club began volunteering in a kindergarten classroom four days per week. This person, who didn’t have a child in the school, who was leading the Good News Club on Fridays was present in the kindergarten classroom, presumably so she could identify students who she might be able to recruit and build relationships with them. A kindergartener can’t tell the difference between a teacher and a volunteer. Both are authority figures who they implicitly trust. So, from the perspective of the students it was a clear violation of the principle that it needs to be separate. There should be no chance of confusion about whether it is part of a school. What can school districts do about this? One thing the school could do is insist that all parents have full access to the curriculum. Child Evangelism Fellowship claims that no child ever participates without a written permission from their parents. This was cited in the 2001 decision: it’s all voluntary. But there is no school district in the country that is actually enforcing that, and the way that materials are safeguarded means that there is no way for parents actually to give informed consent. Here’s what I would recommend at the district level: - Policies prohibiting participation by teachers, volunteers and staff in the CEF activity at the same school where they work. - The enforcement of policies that prohibit school staff and volunteers, when on the job, from speaking or acting in a manner that can be easily perceived as promoting or endorsing religious instruction or practice. - Policies that prohibit CEF from using school and PTA communication vehicles to promote their activity, or from sponsoring school activities. - Enforcement of student anti-harassment policies that protect students from aggressive proselytizing. - Assurances that the CEF, as a religious organization, will pay for the use of the space they occupy, and that Good News Club meetings occur well after the end of the school day. - Assurances that interested parents will have access to the CEF curriculum for inspection and that their meetings will be open to all students and parents. What can parents do? Here are the recommendations we came up with out of the Loyal Heights experience. * Review the CEF curriculum. This allows parents who may be thinking of participating in the CEF’s activity to make an informed decision about whether the program comprises the initial religious and moral indoctrination they want for their children. * Review and understand those school district policies and procedures that can help ensure that CEF’s religious activity are separated from the school administration, operations, and instructional program. If necessary, push for revision of those policies and procedures. * Be watchful and ensure that students are not subjected to pressure or harassment with regard to their religious beliefs and practices while at school. Report incidents to the school administration. * Try to convince other parents that while CEF may have a legal right to rent space at a public elementary school, their activity is best suited for a neighborhood church or similar location. Offer to assist CEF in moving their activity to a nearby location. * Speak up and make your concerns known to other parents, school staff, and CEF leadership. Has pushing back worked for you and the parents at Loyal Heights? Well, at my daughter’s school they now meet in a portable. They no longer advertise on campus. They don’t give out t-shirts for kids to wear to recruit other kids. I see this as a clear effect from the parents getting organized. They may now actually be serving families who share their beliefs. But I fear that it’s a temporary victory. They are going to wait us out. They will once again want to put up their balloons, their signs, and do all of the things they aren’t allowed to do. Valerie Tarico is a psychologist and writer in Seattle, Washington. She is the author of Trusting Doubt: A Former Evangelical Looks at Old Beliefs in a New Light, (Revised ed of The Dark Side) and the founder of www.WisdomCommons.org. Her articles can be found at Awaypoint.Wordpress.com. text/html http://www.christianaggression.org/item_display.php?type=ARTICLES&id=1298391867 Tensions run high within the Christian community in Thachur village, and the government has adopted a hands-off approach for now. A. MURALITHARAN The Roman Catholic church at Thachur village. THE wrinkles on S. Royappan's face are a result of advancing age, but the ridges and furrows in them tell a story of humiliation of this Dalit Christian, as also others like him. Royappan, 82, was a bonded labourer, or padiyaal, in Thachur village in Tamil Nadu's Kancheepuram district, but it is the ‘bond' with the Roman Catholic church in the village that remains vivid in his memory. The 175-year-old Arockiya Matha (Our Lady of Health) church has a chequered history, and the most recent additions to it may have the potential to be a turning point for Dalit Christians in the village. The events were the burials of two Dalit Christians in the cemetery attached to the church and the opposition to them by upper-caste Reddiar Christians, who claim the cemetery is only for their dead. The Reddiars' behaviour failed to unnerve Royappan, though; he had seen worse. An eerie silence pervades Thachur, and most of the men of Reddiar families stayed away from the village for several days fearing police action. The Dalits in the village had overcome stiff resistance from the Reddiars and asserted their right twice in January when they buried the brother of a Dalit priest and a Dalit farm worker in the cemetery. The priest's brother, Velankanni, had died of natural causes on January 22, but the farm worker, Rajendran, was murdered; his body was retrieved from the lake in the village on January 24. A. MURALITHARAN THE CEMETERY IN the church compound. All along, "upper-caste" Christians have resisted Dalit Christians' attempts to bury their dead here. The full import of the development in Thachur, a predominantly Christian village around 80 km from Chennai, can be understood only by delving into the past. Though the church building was constructed in 1922, the village is considered to be one of the oldest parishes in the State because the first Christians here arrived in 1836. The parish was then under the Pondicherry-Cuddalore diocese. In 1969, it came under the Madras-Mylapore diocese and moved to the Chengalpattu diocese created in 2002. The population comprises Reddiars, who migrated from Andhra Pradesh, and Dalits, including Adi Dravidars and Arunthathiars. Though almost all of them are Christian converts, a sharp division existed right from the beginning on the basis of socio-economic disparity. Varna vyavastha (caste hierarchy), which is deeply rooted in Hinduism, has been absorbed by the converts and this has deepened the hiatus further. Fr John Suresh, a priest who is also the director of the Chengalpattu Rural Development Society, said the cross-shaped church enabled the upper-caste Christians to occupy the centre, while the sides were earmarked for the Adi Dravidars and the Arunthathiars. The administration of the parish was under the control of a team of dharmakartas (trustees) belonging to the Reddiar caste. The Dalits were denied a role even in the day-to-day affairs of the church, not to speak of its administration. They could not assume the role of readers or lectors at Mass. They challenged this decades-old discrimination in the 1990s. The protracted legal battle resulted in the closure of the church for over 10 years until a path-breaking tripartite agreement was reached in November 2006. But caste discrimination even in death continues in Thachur. The village has three cemeteries, one for each group. The one inside the church complex is claimed