Sanatan hindu Dharam: December 2008

Jesus' Bones Discovered? Has the tomb of Jesus Christ been discovered in the Jerusalem suburb of Talpiot? In a 2007 Discovery Channel TV documentary, producer James Cameron (The Titanic) and Jewish director, Simcha Jacobovici, attempted to prove that Jesus’ burial cave and bones were discovered near Jerusalem. Cameron and Jacobovici further cited evidence that Jesus sired a son with Mary Magdalene. If Jesus Christ’s tomb has really been discovered, then all of Christian history has been based upon a false claim---that Jesus physically rose from the dead, was seen alive by over 500 followers at once, spent 40 days teaching his disciples, and then ascended into heaven. Jai Shree Ram What is the essence of Christianity? Atamdarshan Publication 5235 Malvia Nagar St. No.1 Nai basti BHATINDA151001 098150-75493 atamdarshanpk@gmail.com What is the essence of Christianity? Christianity believes that Jesus Christ is the ONLY son of god. He is supposed to have been sent to earth to wash away the sins of the people, and so redeem them. Of course, this happens only to those who accept him as the ONLY son of god. All the others do not get the benefit, and so will be consigned to that place where one is eternally barbecued. Christianity says that it has a unique path to salvation, and all the other paths are false.. Christians believe that they have been commanded by Christ to go and convert the people of this world. This is also supposed to give them special merit when it comes to the day of final judgement. Christianity is an hierarchical religion, and the commands of the clergy are supposed to be final It is also this clergy that is supposed to be a link between man and god through Christ. So, if a person has sinned, and wants god to forgive him/her, he/she has to go to a priest, to ask him to speak to god on his/her behalf. While there are many Christians who today do not believe in this exclusivity, the statements of the clergy leave no doubt that the clergy believes in exclusivity, and the concept of saving souls. 2. objection? If people convert due to spiritual reasons. When there are true spiritual conversions, there is no objection. This happens when the person does it on his own inquiry, and not motivated by another to make a study. True spiritual conversion implies that a person not only understands the new religion well, but also that he is well-acquainted with his present one. In this way, he will be able to understand why the religion of his forefathers does not give him the spiritual satisfaction that he will find in his new religion. At the same time, since a man or a woman is always seeking to go on a higher spiritual plane, such a change becomes an enlightened one. Such an inquiry can be done by one who is materially contented, and one who has the necessary education to make the inquiry. It was in this context that Mahatma Gandhi said to the missionaries that before converting the poor, they should first convert him. They did not pick up the challenge because they knew that the Mahatma had done sufficient study of Christianity and had found that his own dharma was adequate for his purpose. 3. Is right to convert , legal? This is a subject that is coming up for discussion quite a lot. There is a Constitutional provision which gives a right to propagate one's religion. The proponents of the conversion programme say that this also implies that there is a right to ask people to convert. However, all rights are subject to maintenance of public order, and if there is a threat to it, then the right has to be restricted. This is the way all civil societies function. The issue of conversions due to force, fraud and inducements was debated at the time of framing the Constitution immediately after the independence in 1947. A specific provision was not put in, since it was said that such conversions are immoral - a fact accepted by the Christian members of the Constituent Assembly.. While a person cannot be denied a right to convert himself on his own free will, and after his own study of the religion he wishes to adopt and the one that he wishes to leave, the right to ask someone else to change should be questioned. At the same time, conversions due to force, inducements and fraud have to be determined as illegal. While today the use of force (in physical terms) is limited, given that the proselytizing religions do not have the state power to back them while being in a minority, conversions due to inducements and fraud are quite rampant. Mass conversions, the so-called faith healing programmers’, conversions in the guise of offering social service, etc., will fall in the illegal category. When discussing the legal provisions on conversions, it has to be understood that it causes tremendous social tensions. Thus, conversions have to be looked at from a social angle and not merely a legal one. 4. objections to conversions? Conversions create social tensions. The targeted community feels that it will lose out on its culture and civilization values. Mahatma Gandhi said, "In India one finds that conversions bring about deep disdain for one's old religion and its followers, i.e., one's old friends and one's relatives. The next change that takes place is that of dress and manners and behaviours. All that does great harm to the country." Similarly, Babasaheb Ambedkar said that by joining Islam or Christianity, the Depressed Classes would 'not only go out of the Hindu religion, but also go out of the Hindu culture....Conversion to Islam or Christianity will denationalize the Depressed Classes.' Swami Vivekanand has expressed himself in even stronger terms. He said that a convert from Hinduism is not only one Hindu less, but an enemy more. All societies try and protect the collective consciousness of the past. The destruction of a culture is not only in terms of physical structures like places of worship, but also a destruction of amassed wisdom. The great library of Alexandria in pre-Christian and pre-Islam Egypt were destroyed by the followers of these two systems. In South America, we see only mute monuments of what were obviously great civilisations. The Hindu civilisation is today the oldest surviving civilisation. This has been achieved at a great cost in terms of resisting those who came to destroy. It is easy to destroy, but difficult to preserve. 