Quite a State-d Mourning
Dina Nath Mishra
Daily Pioneer
May 1, 2005
Apart from Italy, India was the only country which mourned the Pope's demise for three days. There are over 100 Christian-dominated States in the world, yet only around a dozen countries held State mourning.
It's strange that Ireland, with 92 per cent Catholic population didn't observe state mourning, leading to a debate on the Internet. People asked questions that if India with 2.5 per cent Christian population and less than 1 per cent Catholics can observe State mourning for three days, why cannot Ireland do so? France, with 90 per cent Catholics didn't mourn Pope's death for even a day.
Out of over 50 Islamic countries, only Egypt observed State mourning on Pope's death. The US, Britain, Germany and Russia didn't hold State mourning. How can a country with over a billion people forget the assault led by the Pope on Hinduism?
The Government cannot defend itself. The idea to mourn Pope's death for three days must have been forwarded by a Sonia zealot and nobody in the Cabinet would have had the guts to oppose it because it might hurt the Madam, and therefore, the proposal to observe the mourning must have been hurriedly okayed.
Now we know that the three-day mourning came in the way of Uzbek Prime Minister's visit. His visit was scheduled to begin on April 6, the last day of the mourning. A dinner was to be hosted in his honour on the day. The Ministry of External Affairs requested Uzbeks to postpone the visit by a couple of days, but the request was rejected. So, for the first time, we had state mourning with an intermission of two days, for a man who had greedy eyes on India and Asia.
During his visit in November 1999, the Pope had said: "Just as in the first millennium, the Cross was planted on the soil of Europe, and in the second on that of the Americas and Africa. We pray that in the third Christian millennium, a great harvest of faith will be reaped in this vast and vital continent." One can visit Vatican sites to understand what all he intended to do in Asia.
Tons of paper must have been consumed in his obituaries. Our concern is about his harvesting the faithful in India, for China didn't allow him to enter into it's territory. Conversion activities have increased after his 1999 visit. In Punjab, Majahabi Sikhs are getting converted to Christians in large numbers. In Uttranchal and Himachal Pradesh, Christian priests and Churches are more visible. In Andhra, Christian missionaries are having a field day under the stewardship of a Christian Chief Minister. In Tamil Nadu, Jayalalitha first got the anti-conversion bill passed. Such was the organised furore from the Christian community that she got defeated in the Lok Sabha polls. She quickly repealed the Anti-Conversion Bill. Not only that, she pounced upon Jayendra Saraswati, Jagatguru Shankaracharya of Kanchi Peeth, the greatest stumbling block against conversions.
In the north-east, four states are already dominated by Christians. Now, Christian missionaries are focussing on Arunachal Pradesh.
In two districts, Christian missionaries seem to be succeeding in a big way. Only last week, it was reported that three Christian priests, Prashant Ghosh, V John Sarangi, D'souza Ilyasand Ravi Naik, went to village Rameshwar in the Dhenkanal district of Orissa. They approached Alek Bej and asked him to convert to Christians. They were offered money and promised a decent marriage of his 14-year-old daughter Jyotirmoy. However, Bej didn't agree to the proposal. Then, they turned to his wife Jasoda, but couldn't succeed. Ultimately, D'souza threatened them of dire consequences. The next day, Jyotirmoy was raped and murdered and her body was recovered from the nearby railway lines. Alok filed an FIR and named D'souza as the culprit. A bandh was called and roads were blocked. There are numerous such incidents which don't find place in media for obvious reasons.
In the Congress, lead by Sonia, the Christian tag has always paid rich dividends. Moreover, Christian schools and college alumni are in an overwhelming majority in bureaucracy and media.
We can consider three cases which were unnecessarily internationalised. I am referring to the Graham Stains case, Jhabua nun case and the Dang episode. The Wadhwa Commission not only exonerated the Sangh Parivar and concluded that Dara Sigh had no link with any Sangh organisation. The Jhabua case, too, has been exposed. In reality, the rapist were local bhils and half of them were Christians. No one was killed in the Dang episode. Only a hut with a cross on it was burnt. On the other hand, a number of temples including that of Lord Hanuman, were destroyed.
Daily Pioneer
May 1, 2005
Apart from Italy, India was the only country which mourned the Pope's demise for three days. There are over 100 Christian-dominated States in the world, yet only around a dozen countries held State mourning.
It's strange that Ireland, with 92 per cent Catholic population didn't observe state mourning, leading to a debate on the Internet. People asked questions that if India with 2.5 per cent Christian population and less than 1 per cent Catholics can observe State mourning for three days, why cannot Ireland do so? France, with 90 per cent Catholics didn't mourn Pope's death for even a day.