by the Reddiars, while the other two groups have theirs on the outskirts of the village. A. MURALITHARAN The site in the cemetery where Velankanni, brother of a Dalit priest, was buried overcoming "upper-caste" opposition. The Dalits' struggle drew support from some political parties, including the Communist Party of India (Marxist), and organisations such as the Tamil Nadu Untouchability Eradication Front (TNUEF), the Dalit Human Rights Centre, and the Chengalpattu Rural Development Society, which work for the welfare of oppressed people. According to Bharathi Anna, convener of the Kancheepuram district unit of the TNUEF, even today the vast stretches of fertile land on the Palar river bed belong to the Reddiars. The majority of the Dalits work in these fields. A few of them are marginal farmers and a minuscule number have government jobs. Though a sizable number of upper-caste Christians have migrated to urban areas, including Chennai, they continue to own land in the village. Reddiars, Adi Dravidars and Arunthathiars reside in different localities in the village. Most of the Dalits continue to be farmhands though the padiyaal system has by and large vanished. A good number of them have become construction workers, while some Dalit youth have entered the portals of higher education. However, the Reddiars have been reluctant to relax their grip over the administration of the church. Royappan and several other residents of the village narrated the treatment meted out to them and others. There was a time when the padiyaals were flogged with tamarind twigs or tied to the wheel of a moving bullock cart as punishment. The Dalits employed by Reddiars had to drink water and gruel poured into their cupped hands. Such practices continued in the feudal society for long. With some parish priests initiating steps to democratise the administration of the church, besides striving for the economic independence of the oppressed people, Dalit Christians slowly started raising their voice against discriminatory practices, said Fr John Suresh. As a result, the priests incurred the wrath of the upper-caste Christians. Some of them were even assaulted, alleged Fr John Suresh. In another incident at R.N. Kandigai village under the same diocese in 1995, a parish priest who was seen to be pro-Dalit was manhandled by upper-caste Christians with a view to hindering his priestly duties. The church was closed indefinitely by the Archdiocesan authorities. Recalling the legal battle in the local courts, L. Yesumarian, director of the Chengalpattu-based Dalit Human Rights Centre, said upper-caste Christians had set the ball rolling in 1995 by filing a case against a change in the route of the procession of Mother Mary as part of the parish's feast celebrations. They said the car procession should take the “customary route”, that is, it should not pass through the Dalit localities. A. MURALITHARAN THE CEMETERY OF the Adi Dravidar (Dalit) Christians on the outskirts of the village. The next case was filed by the same group a couple of years later, seeking the transfer of the then parish priest, Fr K.M. Joseph, a Malayalee, and the appointment of a priest who had knowledge of Tamil and Telugu. In turn, Fr Joseph filed a case seeking a direction that the parish priest would be the sole authority to administer the parish and to decide the mode of celebrations. In the same year, the Reddiars filed a defamation case against the Adi Dravidars. In 1999, the Adi Dravidars filed a case pleading for orders not to open the church until the suits in the courts between the parishioners were settled and decided. When the legal battle was on, the Dalit Christians carried on different forms of agitation demanding a due share in the administration of the parish. They also called for steps to end the caste-based discrimination in the church and in the village. The control over the land belonging to the church also became a contentious issue. Sustained struggles by the Dalits of Thachur resulted in the agreement of November 28, 2006, signed by representatives of Reddiars, Dalits and the diocese in the presence of officials of the Revenue Department. The 12-point agreement laid down that all Christian groups in the parish should accept the authority of the bishop of Chengalpattu diocese and of the parish priest appointed by him as per Canon Law. The annual festival of the parish, it said, should be held with the involvement of all members of the parish under the direct supervision of the bishop. It also said all the groups should maintain unity to ensure that the car procession passed through all the habitations in the village. The accord urged the parties concerned to abide by the diocese's decision on the issue pertaining to church land. All the places of worship and movable and immovable properties within the parish's jurisdiction should be brought under the administration of the diocese and the direct supervision of the bishop, it said. It also provided for the setting up of a parish council with elected representatives and for the appointment of pious groups. Above all, all stakeholders agreed that acts of caste discrimination in the church or its administration would not be allowed. All the groups were advised to withdraw the cases pending before various courts. It was also agreed that the Sunday evening Mass would be in Telugu, while on other days it would be in Tamil. BY SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT A ROAD-ROKO AGITATION by Dalit Christians in the village demanding the arrest of the killers of Rajendran, a Dalit farm worker. Only a few of the provisions, such as the car procession being taken to all the areas in the village, were implemented without any major impediment, said residents. However, caste animosity continued to haunt Thachur. Particularly, the Dalits were not allowed to use the cemetery in the church complex to bury their dead. The Reddiars ended their dependence on the local parish priests to perform rituals by bringing Telugu-speaking priests from other dioceses. The Dalits were biding their time to break this barrier; a couple of attempts they made earlier had failed. But Velankanni, they decided, would be buried inside the church complex. They faced stiff resistance from the Reddiars while conducting the funeral mass and burying the body. At one stage, the Reddiars even locked the gate of the church, Bharathi Anna said. He added that the incident occurred even as the CPI(M) MLA G. Latha and other leaders were consoling the relatives of the deceased. Rajendran, the Dalit farm worker, assisted the family members of Velankanni in digging the grave. He was found murdered a couple of days later. The police initially filed a “man missing” case but later, on the basis of the post-mortem report, changed it to one of murder. Dalit Christians staged a road-roko protest in the village demanding the arrest of those involved. The police said they had arrested a few persons in the case. Such acts of discrimination against Dalit Christians exist in several other villages, including M.N. Kandigai, R.N. Kandigai and K.K. Pudur under the Chengalpattu diocese, said Fr Yesumarian. According to him, in many villages dominated by Telugu-speaking upper-caste Christians, language has been used as camouflage to continue with the discrimination against Dalits. “Though there are as many as 20 priests, 60 nuns and three bishops belonging to the Reddiar caste in Thachur, none of them cares to explain to their own caste members that they should not violate the Canon Law,” he said. Arunthathiars in these villages are virtually caught in the crossfire between Adi Dravidars and upper-caste Christians. “One group has muscle power and the other has money power. We are powerless. We find no other course but to maintain