5. Christians react when Christians convert to another. Members of all religious sects detest conversions. They feel that it is an attack on their beliefs and their way of life. Christians are no different. The Pope (a Catholic) has frequently complained about the activities of the Protestant missionaries in South America. During one of his visits, he called them 'rapacious wolves'. The ex-Catholic still believes that Christ is the ONLY son of god, but is practicing his belief in another church and under another priest. According to the Christian theology, such a person will go to heaven. But the Pope thinks that it must be he alone who should save the person's soul. The Pope is also unhappy when Catholics leave Christianity and become either Hindu or Buddhist. He asks his flock that they 'should know (their) spiritual heritage well and consider whether it is right to set it aside lightly.' Yet, the Pope has no compunction of asking the Hindus to set aside their even longer spiritual heritage aside and become Christians. Ex- Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, Tony Blair, is a member of the Church of England, while his wife is a Catholic. Once he went to a mass in a Catholic church alone. There was a hue and cry from the Church of England clergy, who feared that he might be converting to Catholicism. One of the clergy wrote an article saying that Rome is not for Blair, and implied that the views of Vatican may influence the decision taken by Blair as the Prime Minister. Islamic countries prohibit Christian missionaries from operating in their countries, even to provide pure social service. In Russia, the only Christian sect that is permitted to operate is the Russian Orthodox variety. In Israel, a law prohibiting conversions was dropped when 50 Christian groups agreed not to carry missionary activity in the country. They also agreed to avoid 'activities which alienate (the Jews) from their tradition and community.' 6. Distinctions between the various Christian sects? The attempt to make a distinction is a new tactic used to deflect the charge of conversions made against the Christians. It is said that the conversions by improper methods is being done by what are called fringe churches, and that the so-called mainline churches are epitomes of virtue. The 'mainline churches' have the same ethos as 'fringe churches', that is Jesus Christ is the ONLY son of god, and that salvation is not possible to those who do not accept this exclusivity. The 'mainline churches' have not given up their objective of conversions, except that they pretend to do in a subtle way. Even while complaining of the activity of the 'fringe churches', the 'mainline churches' do not publicly distance themselves away. The 'mainline churches' do not specifically identify who the 'fringe churches' are. In fact, if the 'fringe churches' are attacked even when provoked, the 'mainline churches' will stand by them, and not criticise the provocation. For example, the church distributing the Bible in Rajkot is said to be of the fringe variety. But this incident is on the 'mainline' churches' list of the 'attacks on Christianity'. Unless the 'mainline' churches give clear signals to the contrary, it is not possible to distinguish between them and the 'fringe' churches. 7. So many of the intellectuals have gone through missionary schools, and there does not seem to be any attempt to convert them. It is not correct to say that no attempts were made at conversions. It has always been the practice of the Christian missionaries all over the world to try and convert the elite in the society first. This too was attempted in India - but it failed. The intellectuals go to missionary schools located in urban areas, where an overt attempt to convert will create a controversy. So, the missionaries have to show a 'sophisticated' face in the cities. The reason why the Christian attempt failed is the resilience of Hinduism. In the early 1800, some missionaries thought that Raja Ram Mohan Roy was 'ripe' for conversions, because he gave an impression that he found nothing wrong with Christ. A priest was allotted the task of bringing him to the Christian fold. Not only did the priest fail in his task, but, under the influence of Raja Ram Mohan Roy, the priest became a Hindu. 8. Why do Christian missionaries undertake social service? The objective of the social service is to get an access to the people who are targeted for conversion. Once the missionaries come close the people, and the latter become obligated to them, the 'benefits' of believing in Christ is explained to them. This is done not on the basis that there is any special merit in the new system, but because Christ is supposed to have told them that praying to any other god will make them go to hell. This social service is of many forms - education, medical facilities, etc. In the past these services were concentrated in urban or rural areas. Also, Hindu organisations were discouraged from starting social service projects. . 