Author: Rajiv Malhotra
Publication: The Infinity
Foundation
Date: November 8, 2000
Presented at the Cornell
University Conference on 'Human Rights and Religion'
We have heard numerous
talks at this event about the human rights problems related to White Supremacy
groups, but do we have the courage to examine the possibility that there
might be Christian supremacy groups as well, often camouflaged as proselytizers?
We have heard numerous condemnations of hate speech, but do we exempt hate
speech when it is done in the name of God or religion, even quoted from
a sacred book? Two factors about the West that are interrelated have been
its propensity to 'globalize' through economic and religions means, and
its economic power in recent centuries (but not before). In support
of these expansions, various academic disciplines were developed.
In particular, anthropology was defined as the study of 'primitive' cultures,
presumably by those who regarded themselves as advanced and superior.
This mindset of being above the glass ceiling so to speak, and looking
down at the subject matter, has translated into arrogance and hegemony.
Has the scholar become immune to challenge from those below this glass
ceiling? On a civilization scale, has the West been spared from being placed
under the microscope of the anthropologist so as to uncover how it might
appear from the outside? My talk examines one specific phenomenon peculiar
mostly to the West and its export of religion, namely that of Christian
proselytizing, and I examine it as a social activity that has escaped close
scrutiny.
Let me start by listing
the following phrases that are commonly used by proselytizers in describing
their non-Christian target prospects: 'sinners', 'condemned', 'damned',
'heathen', pagan, etc. If it were not done in the name of religion,
would this have been declared as hate speech? Does such talk, even if disguised
or deferred until a later stage of a proselytizing campaign, build communal
tension? Is this responsible for negative eruptions in India between Hindus
and Christians who co-existed peacefully for centuries before the arrival
of the proselytizers? Given that America is a tapestry of pluralistic faiths,
and that therefore Hindus are also amongst one's classmates, neighbors,
and colleagues at work, would this language lead to social problems in
the future as opposed to the kind of harmonious society we all seek? Does
it violate the UN Human Rights provision that guarantees 'dignity' to all
people as a basic human right?
As one recent example
of offensive speech, the Southern Baptist Church distributed pamphlets
during Diwali, the Hindu festival of light, in November, 1999 claiming:
"900 million Hindus are in spiritual bondage". A month later, another
pamphlet from them declared: "900 million people lost in the hopeless darkness
of Hinduism."
Bishop Spong in 'Why
Christianity Must Change or Die' writes:
"The familiar Christian
God acknowledged by almost all of our European ancestors not only blessed
the imperialistic and colonial expansion of those nations in the seventeenth,
eighteenth, and nineteenth centuries but also declared that this colonialist
domination of the underdeveloped peoples of the world was the very will
of the Christian deity. So under the banner of Christ, native population
in what we today call the third world were subjugated and converted, while
the resources of those conquered nations were being extracted from their
soil to bring wealth to the Europeans".
Proselytizing verses
Jesus' Message
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. Institutional Christianity is mainly Paulism. Early
Christian leaders were pluralistic and endorsed many pagan practices, some
of which were centuries later expunged while others were appropriated into
the institution. Both pre-Jesus and post-Jesus Middle East was heavily
influenced by Indic thought. Origen taught reincarnation. Deities,
occult practices, existence of Buddhist monks, and perhaps the introduction
of bells in churches (not found in Jewish synagogues), are some of the
examples of influence. There are numerous references in Greek and
Roman writings concerning India. The New Testament as existing today
is largely a construct of the 4th century under the editorial team sponsored
by the Roman military ruler Constantine. Proselytizing ever since
his time has been a weapon for imperialism. It has never been friendly
to the indigenous, be it in Africa, America, Asia, or even Europe itself.
In this regard, Gandhi
wrote:
"I consider Western Christianity
in its practical working a negation of Christ's Christianity. I cannot
conceive Jesus, if he was living in flesh in our midst, approving of modern
Christian organizations, public worship, or ministry." (Young India: September
22, 1921)
"I regard Jesus as a
great teacher of humanity, but I do not regard him as the only begotten
son of God. That epithet in its material interpretation is quite
unacceptable. Metaphorically we are all sons of God, but for each
of us there may be different sons of God in a special sense. Thus
for me Chaitanya may be the only begotten son of God . I cannot ascribe
exclusive divinity to Jesus." (Harijan: June 3, 1937)
What are the Motives?