equidistance in the given situation as we depend on the rich farmers in the Reddiar community,” lamented a resident of the Arunthathiar habitation in Thachur. Reddiar Christians of Thachur deny all the allegations against them. They only want to protect their rights as a linguistic minority, a spokesman of the Reddiars said, adding that Dalits were being instigated by some priests belonging to the oppressed community. Regarding the November 2006 agreement, he said, some Reddiars had signed it without the consent of others. Denying any caste-based discrimination against Dalits, he said the Reddiars would demand an independent probe into the recent untoward incidents in the village. Official sources say that the government wants to adopt a cautious approach to the sensitive issue. The district administration has taken steps to ensure law and order in the village. Though the government may intend to evolve a consensus among the contending groups of the same religion, it will not impose any remedy, as it may become counterproductive, say official sources. Any attempt by any group or section of people to promote untouchability is highly condemnable, said Fr A. Vincent Chinnadurai, Chairman of the Tamil Nadu State Commission for Minorities. The commission would extend all assistance to restore normalcy in that village, he added. The emergence of the Dalit Christian Movement and the Dalit Christian Liberation Movement and the support extended to them by secular and democratic forces have raised the hopes of Dalit Christians that they will win the relentless battle against caste-based discrimination in various denominations of Christianity, said activists of these movements. Dalit Christians constitute more than 70 per cent of the Christian population in Tamil Nadu. Their sustained campaign, with the support of the secular and democratic forces, resulted in the 10-point programme charted by the Tamil Nadu Bishops' Council in 1990 for the integrated development of Dalit Catholics, they pointed out. After evaluating the implementation of the programme in 2003, it was further pruned for focussed action, they said. However, the different forms of discrimination, such as the violence against Dalit Christians in Erayur in Villupuram district in March 2008, the attempts to preserve the dividing wall in the cemetery in Melapudur, the construction of churches with a design to maintain the caste hierarchy, as in Thachur and several other places, still continue, the activists pointed out. This underscores the fact that the struggle has to be intensified, they added. text/html http://www.christianaggression.org/item_display.php?type=ARTICLES&id=1298391772 WIELDING the pen with power and determination to smash the injustice and discrimination against Dalit Christians and other oppressed masses is part of the priestly duties of Fr Mark Stephen. When he was the parish priest of Ongur, a predominantly Dalit Christian village in the Chengalpattu diocese, during 1984-1990, he followed with utmost concern the humiliations meted out to the oppressed people by the upper castes within the Christian community in several villages. Close observation and evaluation of the situation prevailing in certain villages, including Thachur and K.K. Pudur, led him to conclude that the discriminatory practices could be curbed only by building a powerful mass movement. As one who had never concealed his sympathies for the downtrodden, he took part in the Dalit Christian Movement and supported the cause of the oppressed sections within the fold of Christianity. His experiences in Ongur forced the writer in him to record the events in the form of a novel titled Yaathirai (Pilgrimage). He completed the work after his transfer from the village and it was published in 1992. The novel highlighted the paramount need for a people's movement to end the atrocities against Dalit Christians, such as denial of their rights in the administration of the church and in the conduct of festivals, and to a place in the cemetery to bury their dead. In the epilogue, the author appeals to readers to decide for themselves on which side they should stand – the oppressed or the oppressors. Much ahead of Yaathirai, Fr Mark penned his first novel, Suvargal (Walls), focussing on the discrimination of Dalits even in burial grounds. The need to demolish the walls that divide the tombs of Dalit Christians and upper-caste Christians in cemeteries in different places, including Tiruchi, was the theme of the novel. The story was set in an imaginary village. Eppadium (Anyhow) is his most recent work. The novel deals with the unpleasant situation prevailing in Vembar, a coastal village in Tuticorin district, where Christian populations belonging to Nadar, Paravar and Dalit castes run their own schools and administer separate parishes. Without hypocrisy, the author takes the bull by the horns. He narrates the insults heaped on Dalit Christians in the village through the denial of any role in the parish administration. text/html http://www.christianaggression.org/item_display.php?type=ARTICLES&id=1298391666 Over the last decade, a large number of Buddhist temples in Korea had been destroyed or damaged by fanatically devout Christians. More recently, the Buddha statues, regarded as the devil, were attacked and beheaded in the name of Jesus. image One of the important tasks for researchers in social science is prediction, anticipation, with the usual methodology of presenting scenarios and situations and forecasting their probabilities of occurrence, as well as predicting by intensity and level. Here we are also following the usual method of analyzing expected situations. However, we stick to the case of Korean Buddhism, Buddhism in a country that is heavily affected by conversion, and from which possible situations that can occur to Buddhism in Vietnam are presented. From many complex changes in history, for which Korean Buddhism is also partly responsible, Buddhism, at the present time, is a minority religion in Korea, ranking second to Christianity. Buddhists account for 22.8% of the Korean population (according to the Wikipedia’s article "Religion in Korea"), while Christians account for 29.2% (both Protestants and Roman Catholics combined, with Protestants dominating). Thus, although the religion has become a minority with a second rank, but when compared to each branch of Christianity, which can be considered as separated religions, Buddhism is still the leading religion with the most followers in South Korea. The above ratio is still high if compared to the percentage of adherents across the population, which is only 18% according to official statistics. However, if compared to the ratios in East Asian bloc countries, the percentage of Christians in South Korea is the 3rd highest (after the Philippines and East Timor). But compared to other countries influenced by the Chinese civilization, then Korea would stand as the most converted country and also with the fastest speed. One-third of the Korean population has become Christian sheep, while nearly half are recognized as atheists. A good percentage of these are shifting towards Christianity, mainly Protestants. Korea and Vietnam are similar, with both countries influenced by Chinese civilization and a 2000-year history of a Mahayana Buddhist tradition. Buddhism is deeply entrenched in people's spiritual life, but it also is a key focal point of Christianity. Christian adherents are growing fast, and, especially, leading in the conversion of Buddhists are several Protestant denominations that are extreme and sometimes fanatical. The phenomenon of Buddhist conversion by Protestant churches in Vietnam took place long ago. Before 1975, it seemed to occur at the same level as Korea’s. After 1975, the conversion seemed