9. If someone does a benefit to me, in terms of undertaking a social service, what is wrong with it being used as a vehicle for conversion? True social service should be done without expecting anything in return from the recipient. Otherwise it becomes a debased and at best can have an accidental redeeming value. If the motive is bad, then the social service has no real merit. There are many organisations that are doing noble service without expecting anything in return. And in offering such services, the Hindus are very actively involved. During his meetings with the Christian missionaries, Mahatma Gandhi had said that they are doing social service with the ulterior motive of conversions. He asked them to give up this offensive programme. He also said to them that if this situation continued in a free India he would ask the foreign missionaries to leave the country. 10. Wrong with receiving foreign funds for service activity, since they come as a grant and there is no outflow for repayment? The flow of foreign funds should not be viewed from only an economic perspective. The objective of sending the funds is of prime importance. If this objective is to work against the interest of the nation, then there has to be objection to the flow of funds. When the service activity is used a guise for conversions, then the funds are coming here for an ulterior purpose. The flow of funds from these missionaries is quite huge. They have well documented fund-raising programmes, where the main lure for the donor that is offered is the number of people converted. This is supposed to give special merit to the donor, on the day of final judgement. Given the vast funds, it is obvious that the donors will have a control on the organisation that receives these funds. Since the headquarters of the churches are all outside India, this control has been used in the past for activities which are inimical to the interest of our nation. It has also ensured that an independent leadership in the Indian churches has not developed. 11. Why do Hindu organisations not do social service? It is an anti-Hindu propaganda that Hindus do not undertake social service. If one looks at the post-independence period, one will see that the Hindus have come forward in substantial numbers to undertake social service. This is not only in terms of establishing educational facilities, but also health service, and other noble causes. However, such institutes are not identified as Hindu organisations - as per the practice of secularism in our country. Social service organisations like Rotary and Lions are manned by Hindus in very large numbers. During the colonial times, Hindus were restricted from undertaking charity which is an integral part of Hindu culture. Simultaneously, the colonial masters gave large assistance to the missionary institutes, both administrative and financial. The latter was from the taxes that were levied on the people of this country. Given that the prosperous section of the society was Hindu, obviously it was the Hindu money that was provided for the missionaries. In addition, land and institutes belonging to the Hindu temples were appropriated and given to the missionaries. In the post-independence period, these missionary institutes continue to receive state aid for much of their activities. In quite a few cases, because the infrastructure was built and in place, the missionary institutes were not disbanded or replaced. A Hindu sees nothing wrong in this, and rightly so. But, to call such state funded institutes as missionary is a misnomer. 14. Does Christianity use force to convert the people today? When one talks about force, it is commonly assumed to be the use of the sword, that is a weapon. The use of force to convert people in the past was the standard practice wherever in the world Christianity went. India was no exception. This was possible because Christianity went along with the programme of colonizing non-Christian lands, and hence had state support. Thus the force was provided by the secular arm of the country, namely the colonial administration. With this support no longer available, it is rare that force is used. However, one does find cases of use of force now and then. In the Dangs district, the nephew of the one of the former tribal raja was twice beaten for not falling in line with the desire of the Christian missionaries. 15. Does Christianity today use inducements and fraud to convert people? With conversions by force not being possible, the methods that are applied are inducements and fraud. Inducements are the so-called social service activities. The fraud that is done is to pretend that a person has become well because of the 'power' of Christ. While treating an illness, a missionary gives medicine of no value and asks the tribal to take it while offering prayers to his present deity. Of course, there is no cure. Next, the missionary gives real medicine and asks the tribal to take it while offering prayers to Christ. The recovery is attributed to Christ and not to the medicine. Fraud also takes place when there are programmes of what are called faith healing. 'Lame' people are said to be cured, and 'blind' recover their sight. These 'miracles' are used to establish the superiority of Christ. 16.Since the Christian population is only 2.6% of the total , how does Christianity become a threat to India? One has to look not only at the overall percentage of Christian population, but how it is dispersed. The concentration of Christians is in a few pockets like the states of Kerala and Goa, and four of the seven north-eastern states. In Kerala and Goa, the churches have utilised the numbers to interfere in politics all the time. A prime opponent of the alignment of the Konkan Railway was the Catholic church in Goa. This caused delays as well increased the cost of the project. In the north-east, the involvement of the churches in the secessionist movements has been well documented. During the reign of Jawaharlal Nehru some foreign missionaries had been asked to leave the country because they supported these anti-national movements. Another area which is targeted is the tribal belts all over the country. These conversions have created a lot of social problem since the converts are asked to deny