Driven by quantitative
rather than qualitative spiritual improvement, many Christian churches
analyze their predicament as follows:
* Secularism and pluralism
in the West have eroded their flock size.
* Clergy is aging, as
young persons are entering religion less frequently than before.
In France, often many villages have to share one preacher.
* There is less active
church participation per thousand members than before.
* Members are less compliant
than before about church policies.
* Increased international
travel, information, and education have made the public more introspective
and thinking for themselves.
Christian churches are
unhappy not only when their members become non-Christians but they get
upset when a member of one church leaves to join another Christian church
- flock-stealing. The Pope has said that his visit to South America
was to protect his flock from the 'rapacious wolves' of evangelical Protestantism.
The whole thing is a game of power, and maintaining a hold on one's flock.
There is nothing even remotely spiritual in this program.
To replenish these negative
trends, the Churches have looked for the export market. However,
China is too closed politically for aggressive proselytizing. Muslim
countries outright deny such privileges to the church, and it is considered
too risky to 'take on' Islam.
Hence, India's billion
soul potential market is too big a temptation not to go after. Poverty,
gullibility and traditional openness towards strangers in Hinduism makes
it vulnerable to predatory tactics. Constitutional pluralism of India
allows easy entry. The diversity within Hinduism has been taken advantage
of by many proselytizers. Most Americans are naïve about their
understanding of the dynamics of India's religious scene, and would find
it hard to believe what goes on in the name of American exported Christianity
there.
Religions are often becoming
commercial 'brands' competing for market share, selling the 'positive'
product of God's love and the 'negative' product of insurance from hell.
Islam, Christianity and
the dogma of Marxism, have had unquenchable thirst for quantitative expansion,
simply because they hanker after political power, materialistic objectives,
and resort to any means. Missionary activities blossomed in America
under the patronage of Spanish Conquistadors, and in India it sanctified
the colonialism of the British and the Portuguese. The fundamental
objective of conversions is "imperialism".
In many instances, persons
who would be nobodies in USA, Germany or Australia, can derive enormous
ego gratification as missionaries: Promoted to a frontline post in the
war against idolatry, they are praised back home as messiahs to the poor,
and revered by some illiterate villagers for teaching them beliefs which
would provoke laughter back home. Strangest of all, they are applauded
by India's "secularists" while Western secularists would prefer to end
this circus.
The Church is willing
to give, but just like the Devil, it wants to harvest your soul in return.
Students in Christian schools are encouraged towards alienation from their
heritage, and are sometimes used as political pawns to air Christian demands
through student demonstrations or strikes - Christian schools become a
power tool rather than a service.
Gandhi complained about
Christian missionaries' activities in India on numerous occasions, the
following being examples of his statements:
"Only the other day a
missionary descended on a famine area with money in his pocket, distributed
it among the famine stricken, converted them to his fold, took charge of
their temple and demolished it. This is outrageous." (Harijan: November
5, 1937)
"Conversion nowadays
has become a matter of business like any other . India (Hindus) is in no
need of conversion of the kind . Conversion in the sense of self-purification,
self-realization, is the crying need of the times. That, however,
is never what is meant by proselytizing." (Young India: April 23, 1931)
"As I wander about throughout
the length and breath of India, I see many Christian Indians almost ashamed
of their birth, certainly of their ancestral religion." (Young India: August
8, 1925)
Conversions were done
by the power of the sword, until about fifty years ago. Now this
is being done by coercion, humiliation, deceit and sometimes fraud.
The agenda then and now of the missionaries is the same. In many
ways, the latest document coming from the Vatican, "Dominus Jesus", once
again establishes the real objective of competitive marketing.
Holy Marketing in India
The food chain of predator-prey
relationships in India's proselytizing market consists of vegetarians (mainly
Hindus) at the bottom, with Southern Baptist, Pentecostal and certain other
denominations at the top, and Catholics sandwiched in the middle.
While Catholics are the first easy targets for the industrial grade marketing
campaigns by the top tier, the Catholics in turn replenish their flock
by preying upon the Hindus below, especially those who are poor and illiterate.
For example, in North
India, the Southern Baptists alone have: 4,700 workers, 15,000 career missionaries,
50,000 volunteers, 1,000 new college graduates per year with an average
two year length of service. (Source: Baptist Press 11/22/99).