Out of over 50 Islamic countries, only Egypt observed State mourning on Pope's death. The US, Britain, Germany and Russia didn't hold State mourning. How can a country with over a billion people forget the assault led by the Pope on Hinduism?
The Government cannot defend itself. The idea to mourn Pope's death for three days must have been forwarded by a Sonia zealot and nobody in the Cabinet would have had the guts to oppose it because it might hurt the Madam, and therefore, the proposal to observe the mourning must have been hurriedly okayed.
Now we know that the three-day mourning came in the way of Uzbek Prime Minister's visit. His visit was scheduled to begin on April 6, the last day of the mourning. A dinner was to be hosted in his honour on the day. The Ministry of External Affairs requested Uzbeks to postpone the visit by a couple of days, but the request was rejected. So, for the first time, we had state mourning with an intermission of two days, for a man who had greedy eyes on India and Asia.
During his visit in November 1999, the Pope had said: "Just as in the first millennium, the Cross was planted on the soil of Europe, and in the second on that of the Americas and Africa. We pray that in the third Christian millennium, a great harvest of faith will be reaped in this vast and vital continent." One can visit Vatican sites to understand what all he intended to do in Asia.
Tons of paper must have been consumed in his obituaries. Our concern is about his harvesting the faithful in India, for China didn't allow him to enter into it's territory. Conversion activities have increased after his 1999 visit. In Punjab, Majahabi Sikhs are getting converted to Christians in large numbers. In Uttranchal and Himachal Pradesh, Christian priests and Churches are more visible. In Andhra, Christian missionaries are having a field day under the stewardship of a Christian Chief Minister. In Tamil Nadu, Jayalalitha first got the anti-conversion bill passed. Such was the organised furore from the Christian community that she got defeated in the Lok Sabha polls. She quickly repealed the Anti-Conversion Bill. Not only that, she pounced upon Jayendra Saraswati, Jagatguru Shankaracharya of Kanchi Peeth, the greatest stumbling block against conversions.
In the north-east, four states are already dominated by Christians. Now, Christian missionaries are focussing on Arunachal Pradesh.
In two districts, Christian missionaries seem to be succeeding in a big way. Only last week, it was reported that three Christian priests, Prashant Ghosh, V John Sarangi, D'souza Ilyasand Ravi Naik, went to village Rameshwar in the Dhenkanal district of Orissa. They approached Alek Bej and asked him to convert to Christians. They were offered money and promised a decent marriage of his 14-year-old daughter Jyotirmoy. However, Bej didn't agree to the proposal. Then, they turned to his wife Jasoda, but couldn't succeed. Ultimately, D'souza threatened them of dire consequences. The next day, Jyotirmoy was raped and murdered and her body was recovered from the nearby railway lines. Alok filed an FIR and named D'souza as the culprit. A bandh was called and roads were blocked. There are numerous such incidents which don't find place in media for obvious reasons.
In the Congress, lead by Sonia, the Christian tag has always paid rich dividends. Moreover, Christian schools and college alumni are in an overwhelming majority in bureaucracy and media.
We can consider three cases which were unnecessarily internationalised. I am referring to the Graham Stains case, Jhabua nun case and the Dang episode. The Wadhwa Commission not only exonerated the Sangh Parivar and concluded that Dara Sigh had no link with any Sangh organisation. The Jhabua case, too, has been exposed. In reality, the rapist were local bhils and half of them were Christians. No one was killed in the Dang episode. Only a hut with a cross on it was burnt. On the other hand, a number of temples including that of Lord Hanuman, were destroyed.
1 Comments:
I find it sad that many Hindu still cannot differentiate between the various Christian sects. Catholics and Orthodox are not protestants, and they do not prostelytise like Benny Hinn and others. The Catholic and Orthodox presence in Kerala state has been there for 2000 years, they are Indians. I understand the dislike of forced conversions and coersions, this is not good.
"Catholicism today is not a pluralistic tradition honouring different religious and spiritual paths as valid. It is an exclusivist tradition dominated by a leader who will not accept a Buddha, Krishna, Rama or Guru Nanak as a Son of God but only Jesus. What does that say about how he views India and the kinds of plans he intends to promote here?"
-- by David Frawley
"The global missionary business is one of the largest businesses in the world. Not only Catholic church but also various Protestant organizations have set aside billions to convert non- Christians to Christianity. Organized conversion activity is like trained army invading a country from the outside. The missionary army goes to communities where often there is little resistance to it, or which may not be aware of its power or motives. It will take advantage of the communities that are tolerant and open-minded about religion and use that to promote a missionary agenda that destroys this tolerance."