more discreet, though silently but still strong. Thus, the Protestants have trained a number of pastors and teachers, and missionary activities have taken off in the 1990s and 2000s. Conversion activities carried out by Protestants in the last 10 years have moved from discreet and quiet to frantic on the exterior side. The situation is becoming more similar to that occurred in Korea, and some activities in Vietnam have been advised, organized and even directly managed by Korean Protestants from behind the scene. The event “fire burning at My Dinh” in late 2010 marked a significant step in the process of conversion activities in Vietnam. It has switched from silent to public and frantic, and from public and frantic to challenging and extreme, with "fiery" events, provocations and challenges. With such reality, what predictions can we make about the conversion of Buddhists in Vietnam, compared with the process that took place in Korea, and in the context of a number of Koreans who are responsible for conversion activities, are actually present and direct these activities in Vietnam? Conversion through church preaching is normal, but it is objectionable to organize activities that cause conflicts and provocations in an extremist and fanatical manner. Following are the situations that happened in Korea: - The scenario based on government powers and support. This situation certainly cannot happen in Vietnam on a large scale, in official policy, but it also does not exclude acts in the back door with some officials that are corrupted and ignorant. However, we should also learn about this situation, such as using the common excuse of public work to remove the signposts to the pagodas, their names and visitor guidelines in the official documents published by the government, using the police to harass and search the pagodas, and, particularly, the South Korean police had humiliated the leaders of the Buddhist sect Jogye who were treated as common criminals. - The situation of using provocative, hostile and violent acts against Buddhism indirectly to satisfy the manic episodes of religious excitement. Wikipedia, in its article "Religion in Korea", has briefly described this in the section on "Religious Conflict". Christian activities against Korean Buddhism represent a unique case (compared to other religions). "Some South Korean evangelical Christians have expressed hostility to Buddhism. There have been dozens incidents of arson and vandalism against Buddhist shrines and facilities over the last two decades, including the destruction of several large temples. In some of these incidents, the perpetrators were identified as Christians, or left messages denouncing "idol worship." The exhortation of acts against Buddhism has become public, similar to the Declaration of Belonging to God during the fire night at My Dinh. In a crowded preaching in Busan, Korean Christians had prayed, according to the article "Persecution of Buddhists" of Wikipedia, "Lord, let the Buddhist temples in this country crumble down!", and they did not wait for the hand of God but they had carried out: "Over the course of the last decade a fairly large number of Buddhist temples in South Korea have been destroyed or damaged by fire by misguided Christian fundamentalists. More recently Buddhist statues have been identified as idols, and attacked and decapitated in the name of Jesus ". It also need to be told clearly that the sneaky burning of temples and Buddha statues by Christians in South Korea happened for a long time ago before President Lee Myung-bak took office. He is the president who publicly supports the actions to eradicate Buddhism. According to the descriptions in online documents, these acts of religious fanatics "in the name of Jesus" are usually conducted at night, and it is very difficult to find the culprits for heavy damages caused to the Korean Buddhism. This is a situation that will likely occur in Vietnam, when the conversion process has reached the level of "fire" as in the My Dinh event in December 2010. Speaking insults against ancestors during that fire-excited night, they no longer have to fear anyone, even Buddhism which is a very peaceful religion, but a thorn in their eyes. There are many reasons for Vietnamese Buddhists to stay alert against the sneaky burning of temples as in South Korea. Besides the reason that there are several Korean missionaries who are present in Vietnam and direct the activities of conversion, fanaticism can reach an extremely high level and Christians could attack Buddhism in a sneaky way to release their pent-up resentment of the superficial development (it is emphasized, just superficial development) of Vietnamese Buddhism in recent years. And, in the same way, when they hate someone, but if that person is too strong and they cannot not do anything about it, then to revenge and release the pent-up resentment, they will attack the beloved relatives of the hated person. When a religion considers Buddhism as enemy and announces excited episodes, whose history is related to the burning of temples and destruction of statues "in the name of Jesus", then warnings such as those in this article are very necessary for Vietnamese Buddhists to take protective measures. When they talk about "excited episode" we may be concerned similarly to "Religious ecstasy" (roughly translated as "religious ecstasy pills, "religious stimulation"). Please see the above terms in Wikipedia. A reader had a very reasonable opinion that gathering a large number of people, starting fires, taking ecstasy pills, dancing, screaming ...are too dangerous for themselves and others. As such, this article has passed the alarm level of conversion, and has reached the more alarming level about the dangers of violent means of conversion, when the conversion process has reached the threshold "fire." Vietnamese Link http://www.giaodiemonline.info/noidung_detail.php?newsid=5424 Written in Vietnamese by Minh Thạnh Translated by Nguyęn Tánh 2011 Lunar New Year text/html http://www.christianaggression.org/item_display.php?type=ARTICLES&id=1298391516 The Narmada Samajik Kumbh, a purely cultural event is being politicised and demonised so much that it makes one feel as though the Hindus cannot even gather for a legitimate cause. The unwarranted protest of some Christian leaders over the Kumbh and the instant support of the Congress Party to them only confirm the long-held suspicion, that the Congress party and the UPA government are actively abetting religious conversion of tribals and adivasis. Narmada Samajik Kumbh is the second such event being organised by the Hindu organisations, with an objective of promoting the values of our heritage and culture. In a growing atmosphere of terrorism, Maoist bloody campaign and the increasing economic, political and social inequalities, these Kumbh are organised as anchors for strengthening the fabric of the society and nationalism. The first such Kumbh, held in 2006 in Dangs district in Gujarat was a major success, with eight lakh people affirming their commitment to the larger national cause. In this Narmada Kumbh, 10 lakh people are participating from the entire Central India region. The venue for the event from February 10-12 is Mandla, in Madhya Pradesh, along the banks of the river Narmada. There is absolutely no reason for the Christian leaders to express ‘fear’ over this Samajik Kumbh. They have said that the Kumbh is an event for reconversion of tribals from Christianity back to the Hindu fold. Their ‘fear’ only goes to prove that they have been indulging in coercive and aggressive conversions unchallenged and any faint sign of resistance is giving them the jitters. The point is, the Kumbh’s objective is not reconversion. And even if it is, what right does any community