In total, there are estimated to be 100,000 career Christian missionaries
in India, a size several times the sales force of the largest Indian corporations.
There is a TV advertising campaign with a budget of several hundred million
dollars.
Christians have been
doing extensive market analysis to learn the practices, vulnerabilities,
wants, and internal divisions of Hindus in each region, so as to develop
effective marketing campaigns. Sophisticated market segmentation
and specialized teams now exist for target marketing to groups such as:
girls, adult women, poor illiterate villagers, and there are internal acronyms
for each segment.
The material inducement
used is illustrated by the following examples:
* Sister Placid, who
converts Dang tribes in Gujarat said: "We have certain targets every year,"
she confesses. We have to lure and bribe them with goodies to join
our faith." (Sunil K Poolani, "Frenzy over faith", The Sunday Observer,
Jan 3, 1999.)
* "The missionaries come
in the guise of English teachers. They give money, computers to universities,
and scholarships to children of influential officials. They buy their
way in." (Alexander Berzin, "Disrupting the faith?" interview, Newsweek,
Jan 13, 1997.)
* Protestant churches
use mass rallies and faith healing among tribes to draw prospects, with
promises of education and jobs. Giving a walkman with a tape of the
Bible in their own language is a modern equivalent of the trinkets given
to African chieftains by Vasco da Gama.
* Christian missionaries
are investing billions of dollars in India from donation drives whereas
gullible Americans think that they are giving towards uplifting "poor and
uneducated Indians." However, the billions of dollars donated to convert
Hindus over the last few centuries have been an incredibly inefficient
use of resources - only about 2.4% of India's population is Christian.
Meanwhile, this has disrupted India's communal harmony and created hostilities
among the religions.
* Examples of fraud,
deception and con games include the following:
* Deathbed conversions
to be 'saved' have sometimes left families without a home when it is learnt
that the Church has a signed document by which the deceased transferred
all the property to the Church as a final act.
* Staged miracles are
used as 'promotions' in Kerala, where Churches place 'miracle boxes' in
which poor villagers are invited to place their wishes. If anyone's
wish comes true, it is declared a miracle and the whole village feels pressured
to convert.
* A Hindu deity made
of stone is thrown into a pond along with a wooden cross. The cross
floats while the deity sinks into the water. The message given is
that the Christian God floats while the 'false Hindu God' has sunk.
* The school bus stops
suddenly. Young kids are told that they must pray 'Krishna' to try
and restart it, but it fails to do so. Then they try 'Rama', then
'Guru Nanak', etc. Finally, after exhausting the common names in
India for spiritual authority, they are asked to say 'Jesus' all together,
and at that time the bus suddenly starts. Everyone applauds the demonstration
of Jesus' love and power.
* However, to over-awe
illiterate people, material inducement and exploitation of gullibility
are defended by some church leaders: "Since remaining a Pagan means eternal
damnation, while conversion brings eternal salvation, the greater good
amply justifies the minor evil of bribes and deception needed to lure people
into the true faith."
* Jomo Kenyatta, former
President of Kenya, summed up similar sentiments:
* "When the missionaries
arrived, the Africans had the land and the missionaries had the Bible.
They taught us to pray with our eyes closed. When we opened our eyes,
they had the land and we were left with the Bible".
History of Christianity
in India
Phase One - Early Period:
When the Syrian Christians
fled their homeland from persecution in the very early years of Christianity,
they established amongst the oldest Christian communities of the world
in Kerala (India). The generous Hindus granted hospitality for more
than a thousand years. The relationship between Hindus and the persecuted
immigrants who came for shelter was one of mutual respect.
The Immigrant Christians
lived in harmony, even imbibing some of the local Hindu customs, until
the Jesuits came in the 16th century and divided the community be telling
them that it was 'heathen' to have anything to do with the Hindus.
The Christian world has
no record of any such prolonged act of hospitality, and Christianity's
self-portrayal as a religion of compassion, equality and democracy, contradicts
its historical alignment with monarchies, colonial armies, fascist states
and ruling juntas.
Phase Two - Portuguese
Colonialism:
Vasco de Gama landed
in India in 1498 and was generously received by the Hindu king of Calicut,
who granted him the right to establish commerce. But Hindu hospitality
was exploited. In 1510, Alfonso de Albuquerque seized Goa, where
he started a reign of terror, burning 'heretics,' crucifying Hindus, using
false theories to forcibly convert, razing temples to build churches upon
them, and encouraging his soldiers to take Indian mistresses. Indeed,
the Portuguese perpetrated in India some of the worst atrocities ever committed
by Christianity.