-- by David Frawley
Neither is forced reversions or murders and rapes. People need to stop violence no matter what faith they are. Because the Xtians are a minority, they are easy targets and HinduAtva fundamentalists take advantage of this.
"Proselytising Churches act in an organised way against Hindu groups like the Vishwa Hindu Parsihad, trying to paint them as intolerant and reactionary. Hinduism accepts that there can be other paths to god besides itself. Christianity claims to be the sole path to god, condemns other religions' followers to Hell for not accepting Christ, and actively seeks to destroy other religions. Who is the real intolerant here?"
-- by Mac Kher
"Any protest against religious conversion is always branded as persecution, because it is maintained that people are not allowed to practise their religion, that their religious freedom is curbed. The truth is entirely different. The other person also has the freedom to practise his or her religion without interference. That is his/her birthright. Religious freedom does not extend to having a planned programme of conversion. Such a programme is to be construed as aggression against the religious freedom of others."
-- Is conversion is violence on Hindus?
by Swami Dayananda Saraswati
"When Ashok Singhal, head of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP), asked the Pope to "announce that Christianity is one of the ways that can lead to salvation and not that Christianity is the only way to salvation." The newspapers called Singhal a "hardline" Hindu leader but did not accuse the Pope of being rigid in his views. Yet Singhal accepts a pluralism to religion and salvation but the Pope does not. In terms of ordinary religious discourse Singhal has more liberal views than the Pope does but he is called a hardliner because he is questioning the missionary process! A very statement asking the Pope to affirm religious tolerance is itself styled intolerant!"
-- Missionary Activity & Secularism : Pope's Visit
by David Frawley
"Let the Christians in India not appeal to Hindu tolerance but show their own tolerance and acceptance of other faiths by saying that though we believe in Christ we also accept Rama, Krishna and Buddha as sons of God. Let them declare a unity of religions that includes Hinduism and Buddhism as true faiths and does not require placing Jesus at the top for everyone. While Christians in India are unlikely to do this, the challenge for them to do so is bound to impact on their community and cause a deeper introspection."
-- Missionary Activity & Secularism : Pope's Visit
by David Frawley
What they fail to see is that there is a vast difference in understanding, actions, and faith of those within Christianity, just as there is in Hinduism.
"It is wrong to draw ideological parallels between Christianity and Hinduism. It is pointless to contrast dogmas as original sin, eternal damnation, and the absolutism of the Kingdom of God with that of the experiential reality of the Hindu Darshanaas which proclaim: "Each soul is potentially Divine", and teach the authentic way and means to discover, realize and manifest in day to day life the inherent divinity equally present in all. Hinduism and Christianity represent incompatible modes of thought and irreconcilable value systems.
Hinduism is dedicated to individual freedoms and rights. The philosophy of Hinduism and Christianity does not mix. Equating Hinduism (or, indeed, any religion of the book) would be doubly regrettable. A strict ban on religious conversion is in the best interest of all Indians because, to quote the wisdom of a common sense poet, "Good fences make good neighbors"."
-- Coercive Religious Conversion: A Crime against Humanity
by Dr. Babu Suseelan
"Pastors" of protestant sects are not priests. Pope John Paul doesn't represent all Christians, but he does represent Catholicism and was a very peace-loving and humble man. When he speaks of spreading Christ to India, he speaks not of coersion, but through actions of love, kindness, good will - something Christians associate with Christ.
"The Pope has already proudly declared that the Christian flag was planted in Europe in the first millennium, in the Americas in the second millennium. In the present millennium India is in the international movement's cross hairs."
-- Will the next Pope be an Indian Roman Catholic?
by Laxminarayan Sarma
"As long as we hold that only one religion is true, that it must convert the world, and that other religions must be false we are not good citizens with respect for all, much less secular people. We are promoting an agenda of intolerance and violence that must cause conflict and suffering, even if we are doing so in the name of God."
-- Missionary Activity & Secularism : Pope's Visit
by David Frawley
"There is little doubt that the current communal tension in India would not be serious if foreign-funded missionaries had been content with giving Indians the choice of Christianity and left it at that. Hundreds of thousands of dollars are being channelled into India through well-organised, America-based evangelical missions, the meticulously researched ethnographic data they are compiling on the region ensuring that funds are being directed with military precision to the right area, even to specific pin codes in remote tribal districts."
-- Mission Impossible, Putting an End to Conversion Activity
by M. V. Kamath
"The case against proselytizing is not to be confused as an attack against all Christianity, as many Christians do not believe in proselytizing. It is especially not to be interpreted as criticism of Jesus' message, as Jesus did not ask that a Church be started at all."
-- The Ethics of Proselytizing by Rajiv Malhotra
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