have to protest? If the Christians and Muslims have a right to carry on conversions, using means foul and unethical, the Hindus have double the right to bring the converts back to their original faith. It must be made clear once and for all that as long as conversions take place, anti-conversion and reconversion efforts will be made by the Hindus. It is the duty of every Hindu to work towards protecting the religion, in order to safeguard the national unity and integrity. For, forces inimical to our country are working towards balkanising it. A recently brought out book Breaking India: Western Interventions in Dravidian and Dalit Faultlines has exposed the well-entrenched network of foreign funds, NGOs and the Church, which is working overtime to divide the Hindu society vertically, horizontally and diagonally, and to create disaffection between people and lead to a Africa-like scenario, where civil war and inter-clan and inter-community clashes have reduced the continent to puzzle board pieces. The book, a result of five years of research has used the data collected from various western embassies on the funding and the destination of these funds. While it has been known that both the West and Islamic forces have been pumping money through various channels into India for disruptive activities, this book nails the sources and the end recipients. Under this sponsored cacophony, it has become near-impossible to hear the voices of nationalism and sanity. Under the UPA, the situation has worsened like never before. While terrorists are given safe passage and invited for talks as state guests, the few Hindu organizations are being targeted systematically to create a fear psychosis. Government appointments are all being made on only one criterion - that the appointees should have a minority background, bloodline or identity. The media has been completely taken over, toeing the government line or echoing the babble of the leaders of the anti-Hindu bandwagon. For instance, Britain has always claimed to be the melting pot of cultural identities and in the name of freedom of the individual encouraged sections to operate from within that country against the interest of others, like India. Now, in a speech delivered at the Munich Security Conference last week, British Prime Minister David Cameron said, "Multiculturalism is doomed to fail; societies need a national identity." He bemoaned the fact that the British society had become mute and meek and did not stand up to the elements that were wrecking the national character. This situation is precisely what is developing in India, only here, it is the state that is sponsoring efforts to weaken and dilute the core identity of the nation, in the name of pluralism and diversity. The rising religious conversions are tearing into the cultural and social matrix. The centuries old rituals, customs and practices that helped bind the communities are being forced to be abandoned. The indigenous knowledge and system are being demolished to pave way for imported, western models of life, thoroughly unsuited for Indian conditions. The new religions spread disaffection towards the state and try to instill apathy to the political system, which would eventually isolate them from the mainstream of national politics and governance. While it is a fact that decades of development has bypassed these communities living in the interior rural India, coerced religious conversions are not bringing them any closer to the advantages of development. On the other hand, the purpose is just the opposite. It is in this context that events like Narmada Samajik Kumbh reinforce the faith of the people in the nation, in the community and in their culture and heritage, all issues intrinsically related to the Hindu religion. These events are social pilgrimages that would go a long way in strengthening the people-to-people bonding. text/html http://www.christianaggression.org/item_display.php?type=ARTICLES&id=1297274615 I had never heard of Ellis Washington until I saw his recent WorldNetDaily article titled "Nation-building? No, Christian-building" and did some digging. Besides being a weekend commentator for WorldNetDaily, Washington is a black conservative, a graduate of the John Marshall Law School, former editor of the Michigan Law Review, host of an Atlanta radio program, and a lecturer and freelance writer on constitutional law, legal history, and critical race theory. He is also a devotee of radio talk show host Michael Savage (read his sickening tribute to Savage here) and, above all, the greatest Christian warmonger of all time. I know, you think I’m grossly exaggerating. You have seen some of my articles with provocative titles like "Christian Killers?" "Pro-Lifers for Mass Murder," "Cursed Be the Christian Coalition," and "The Christian Axis of Evil" and you think I’m just trying to stimulate your interest by using hyperbole in the extreme. I assure you that I am not exaggerating, grossly or otherwise. I assure you that I am not using hyperbole, in the extreme or otherwise. And I also assure you that Ellis Washington is the greatest Christian warmonger of all time. Yes, I know that time hasn’t ended yet, and that there might remain a great deal of time for more Christian warmongers to make themselves known. But you have got to read this statement from Ellis Washington for yourself: If America is really serious about combating worldwide Islamic terrorism and the increasing reports of Christian genocide among the 44 Muslim nations, then let us take up the battle cry of Ann Coulter and the Muslim author who converted to Christianity and train our military not only to kill and destroy our enemies but to convert them to Christianity. The first part of the "battle cry" Washington is referring to is this 2001 quote by Ann Coulter: "We should invade their countries, kill their leaders and convert them to Christianity. We weren’t punctilious about locating and punishing only Hitler and his top officers. We carpet-bombed German cities; we killed civilians. That’s war. And this is war." The second part of Washington’s "battle cry" is from a Christian convert from Islam he heard on the radio expressing this sentiment: "America must use its military to go to every Muslim nation in the world and convert them to Christianity; it is the only way to end the Muslim jihad against the West, against Christianity and against civilization." Washington also wants to combine "Coulter’s battle cry together with the Newtonian principle that to every action there is always an equal and opposite reaction" and send the U.S. military on "an international comprehensive Christian conversion campaign." "A conversion policy will obviate the need for perpetual nation building," he says. But Washington does Coulter one better: "My one revision of Coulter is not that we should invade their countries: ‘We must invade their countries, kill their leaders and convert them to Christianity.’" He wants the U.S. military to "join Christ’s battle cry" and honor the Marine Corps hymn. Washington’s comments are so ludicrous and so contrary to sound Christian doctrine that every armchair Christian warrior, Christian Coalition moralist, Religious Right warvangelical, Reich-wing Christian nationalist, theocon Values Voter, Red-State Christian fascist, and God and country Christian bumpkin that I have ever criticized for supporting the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan should be ashamed and embarrassed at his comments. Washington’s mention of America’s conflict with the Barbary Pirates over two hundred years ago – as if it has anything to do with the current "war on terror" – is ludicrous. But because other apologists for the "war on terror" have also brought it up, I will address that subject in a future