The Portuguese Catholics
gained a foothold on the Malabar coast, and forced the thousand year old
community of Malabar Christians (from Phase One) into the structure of
the Catholic Church. It was not good enough that they had already
been Christians for a thousand years!
Alan Machado-Prabhu records
how the Portuguese conquered Goa and ruled by terror:
"In its two and a half
centuries of existence at Goa, the Inquisition burned at the stake 57 alive
and 64 in effigy. Others sentenced to various cruel punishments totaled
4,046. The people who were converted but still continued secretly
to perform Hindu rituals were treated even more harshly. The manner in
which the Church enriched itself was just scandalous. Half the property
of a person found in possession of idols went to the Church.The Church
acquired urban and rural properties on an impressive scale. The open
performances of Hindu ceremonies were replaced by great public processions
on Christian feast days. One of the worst criminals was Francis Xavier,
later to be made into a saint."
The historian Fryer wrote:
"In the principal market was raised an engine of great height, at top like
a Gibbet, with a pulley .which unhinges a man's joints, a cruel torture."
Phase Three - British
Colonialism:
British missionaries
in India supported colonialism, based on 'the good Western civilized world
being brought to the Pagans.' Claudius Bucchanan, a chaplain in the East
India Company, said: 'Neither truth, nor honesty, honor, gratitude, nor
charity, is to be found in the breast of a Hindoo!' (What a remark about
a civilization that originated the Vedas when Europeans were still entertaining
themselves with Gladiators.)
Given this attitude,
the British preyed upon the poor and simple tribes of Eastern India, converted
them to Christianity, cut them from their tradition, and made them dependent
on the West. The Christian missionaries, who came to India on the
shoulders of the colonial powers, behaved in the same manner against the
Hindus as the Muslim invaders did centuries before them. The vandalism
by these missionaries was no less than what the Hindus had to suffer at
the hands of the Muslims.
Recently, Christians
have made some apologies to the Native Americans and the Africans for their
oppression of them. But the Pope has refused to include Hindus in
any such apologies.
Misinformation to Discredit
Hinduism
To discredit Hinduism's
ability to solve its own problems without conversion to Christianity, it
is often portrayed as 'world negating' and socially backward as opposed
to progressive. It is said to not help the underclass. Karma
is interpreted as fatalism and as encouraging accepting one's plight rather
than taking responsibility. India is depicted as having been always
poor, the result of its indigenous beliefs. Women issues, including
child marriage, sati, dowry, dowry deaths, and inferior role in society
are another common focus used for this purpose, and this is especially
politicized. Environmental problems in contemporary India are seen
as chronic in India's traditions per se, compared to the West's 'rational'
mindset.
Such portrayals fail
to delve into the history. Economic and ecological problems are relatively
recent in India. Whereas in the West's case, history has been a 'development'
from the dark ages to modernity, India was plundered, subjugated and used
for drainage of its economic surplus for a thousand years by those very
civilizations that now proclaim their superiority over it. Many of
India's social problems have economic roots. Islamic and British
records are categorical in their assertion about the material wealth of
India, its higher literacy rate than Britain's up to the 19th century,
and its massive manufacturing export base that was later migrated to form
the core of Britain's industrial revolution.
Furthermore, India's
crime today is small compared to the US on a per million population basis
in every major category, yet India's problems are labeled as 'Hindu'.
Scholars would not label the US's very high incidence of child abuse, rapes,
massive prison population, drug and other addictions, high incidence of
depression, and numerous other problems as 'Christian' problems.
Western scholars emphasize
caste as the defining characteristic of Hinduism, to the exclusion of all
other qualities. However, had the language used been of 'class' rather
than 'caste' structure, it would also compel students to examine the US'
own racially segregated churches, white supremacy groups, racial profiling,
economic stratification, and civil rights issues. In fact, the very
foundation of the American system has been historically based on white
supremacy and Christian supremacy over blacks and Native Americans.
Another strategic move
has been for Christians to control the scholarship about Hinduism, whereas
Hindus have seldom if ever been concerned about scholarly dissections of
Christianity. Under this control, which began during colonial times,
Hinduism was given the image of being polytheistic, which in turn is seen
as neo-pagan and primitive. It is shown as full of meaningless superstitious
rituals, when in fact there is not even a word in Sanskrit that means 'superstition'.
