Hindus And Christians Clash

[Didacus]

I am a bit out of touch these days, but I find this one of the saddest articles I've read all year.
Pray for peace.


[url="http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,,-7181683,00.html"]Hindus and Christians Clash![/url]

Hindus, Christians Clash in India

Thursday December 27, 2007 6:16 PM


By GAVIN RABINOWITZ

Associated Press Writer

NEW DELHI (AP) - Hindu extremists torched nearly a dozen churches and the home of a Christian leader Thursday, defying a curfew imposed to quell three days of religious violence in eastern India. Christians retaliated by setting fire to several homes belonging to Hindus.

Local police have been unsuccessful in halting the attacks and the federal government announced it was sending in a paramilitary force.

About 19 churches, most of them small mud and thatch buildings, have been razed since violence broke out on Christmas Eve when long-standing tensions between the Hindu majority and the small Christian community erupted over conversions to Christianity.

Hindu groups have long charged Christian missionaries with trying to lure the poor and those who occupy the lowest rungs of Hinduism's complex caste-system away with promises of money and jobs.

On Thursday, a mob of Hindus burned down the house of Radhakant Nayak, a member of India's upper house of parliament and a Christian leader in the area, Nayak told the CNN-IBN news channel.

Also, 11 churches were ransacked and burned in Kandhamal district of Orissa state, the Press Trust of India quoted unnamed police officials as saying.

Superintendent of Police Narsingh Bhol said several prayer houses were ransacked and some were set on fire, but he did not have the exact number.

Meanwhile, in the village of Brahmangaon, a group of Christians burned down several Hindu homes in an apparent retaliation for the attack on churches. Angry Hindus then burned down the village police station, complaining of a lack of protection, a local police official said, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to reporters.

Bahugrahi Mahapatra, a senior government official in the area confirmed there had been ``disturbances'' in the village, but could not provide details.

One person has been killed and at least 25 people, belonging to both Hindu and Christian communities, have been arrested for suspected involvement in the violence, Bhol told The Associated Press by phone.

But the arrests and curfew have not stopped the attacks and the federal government said it was sending in a 300-strong paramilitary force.

``We have to get the violence under control,'' the junior federal home minister, Sriprakash Jaiswal, told reporters.

India is overwhelmingly Hindu but officially secular. Religious minorities, such as Christians, who account for 2.5 percent of the country's 1.1. billion people, and Muslims, who make up 14 percent, often coexist peacefully.

But throughout India's history, the issue of conversions has provoked violence by hard-line Hindus.

Orissa has one of the worst histories of anti-Christian violence. An Australian missionary and his two sons, aged 8 and 10, were burned to death in their car in Orissa following a Bible study class in 1999.

Orissa is the only Indian state that has a law requiring people to obtain police permission before they change their religion. The law was intended to counter missionary work.

There were conflicting reports of what started the violence in the rural district of Kandhamal, about 840 miles southeast of New Delhi. Each side blamed the other.

The Hindu hard-liners said Christians had attempted to attack one of their leaders, who heads an anti-conversion movement.

But the New Delhi-based Catholic Bishops Conference of India said the fighting began when Hindu extremists objected to a show marking Christmas Eve, believing it was designed to encourage conversions.

[Didacus]

[quote]Orissa is the only Indian state that has a law requiring people to obtain police permission before they change their religion. The law was intended to counter missionary work.[/quote]

This is one of the most outstanding comments in the article.
They need POLICE PERMISSION before changing their religion, and this measure is to COUNTER MISSIONARY WORK!?!?!

This is wrong on so many levels I'm just speechless.
Didace

[cathoholic_anonymous]

Prayers for all the people involved.

I am worried that the Christians retaliated by burning down Hindu homes. I can understand their anger, and the lust for revenge that accompanies a mob mentality, but that is not the witness that they need to give.

[jeffpugh]

My thoughts exactly. Why are they doing this? It's just goona drag more people into it, especially the innocent.

[Norseman82]

[quote name='Sacred Music Man' post='1438919' date='Dec 27 2007, 04:56 PM']My thoughts exactly. Why are they doing this? It's just goona drag more people into it, especially the innocent.[/quote]

I thought the Christians that were initially attacked ARE the innocent parties dragged into it....

[cathoholic_anonymous]

[quote name='Norseman82' post='1438953' date='Dec 28 2007, 12:07 AM']I thought the Christians that were initially attacked ARE the innocent parties dragged into it....[/quote]

They are. But tit-for-tat vengeance, while understandable, is not a part of our faith and is not a good witness to what Jesus taught - especially seeing as this whole fracas was sparked by conversions to Christianity.

[Romans1513]

[quote name='Cathoholic Anonymous' post='1438908' date='Dec 27 2007, 04:36 PM']Prayers for all the people involved.

I am worried that the Christians retaliated by burning down Hindu homes. I can understand their anger, and the lust for revenge that accompanies a mob mentality, but that is not the witness that they need to give.[/quote]

Agreed.


[quote]Hindu groups have long charged Christian missionaries with trying to lure the poor and those who occupy the lowest rungs of Hinduism's complex caste-system away with promises of money and jobs.[/quote]
Right, because heaven forbid we help anyone survive...

[Didacus]

I thought hindus were tolerant.

[PopeClementI(MorClemis)]

The evangelicals and pentecostals add fuel to the fire with their in-your-face proselytization tactics even stealing members from Catholic and Orthodox Churches... these Hindu extremist idiots don't know the difference between Benny Hinn, Jerry Falwell, and the Pope, so when they get caught up attack mode they go after all the Christians..