article. It’s not often that I am rendered speechless. I have but seven brief comments to make. One, how can WorldNetDaily continue to publish Washington? Two, the attacks of 9/11 were political acts that were not undertaken because of our freedoms, way of life, culture, or religion. The reason why any Muslims hate us or are trying to kill us is because of our wretched foreign policy and occupation of their countries. Three, the aberrant Christianity advocated by Washington will turn away multitudes of unbelievers from real Christianity. Four, the U.S. military is not God’s army. The Lord never sanctioned any crusade of Christians against any religion. The God of the Bible never called, commanded, or encouraged any Christian to kill, make apologies for the killing of, or excuse the killing of any adherent to a false religion. Five, what kind of genuine conversion to Christianity can be obtained at the point of a gun? Six, what Washington proposes – forced conversion – is something Muslims have been criticized for. How can he advocate that U.S. soldiers – many of whom are not even Christians – "convert" our "enemies" to Christianity? And seven, Washington is a coward. If he believes that Christ died for our sins and rose from the dead while Muhammad was a sinner who died and stayed buried, then why doesn’t he go to Pakistan, Yemen, or Saudi Arabia and stand on the street corner and preach it and see how many conversions he gets? Why doesn’t he go to these countries and kill with his own hands those who reject Christianity? Why doesn’t he enlist in the military himself? I know the military has relaxed its standards. Perhaps he will be allowed in. But no, Washington wants instead to send your sons, your fathers, your brothers, and your friends to do what he doesn’t have the courage to do. Ellis Washington is the greatest Christian warmonger of all time, bar none. What else needs to be said? text/html http://www.christianaggression.org/item_display.php?type=ARTICLES&id=1297274502 The Supreme Court should have issued notice to all parties involved in the Graham Staines case before excising portions from its verdict dealing with conversion. The Supreme Court shocked the Hindu community when on January 25 it succumbed to pressure from Christian activists and modified its January 21 judgement in the Graham Staines murder case, without the filing of a curative petition by any party to the case; without notice to the lawyers of convicted Rabindra Kumar Pal (alias Dara Singh) and Mahendra Hembram; and without reference to representatives of the Hindu community which is the target and victim of Christian conversions in India. The burning to death of missionary Graham Staines and his two minor sons while they were asleep in their vehicle at Manoharpur village in Odisha’s Keonjhar district on January 22, 1999, was a grim response to missionary provocation in the State. It was a unique crime in modern India, matched only by the burning alive of Malegaon additional district collector Yashwant Sonawane by the oil mafia on January 25. The Justice DP Wadhwa Commission of Inquiry, which submitted its report on June 21, 1999, found evidence of the sustained missionary activity of Graham Staines in the form of his despatches to the Australian missionary magazine, Tidings, reports of his colleagues, evidence of his wife, and others. The police arrested anti-cow slaughter activist Dara Singh from Mayurbhanj forest in January 2000 for instigating and planning the crime; he and Mahendra Hembram were found guilty during the trial. Dara Singh’s death penalty was commuted to life imprisonment by the Orissa High Court in May 2005, because he was convicted on circumstantial evidence as none of the eye-witness accounts established his involvement in the crime. The court noted, “There is absolutely no evidence on record that due to individual act of Dara Singh alone the three deceased persons or any of them died.” It added: “The eye-witnesses never attributed any particular fatal injury, for which Dara Singh can be individually held responsible for the death of the three deceased persons or for the death of any of them.” The High Court upheld life imprisonment for Hembram and acquitted 11 others for lack of evidence. This verdict was upheld by the Supreme Court. In its original verdict, the Supreme Court had observed, “The intention was to teach a lesson to Graham Staines about his religious activities, namely, converting poor tribals to Christianity. All these aspects have been correctly appreciated by the High Court, which modified the sentence of death into life imprisonment with which we concur.” This was modified as, “More than 12 years have elapsed since the act was committed, we are of the opinion that the life sentence awarded by the High Court need not be enhanced in view of the factual position discussed in the earlier paras.” Second, the sentence, “It is undisputed that there is no justification for interfering in someone’s belief by way of use of force, provocation, conversion, incitement or upon a flawed premise that one religion is better than the other” (the meaning of the constitutional principle of equality of faiths and non-discrimination in matters of religion) was replaced by: “There is no justification for interfering in someone’s religious belief by any means.” The Supreme Court’s original assertions came as a balm to the Hindu community that has long been battered by jihad and crusade simultaneously; but were bitterly attacked by Christian activists. In a flurry of denunciations in the secular media, Fr Dominic Emmanuel, chief spokesman of the New Delhi Roman Catholic Archdiocese, said the bench’s statement that “the intention was to teach a lesson to Graham Staines about his religious activities, namely, converting poor tribals to Christianity…” and “…flawed premise that one religion is better than the other” came as “a shock to all those who believe in India’s secular spirit and Constitution” Former journalist BG Verghese said attenuation of the punishment because of Graham Staines’ converting poor tribals to Christianity was an “appalling statement and should be expunged or reversed by a larger bench”. He condemned anti-conversion laws in some States. Cardinal Oswald Gracias, president of Bishops Conference of India, Mumbai, said the judgement “seems to justify inter-religious and anti-Christian violence.” The All-India Christian Council, Global Council of Indian Christians and ‘civil society’ activists joined the fray. The latter said, “The Supreme Court ruling may in fact send the wrong signals to courts trying cases of religious violence in Kandhamal, for instance … It also tends to pre-empt possible challenges to the black laws enacted by many States in the guise of Freedom of Religion Bills … We expect the Government to ask the Supreme Court to expunge the unnecessary, uncalled for and un-constitutional remarks.” Perhaps the Union Government did ‘lean on’ the Supreme Court and ensured prompt redressal of Christian ‘grievances’, even at the cost of compromising basic principles of the Constitution and the Fundamental Rights of India’s beleaguered native community, particularly weaker sections like tribals who are continuously preyed upon by the gargantuan international soul-harvesting industry. Since the plea to enhance Dara Singh’s life sentence to death penalty was made by the Central Bureau of Investigation, it would have been appropriate for the Supreme Court to have issued notices to all parties before amending its own judgement and invited a larger national debate on its ruling that, “Our concept of secularism is that the state will have no religion. The state shall treat all religions and religious groups equally and with equal respect, without, in any manner, interfering in their