their past and not participate in the ancient social rites of the area. The Niyogi Committee stated that it was due to the influence of these missionaries that a demand for an independent Jharkhand nation was made. 17. If the issue of conversions is to deal with the attitude of the churches, why is the Christian community being targeted? It is wrong to say that the Christians are being targeted. The theological issue is being addressed to the churches. Unfortunately, they do not respond. Except for one missionary, no one has been killed in the recent attacks. There has been no wanton attacks on the community. Secular property of Christians have not been damaged. Also, one has to see that there has been a lot of provocation. Unfortunately, most of the Christian laity do not wish to address this issue, and they refuse to forcefully admit that conversions do create social tensions. 18. Is there any concerted plan to attack missionaries? There is no programme of any Hindu organisations to attack missionaries, either singly or on a concerted basis. It is not part of the Hindu cultural values to indulge in violence. At the same time, Hindus have to protect themselves, at the physical and civilization levels. If the Christian missionaries are creating harm to them, then the Hindus have every right to defend themselves. All legal methods will be first employed. If the missionaries persist in their efforts of creating tensions, then some sort of reaction will always take place. Most of the physical reactions has taken place in the tribal areas, where the Hindus are probably more sensitive, and the missionaries more aggressive. It does not take place in the urban areas, where access to legal remedies is more easy. Ultimately, the prime cause of the violence is the action of conversions. One Christian writer said, "Whatever may be the merits of proselytism, there are demerits also. Foremost, is that it keeps the Hindus irritated, annoyed, angered and responding violently from time to time, because simple arithmetic tells them that more Christians means less Hindus, which is absolutely true. Christians, under the same circumstances, everywhere, have also felt likewise - irritated, annoyed, angered and have responded violently." 19. Has the issue of the attacks on Christians been politicised? If so, why? That there have been attacks on Christians is not denied. What has to be inquired if these attacks have been for communal reasons or for secular reasons. In case of the former, there is a further need to inquire if there was a provocation or not. Analysing the cases, one will find very few which have been of an unprovoked communal type. Thus, making an accusation that the Hindus are attacking the Christians deliberately, is a clear sign that there is an attempt to politicise the issue. The media, particularly the English variety, has been a willing tool in this game. The Christian organisations, both clergy and laity, have blown the incidents way out of proportion. Even when it has been well established that there were no Hindu organisations behind some of the most publicized attacks, these events are still listed as attacks on Christianity. The Christian organisations have no hesitation of taking the help of Islamic fundamentalists, like the Naib Imam of the Jama Masjid of Delhi, to take the protest to the streets. The intriguing part is that the so-called secular media finds nothing wrong in this collaboration. 20. Has the issue of attacks on Christians been internationalized?why? The use of Christianity by western powers for their diplomatic games is well known all over the world. In the past, during colonial times, this was done openly, and the missionaries used to evaluate their work in terms of the commercial benefits that the colonial masters obtained. In the recent past, the association has been more covert.. These western governments have double standards. In Indonesia, hundreds of Christians have been killed, obviously on a communal basis and mostly without provocation. Yet, the international community has not raised even 10% of the noise that they have done in case of India were only a handful have been killed. The churches are also in the same game plan, and have made frequent announcements down playing the killings in Indonesia. The western countries should also look at within their own borders as to what is happening. In the United States, more than 100 churches, belonging to the Black community, have been burnt by the White supremacist. The racial picture in the United Kingdom is not something that the country is proud of. The German government's treatment of the Turkish guest workers has been adversely commented upon even by those within the country. Less said of the treatment of the Aborigines in Australia the better. 21. Is it only in India that Christians are being attacked? Christians have been on the receiving end in many countries. Indonesia is one such example. In Sudan, there is a major problem for the Christians living in the south. In Nigeria, the Christians of the Southeast are under continuous pressure. The Coptic Christians in Egypt are frequently attacked. (In many other countries, it is the Christians who are the aggressors.) Christians are also under attack in China, where the Communist government has set up its own Christian hierarchy different from the one by the mother churches in the west. Some of the Christian magazines have reported that the Chinese government has used prostitutes to blackmail the Christian priests. Christian organisations are not allowed to practice, let alone do their so-called social service in almost all the Islamic countries. In Russia, a bill has been passed that prohibits the different Christian sects, except the Russian Orthodox, from functioning in the country. In Israel, a bill banning conversions was dropped only when 50 Christian organisations gave an undertaking that they would not undertake such an activity. 