Kali and other scary images are deployed to indicate a negative and violent
religion. Animal symbolism is interpreted to indicate animal worship.
The whole enterprise has been to depict an unscientific tradition lacking
rational contributions or tendencies, compared to European superiority.
All this makes the missionary and the economic hegemony easier to morally
justify and to execute.
Plagiarism from Indic
Traditions
Certain Christian denominations
have a long history of co-opting others' beliefs. They honor a belief
or practice provided it is placed under their supremacy. For example,
the church subordinated the old pagan Greek philosophies of Aristotle and
Plato, which it made the basis of Christian theology. While they
stereotype Hinduism on the one hand, Hinduism is also the source of much
appropriation into Christianity on the other. Hindus may confuse
such co-opting of their religion with a genuine regard for it. Given
that Hindus honor many paths and views, such appropriations have also served
to cause confusion among them, and often one hears Hindus say that 'all
religions are the same' without understanding the deeper consequences.
While a Hindu participating in any Christian activities, practices, or
beliefs would not be violating Hinduism and remains a good Hindu, the reverse
is not true. Therefore, by joining Christianity under the false expectation
that it would not affect his Hindu faith, he gradually begins to get discouraged
by the newly adopted Christian faith from keeping his Hindu identity or
practices. Eventually this leads to social and cultural alienation
from his roots. Hence, the idea of dual religious affiliation, while
fine for a Hindu, is a one-way street, and has often become a political
ploy for Christians to convert those who wish to retain many Hindu practices.
For example, in South
India, Catholic priests dress up like Hindu swamis in orange, and call
their organizations ashrams, and call the preachers 'gurus'. But
they are actively engaged in surreptitious conversion. Their Hindu
dress is not necessarily to honor Hindu traditions but to make Christianity
more acceptable to the local population. They start with the Hindu
'tilak' on the forehead and this is gradually modified into a cross.
Bharat Natayam, the famous religious dance of Hinduism, is being taught
by Christian run schools in South India, in which Hindu symbols are replaced
by Christian deities and symbols. Such appropriations are designed
to ease the cultural transition. In many cases, the gullible audience
are unaware that the preacher is not in fact a Hindu, because he comes
across like a Hindu as much as he can. This Trojan Horse strategy
is becoming more popular.
Benedictine monk, Father
Bede Griffiths, lived for 30 years in India writing with great reverence
about Hinduism and how it enhanced his understanding of Christianity.
But his successor Brother Keating renamed these meditation practices as
'Christian Centering Prayer', and gradually diminished the Indian links,
presumably to secure his grip on the flock more fully.
Some Hindu or Buddhist
practices get renamed to appear more Christian friendly: Vipassana Meditation
has become 'mindfulness meditation', trademarked by Jon Kabat-Zinn.
Sri Aurobindo's Integral Yoga has been appropriated by Ken Wilber and renamed
as Integral Psychology. Teilhard de Chardin's extensive study and
commentary on Vedanta during his trip to India, especially Ramanuja's works,
are suppressed by his modern followers, even though Teilhard used these
ideas to develop what is now 'liberal Christianity'. Mary Baker Eddy,
founder of Christian Science quoted Indic thought in the early editions
of her books, but these references later got removed as Theosophy and she
became competitors - one deploying Indic ideas openly in a perennial way
and the other within strictly branded Christianity.
In an age when the Western
nations demand intellectual property rights at WTO and other forums, would
it be ethical and fair to acknowledge the West's appropriations from other
civilizations?
Christian Hegemony Promoted
as American Patriotism
Many immigrants and religious
minorities are made to feel less American if they are non-Christian.
Unlike racism, which is not open at least in the mainstream, religious
prejudice is blatant on national TV every Sunday, in political elections,
and other aspects of social and public life. But the fact is that
the US was not founded as a Christian nation:
* Virtually all the founders
of this nation were Freemasons and deists. Many actively spoke out
against Christianity.
* Thomas Jefferson said:
"I have examined all the known superstitions of the world, and I do not
find in our particular superstition of Christianity one redeeming feature."
* John Adams said: "This
would be the best of all possible worlds, if there were no religion in
it."
* During Adams' administration,
the Senate ratified the Treaty of Peace and Friendship, which states in
Article XI that "the government of the United States of America is not
in any sense founded on the Christian religion."