individual right of religion, faith and worship.” Today, the Supreme Court has given weightage to a trans-national imperial religion with a history of genocide and forced conversions, leaving no trace of original faith and culture in lands it now dominates. Its inhuman crimes against adherent-victims, manifesting as clergy-related sex abuse scandals in dioceses across the West, leave no fig leaf that its mission is social service, no matter on what pretext it enters vulnerable societies with its soul-gathering agenda. Conversions always produce social strife and disharmony. Graham Staines’ writings home reflect his awareness of the deep unhappiness he had stirred in the region. The brutal murder of Swami Laxmanananda at Kandhamal in 2008 shows how unsafe Hindu leaders are when fighting conversions; the verdict in this case now worries the Church. Sadly, the Supreme Court has compromised its courage at a very critical hour. text/html http://www.christianaggression.org/item_display.php?type=ARTICLES&id=1297274324 "Conversion, murder and India's Supreme Court" by Mathew Schmalz, Professor of Religious Studies at College of the Holy Cross, was featured on Washington Post's On Faith a few days ago. I take this opportunity to respond to two questions he posed, namely, "Is conversion wrong?" and "Is anger over conversion an extenuating circumstance for murder?" I'll respond to the second question first, as the answer is simple. No -- anger over conversion is not an extenuating circumstance for murder. Violence of the kind inflicted on Graham Staines and his two young sons is wholly unacceptable, and against teachings of the Hindu religion, India's legacy of peaceful intra and inter-religious coexistence, and the law. Many, including the Hindu American Foundation, though, see the specific comments by the Indian Supreme Court now modified, not as a basis for justifying extenuating circumstances, but rather an expression of the growing concern over foreign missionaries and their impact on India's hallmark pluralistic ethos. This takes us back to the first question: "Is conversion wrong?" The answer, as one might expect, is complicated. Professor Schmalz states that many Indian Protestant and Catholic denominations "eschew overt conversion efforts," but the reason he cites as to why -- that of "political repercussions" -- short-changes the overriding influence Hinduism's pluralistic worldview has had not only on Christianity, but other religions in India. India has long been a beacon of religious pluralism. The sage Hindu observation -- Ekam sat vipraha bahudha vadanti (The Truth is one, the wise call It by many names) -- has fostered an environment in which an unprecedented diversity of traditions and religions have, for the large part, peacefully co-existed for millennia. Like America, India's shores accepted and sheltered the religiously persecuted -- from Jews arriving 2500 years ago, to early Christians bringing the message of Christ, not to Hindus, but to their brethren, the Cochin Jews. Later came the Parsis from Iran. Others came not to escape but on their own free will -- Arab Muslims to trade, and others from far away lands seeking India's spirituality. Each one of these newcomers sought to live and let live, mixing in, as the legend goes, like sugar in milk. But since the 12th century, starting with the Islamic invasions and colonizing European missionaries to today, India faces a different kind of religious visitor -- one that seeks not to sweeten the milk, but curdle it. Exhibit A -- the evangelical Joshua Project -- is just one example of what India, at the heart of the 10-40 Window, is facing. The Joshua Project is an information powerhouse -- detailing logistical information about people groups around the world, and providing ideas to Evangelicals committed to mass church-planting, and in turn conversions, among every ethnic group. The data is meticulous and well-researched, and both shocking and disturbing. The Joshua Project lists the percentage of unreached in India as 93.3% -- that's basically every Indian Hindu, Muslim, Jain, Sikh, and Buddhist. Last-name, clan, caste, or tribe-based communities are catalogued according to location, religious affiliation, language, and population -- the data collection puts the postal systems of most developed nations to shame. Technical acronyms such as CPI, or Church Planting Indicator, with a ranking system of 0 to 5, measure the progress of church growth based on churches established and number of "believers" regularly attending. Then there's the progress scale which allows the "Saved" to track, well ... "progress" of the "Harvest" -- red indicating less than 2% Evangelical and less than 5% Christian, yellow indicating less than 2% Evangelical but greater than 5% Christian, and green indicating from 2% to greater than 5% Evangelical. And of course, what worldwide project of this scale and in this century would be complete without an iPhone App? The response by a few states in India to campaigns inspired by projects like Joshua, and what can be characterized as nothing less than primarily American and European faith-based ops intended to alter Indian religious demographics, has been what most outside of India refer to as "anti-conversion" laws. Interestingly, many of these same states, as well as Indian states with rising inter-religious tension, when cross-checked with the Joshua Project's "progress" scale, are states that show increasing green and yellow. Some may ask, what's the big deal? Doesn't the 2001 Indian census indicate only 2.3% of the population as Christian? Yes, but these percentages have come under question given the fact that a large number of converts retain their Hindu names and claim Hindu status for a variety of reasons. The data from Joshua Project, which doesn't account for non-Evangelical efforts, also suggests rapid growth. Contrary to what "anti-conversion" laws may imply by their title, they do not outlaw the right of any individual to convert based upon genuine faith, belief, study, or religious experience. They also don't restrict Christians who provide social services in various parts of India with no ulterior conversion motive. Most anti-conversion laws seek only to address conversions "by force, allurement, or fraudulent means." They are the effort of sovereign states to regulate those, mostly Christian aid groups, for which the provision of aid to these vulnerable communities is not altruistic, but rather part of a soul-saving numbers game. While such motives have proven difficult to document, media reports following the 2004 Asian Tsunami revealed incidents where missionaries actually packed up and left when the residents of some tsunami-shattered villages in India refused to convert as a precondition for receiving material aid. The United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) and other human rights groups have long decried these laws against fraudulent conversion that have emerged throughout the 10-40 Window, or as is more affectionately referred to by some missionaries, "The Resistance Belt." Human rights violation or denial of religious freedom are the frequently recited mantras in these "watch-dog" circles. But as adherents and advocates of a non-proselytizing, non-exclusivist, pluralistic tradition, we at the Hindu American Foundation have always asked -- the religious freedom of whom? The freedom of foreign missionaries to proselytize and prey upon vulnerable, generally poor people to convert them to a myopic religious worldview that denigrates or denies the legitimacy of all other traditions, or that of adherents of mostly non-exclusivist and pluralistic traditions, to be treated medically, educated, or employed without having to sell their souls? Religious freedom, according to Article 18 