[Didacus]

If anyone knows someone from India, or has travelled there, I would be very interested in hearing their take on the situation. Better yet, if anyone on phatmass is living in India, please give us your 2cents.[i][size=1] [color="#FFFFFF"](or 1-1/2cents Canadien since the Canadien $> than the US dollar - HA! I love saying that)[/color][/size][/i]

[PopeClementI(MorClemis)]

India's a huge country, so if one has to assess the situation, you'd have to divide it state by state or at least by region.

Southern India, the State of Kerala in particular is 20%+ Christian, 20%Muslim, rest Hindu - usually the religions are pretty tolerant of each other and are friendly, Churches, Mosques, Temple are meters from each other. Rarely things get heated, and that's usually with the influence of outside elements.

North India, with the exception of Mizoram is heavily Hindu, with some enclaves of Muslim majority (or large minority). Mizoram is Christian (in my opinion, mainly in name only), supported by American Baptist missionaries who cause all kinds of turmoil with inter-religious issues.

Another concern is that North India has a small but vocal extremist Hindu element, who claims India is solely for Hindus (India is also called Hindustan). They want to make India for Hindus, as Pakistan is for Muslims. They consider Christianity a "western, foreign religion"... They don't seem to realize that Christianity had been flourishing in India before Rome was Christianized because of St. Thomas' missionary journey, or that there were Jews and Buddhists in India for over 2000 yrs. Edited December 28, 2007 by PopeClementI(MorClemis)

[cathoholic_anonymous]

[quote name='Romans1513' post='1438985' date='Dec 28 2007, 03:47 AM']Right, because heaven forbid we help anyone survive...[/quote]

Unfortunately, a handful of missionary groups in India have a nasty habit of providing food to needy people only if they convert to Christianity. This practice was widespread in the days of the British Raj and it still hasn't died out completely. It gave rise to the popular and derogatory term 'powder-milk Christians', which is applied to people who convert out of basic necessity rather than religious conviction. This is what made Mother Teresa's approach so effective. She has been criticised by some Catholics for not placing enough emphasis on evangelism, but in reality she was just being sensitive to the local people's prior experience with Christian missionary activity - her goal was to make them realise that she would help them no matter what religion they practised. People who convert as a result of the efforts made by the Missionaries of Charity definitely aren't doing it for the powdered milk, which is a good thing.

[quote name='Didacus' post='1439171' date='Dec 28 2007, 08:13 PM']I thought hindus were tolerant.[/quote]

Some are. Some aren't. When I was in Nepal (which was the world's only Hindu kingdom until it declared itself secular two years ago) I taught at a school called Hindu Vidyapeeth, or 'Hindu place of learning'. The headmaster explained to me that according to classical Hindu belief, all religions lead to God. However, you shouldn't attempt to change your religion - it's not possible to become a follower of a faith that you weren't born into. He also taught that total non-violence (even to animals) is a fundamental part of Hindu belief. I wasn't allowed to eat meat on school premises because of that. One student cried when she saw me kill a huge spider that had invaded my room.

In India they have a militant political group called the Hindu National Party that calls for the creation of a Hindu state. They are very hardline, and it is usually their supporters that are responsible for killings. I don't know much about them, though.

Edited December 28, 2007 by Cathoholic Anonymous

[Seven77]

PopeClementI, are you in India?

My family is from Calcutta (NW India)...my mom tells me that when she was growing up, Christians, Hindus and Muslims were very tolerant of each other.

edit: PS: welcome to Phatmass... it's good to see a Syro-Malankara Catholic on here.


[quote name='PopeClementI(MorClemis)' post='1439246' date='Dec 28 2007, 04:32 PM']

India's a huge country, so if one has to assess the situation, you'd have to divide it state by state or at least by region.

Southern India, the State of Kerala in particular is 20%+ Christian, 20%Muslim, rest Hindu - usually the religions are pretty tolerant of each other and are friendly, Churches, Mosques, Temple are meters from each other. Rarely things get heated, and that's usually with the influence of outside elements.[/quote]

[Innocent]

[quote name='Seven77' post='1439289' date='Dec 29 2007, 04:57 AM'].....my mom tells me that when she was growing up, Christians, Hindus and Muslims were very tolerant of each other.[/quote]

Yes, well, several of our contemporary historians and political commentators are of the opinion that most of the modern day tensions among the various religious groups here can be traced to the policy of [i]divide et impera[/i] that the British followed during their colonial rule.

However, there are also others ([url="http://www.islam-watch.org/AlamgirHussain/india.htm"]e.g.[/url]) who claim that these tensions existed even before the British Raj, though I haven't heard this opinion much from Indian historians.

[cappie]

ORISSA Hindu extremists attacked Christians in the State of Orissa and they burnt the Capuchin Minor Seminary, Barakhama, and its chapel to the ground. The 32 students and four staff members at the Arunodaya Ashram and the minor seminary had to flee on foot for their safety. Br. Chinnappa Payarda, OFMCap., Rector of the Minor Seminary, has reported that they have arrived safely in Baliguda, a town about 12 kilometers from the minor seminary.

These Hindu hardliners, known as the VHP (Vishva Hindu Parishad) and RSS (Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh), attacked and destroyed at least 12 Christian churches and institutions in Orissa, especially in Khandhamal District, which is part of the Archdiocese of Cuttack and Bhubaneswar from December 24th through December 26th. They also destroyed some Christian homes. They want the Christians to be out of Orissa. They accuse them of trying to convert the Hindus in the region. These Hindu fanatics seem to be targeting mostly the buildings of missionaries, of priests and religious.

Br. Thomas Sebastian, OFMCap., Vice Provincial of Marymatha Vice Province of Andhra-Orissa, reported that the Capuchin seminarians have been sent home until they can find a place where they can continue their formation. He has been in contact with Brothers Chinnappa and Stephen Nayak, members of the seminary staff. While everyone is safe now, the crisis continues in the region. Our Indian confreres ask for our prayers.