22. Why should violence be resorted to even as a provocation? Are there no legal remedies? If violence is resorted to immediately after a provocation, without trying other remedies, then condemning such type of violence is justified. However, when the provocation persists, and the provocateur does not listen to reason, then the violence has to be seen in a different light. This is particularly the case in rural and tribal areas, where the legal system moves at a lesser pace than in an urban area. So while any society would like violence not to exist, condemning the violence alone does not solve the underlying problem. When violence takes place upon a provocation, the scale of both has to be seen. The provocation has been substantial, and continuing for a long time. Except for the murder of the Australian priest, there has been no loss of Christian lives in the recent incidences. Damage to property is also small. And about the murder of the priest, all the details are yet to come out. Many reporters have mentioned about party politics also being a factor in it. 23. Have there been attempts to have bills to regulate conversions? What is the view of the Christians towards such bills? At the time of the debate in the Constituent Assembly, all the gamut of issues relating to conversions were discussed. Given the record of vandalism in the name of Christianity in India, and the strong objections of Mahatma Gandhi towards conversions, many members wanted to put restrictions on conversions. There was also a strong sentiment to even leave the provision of propagation out of the section of fundamental rights. However, after discussions, and due to various compromises, no specific provision was made with respect to prevent conversions due to force, inducements or fraud. It was assumed that such tactics would not be possible in an independent India. Also, due to various definitional niceties adopted, the word propagate was kept as part of the fundamental rights. The record of Christianity in an independent India does not conform to the expectations that many thinking persons had of them. The Niyogi Committee documented the improper activities of the missionaries, and made scathing remarks about them. In this state, followed by Orissa and Arunachal Pradesh, bills were introduced to prevent conversions due to force, inducements and fraud. The Supreme Court in 1977 upheld the validity of these bills. In 1978, there was a private members bill in Lok Sabha to enact a national legislation on the same lines as the three states. The Christian churches, aided by the laity organisations and the English media, mounted a sustained campaign against the bill. The introduction of the bill did not become possible, and with the changes in the political dispensation, the bill lapsed. The fact that the churches object to the regulation of conversions is a clear sign that they wish to continue their practice of conversions by inducements and fraud, and apply force in subtle ways. 24. While many Hindus complain about the conversion activities of the Christians, they have no hesitation of sending their children to their schools. Most of the Christian schools have been set up during the colonial times. And they have been set up mostly by funds provided by the colonial masters out of the taxes levied on the Hindus. Thus, an infrastructure was created. In the post-independence period, the schools were initially funded by the state, until it was decided that the English medium schools will not receive such grants. The colleges continue to receive almost full aid. Since the funds are provided out of taxes, contributed mostly by the Hindus, it is a gross misnomer to call such institutes as missionary schools. At the same time, if an infrastructure is created, should it be allowed to decay? And as the education facilities are becoming available outside of metropolitan areas, one sees Hindus coming forward to set them up. Even in metropolitan areas, more and more Hindus are setting up institutes of learning. In the urban areas, the conversion activities of the churches are severely restricted due to public pressure. The conversion activities take place in the rural and tribal areas, and amongst the poor members of the society. This is done in the guise of social service. 25. Is it true that the number of people going to church in the Christian countries is declining? The fall in church attendance has been going on for more than 40 years, at least. It is said that the attendance to church in Austria is less than 20%, and that about 40,000 additional numbers are leaving the church every year. By the year 2030 there will be no one attending churches in Austria. Similarly, in the United Kingdom, less than 10% of the Anglicans, the main Christian sect in the country, attend church services. In addition to the reduced attendance to the church, the number of priests has declined drastically. One priest has to look after more than one church. Many churches are locked up except at the time of the weekly mass. Due to fewer people wanting to be priests, the number of seminaries, the training institutes for the priests, has also come down drastically. “a convert from Hinduism is not only one Hindu less, but an enemy more.” - Swami Vivekanand "In India one finds that conversions bring about deep disdain for one's old religion and its followers, i.e., one's old friends and one's relatives.” - Mahatma Gandhi “joining Islam or Christianity, the Depressed Classes would 'not only go out of the Hindu religion, but also go out of the Hindu culture....Conversion to Islam or Christianity will denationalize the Depressed Classes.” - Babasaheb Ambedkar

Sanatan hindu Dharam

Monday, 29 December 2008

Friday, 19 December 2008

Jesus' Bones Discovered?

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