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, incorporates, "the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion; this right includes freedom to change his religion or belief, and freedom, either alone or in community with others and in public or private, to manifest his religion or belief in teaching, practice, worship and observance." This concept of religious freedom has unfortunately failed to address, at the expense of adherents of pluralist and non-exclusivist religious traditions such as Hinduism and other Dharmic traditions, the right to retain one's tradition and to be free from intrusion, harassment, intimidation, and aggressive, exploitative, and predatory proselytization by non-pluralist and exclusivist religions. The world community has for too long turned a blind eye to aggressive and predatory proselytization and resulting conversions that have been carried out for centuries in Asia, Africa, North and South America, the Middle East and Europe. This collective complacency is counter-productive to peace and has bred a resurgence in international campaigns which harass, intimidate, and exploit the most vulnerable segments of society by, among other ethically questionable methods, conditioning humanitarian aid or economic, educational, medical or social assistance upon conversion; overtly denigrating other religions to seek converts; and intentionally promoting religious hatred, bigotry (hate speech), and violence. Conversions gained through such means must be recognized for what they are -- unethical, fraudulent, forced, coerced, or provoked. Professor Schmalz says that the concerns about conversion are unfounded. But we need only look to the annual statistics of just one missionary organization and recognize that there is a multiplicative effect. Exhibit B -- Houston-based Central India Christian Mission. In 2010 alone, its evangelical missionaries proselytized to over 320,000 people and converted more than 19,600 inhabitants -- that's enough people to fill a basketball arena -- in central India. This is only one of countless U.S. based Christian organizations engaged in aggressive and predatory "soul harvesting" campaigns. Consider the plethora of Catholic and Protestant organizations that are actively pursuing the monopolistic path of religious exclusivity, and the numbers, and more importantly, the impact, are beyond mind-blowing. Exhibit C -- eye-opening information from India's Foreign Contribution Regulation Act which collects data on incoming foreign aid. In 2007, the top two non-governmental donors to India were U.S.-based missionary organizations, World Vision International at ~$155 million and Gospel for Asia ~$99.5 million -- together that's $255 million into India in just one year. Overall, an astonishing 18,996 organizations in India, a disproportionate number linked to Christian missionaries, received donations totaling $2.4 billion in 2007 alone. And the inflow has been growing rapidly. 2007 showed contributions more than double of 2002. With these numbers, how can we say the concerns are unfounded? At the end of the day, numbers and statistics, though illustrative, fail to address the very real human factor on the losing side of the proselytization and conversion equation. Conversion, when born from genuine faith, belief, study, or religious experience, can be beautiful. But, conversion begot by aggressive or predatory proselytization is a form of violence. As one of the co-founders of HAF, Aseem Shukla, eloquently stated, "The violence of conversion is very real. The religious conversion is too often a conversion to intolerance. A convert is asked to repudiate his sangha (community), reject the customs and traditions of his family passed down for generations, and refuse to attend religious ceremonies that are the very basis of daily life in much of the world. A person's conversion begins a cascade of upheaval that tears apart families, communities and societies creating a political and demographic tinderbox that too often explodes." Got milk? India does and she'd like to keep it sweet. text/html http://www.christianaggression.org/item_display.php?type=ARTICLES&id=1295893597 Religious conversion has unhappy consequences The Supreme Court’s decision to endorse the Odisha High Court’s judgement against Dara Singh, who has been held guilty of being involved with the murder of Australian missionary Graham Staines and his two sons in January 1999, sentencing him to life imprisonment, brings a ghastly incident that shocked India to a closure. Staines and his two young sons died when the station wagon in which they were sleeping was set on fire by a mob; it was an unconscionable misdeed. Dara Singh and his associate, Mahendra Hembram, richly deserve the punishment that has been meted out to them for their role in that crime. However, the Supreme Court’s lengthy verdict is equally, if not more, important for another reason: It provides a context to the crime that was committed in a remote tribal village of Odisha that January night more than a decade ago. As Friday’s judgement puts it, “The intention was to teach a lesson to Graham Staines about his religious activities, namely, converting poor tribals to Christianity.” The judgement is a scathing comment on preachers and pastors engaged in ‘harvesting souls’ through religious conversion, targeting innocent tribals whose poverty and illiteracy makes them vulnerable to the blandishments of crafty missionaries. This is most pronounced in States like Odisha, which was among the first to adopt an anti-conversion law to counter aggressive proselytising activities of missionaries, which have a significant tribal population, leading to social strife and disharmony. Staines was one such missionary whose activities were not restricted to tending to leprosy patients, noble as that vocation may have been, but extended to converting tribal youth to Christianity. This caused resentment among those tribals who felt the missionary was encouraging their fellow tribesmen to abandon their indigenous faith and beliefs. “It is undisputed that there is no justification for interfering in someone’s belief by way of ‘use of force’, provocation, conversion, incitement or upon a flawed premise that one religion is better than the other,” Justice P Sathasivam and Justice BS Chauhan have observed, adding, “In a country like ours where discrimination on the ground of caste or religion is a taboo, taking lives of persons belonging to another caste or religion is bound to have a dangerous and reactive effect on the society at large ... It strikes at the very root of the orderly society which the founding fathers of our Constitution dreamt of.” Tragically, the right to freedom of religion, as guaranteed by the Constitution, is interpreted by Christian missionaries and our deracinated Left-liberal commentariat as well as pseudo-secular politicians as the right to convert, more often than not through deceit, fraud and allurement. That this is done by positing one faith as being superior to another is overlooked and those standing up to religious conversion are crudely admonished. It is a reflection of this sad reality that no tears were shed over the brutal slaying of Swami Lakshmanananda who had dedicated his life to tribal welfare and stood up to missionaries looking for souls to harvest at a discounted rate. It is also a telling comment that few have bothered to look at the reasons that led to a virtual tribal uprising in Kandhamal district of Odisha against missionaries and their henchmen in 2008. This is not the first time the courts have wisely warned against the consequences of conversion. But this wisdom has been treated with scorn by missionaries and their patrons. The consequences of this folly are there for all to see.