Dalit Christians Say Church Should Pay for "Collective Sin"

NEW DELHI
Deccan Herald News Service
Sunday, March 27, 2005

The Poor Christian Liberation Movement (PCLM) has blamed Church Authorities of conspiring to include them in the Scheduled Caste list, which it said is not acceptable to Dalit Christians.

In an open letter to Church authorities, the PCLM President R L Francis said Dalits converted to Christianity to preserve their dignity, thereby losing out on reservation benefits available to them under the Constitution.

Demanding compensation for the 20 million Dalit Christians, Mr Francis said Dalits have suffered heavy economic losses by foregoing reservation and converting to Christianity to get respect and dignity in the Christian society.

“The US Church authorities have paid million of dollars in compensation for sexual perversion of few of its priests,” he said, asking why Indian Church authorities could not pay for a more serious “collective sin” (Astha ka Balatkar) factor.

In a press release, Mr Francis said the efforts of the Indian Church authorities to put Dalit Christians yet again in the Scheduled Caste list would promote casteism in Christianity. “It’s a mockery of Jesus’ sacrifice on the Cross,” he said.

In his Good Friday message to all PCLM state level office bearers and cadre, Mr Francis urged them to “prepare and preserve documents of various socio-economic losses and damages caused to the millions of Dalit Christians because of the absolute neglect, lethargy and gross carelessness of the Church authorities.”