* The last correspondence
between John Adams and Thomas Jefferson expressed their alarm that the
Jesuits were to be allowed into the United States.
* James Madison, fourth
president and father of the Constitution, noted: "Religious bondage shackles
and debilitates the mind and unfits it for every noble enterprise."
* All the symbols on
the $1 bill are Freemason symbols. There is not one Christian symbol
to be found.
* Thomas Paine, when
asked his religion, said he subscribed only to the religion of humanity.
Scholars' View of the
Bible's Psychology
That the language of
proselytizing is explicitly one of hatred and implicitly one of racism,
with the tone of a superior talking down at the inferior people, is also
echoed by Bishop Spong: "All evangelical and missionary activities designed
to convert the heathen are base born. They are the expressions of
our sense of superiority and our hostility toward those who are different".
Elaine Pagels writes
in 'The Origin of Satan': "Christians have taught - and acted upon-the
belief that their enemies are evil and beyond redemption."
Karen Armstrong writes
in 'A History of God': "Conversions became a central preoccupation, a violent,
tortured drama in which the "sinner" and his spiritual director "wrestled"
for his soul. ...The heavy emphasis on hell and damnation combined
with an excessive self-scrutiny led many into clinical depression: suicide
seems to have been prevalent. Puritans attributed this to Satan,
who seems as powerful ..as God.... The Puritans God inspired anxiety
and a harsh intolerance of those who were not among the elect".
Examining the psychological
implications of such hate speech on the conduct of the civilizations afflicted
by it, Bishop Spong writes in 'Why Christianity Must Change or Die: "Anger
... is why so many Christian leaders historically have justified
such things as the stifling of debate with ex cathedra pronouncements,
the persecution of dissenters, the excommunication of nonconformists, the
execution of heretics, and the engagement in religious wars. Anger is always
just beneath the surface of organized religion in almost every one of its
Western manifestations."
Karen Armstrong describes
this negative archetype in her book, 'In the Beginning - Interpretation
of Genesis': "Noah was himself a victim of the divine violence, and his
story shows us that a new start based on violence and the destruction of
a people cannot usher in a healthy world order. Readers of Genesis
are forced to consider the unwelcome fact that they are all descended from
a drunkard and an abusive father, who exposed himself to his children and
neurotically disowned many of his descendants".
Indrani Rampersad, a
woman activist in Trinidad writes: "Christians see it as their duty to
save the soul of the non-believer, who is seen as inferior. Such
religions are inherently predatory and destructive of the cultural systems
that they encounter in their role as the aggressor."
Among the strongest language
used by scholars against such hatred-based religion comes from Gore Vidal,
the eminent American historian, in his Lowell Lecture at Harvard University
given April 20, 1996:
"From a barbaric Bronze
Age text known as the Old Testament, three antihuman religions have evolved
--Judaism, Christianity, Islam. These are sky-god religions.
They are, literally, patriarchal --God is the omnipotent father-- hence
the loathing of women for 2,000 years. The sky-god is a jealous god,
of course. Those who would reject him must be converted or killed
for their own good. Ultimately, totalitarianism is the only sort
of politics that can truly serve the sky-god's purpose. Any movement
of a liberal nature endangers his authority and that of his delegates on
earth. One God, one King, one Pope, one master in the factory, one
father-leader in the family home. Although the Jews were sky-god
folk, they followed Book One, not Book Two, so they have no mission to
convert others."
"Evangelical Christian
groups have traditionally drawn strength from the suppressed. African
slaves were allowed to organize heavenly sky-god churches, as a surrogate
for earthly freedom. White churches were organized in order to make
certain that the rights of property were respected and that the numerous
religious taboos in the New and Old Testaments would be enforced, if necessary,
by civil law."
"When the white race
broke out of Europe 500 years ago,. inspired by a raging sky-god, the whites
were able to pretend that their conquests were in order to bring the One
God to everyone, particularly those with older and subtler religions.
... what prosperity we have ever enjoyed in the past was usually based
on slave or near slave labor."
To bring about world
peace, to bring about cooperation among nations on global issues, and for
the sake of the spiritual evolution of humanity desired by all religions,
it is imperative that there be harmony among the religions of the world.
However, this is unachievable as long as some of them see others as competitors,
even in the holy game of soul saving. Mere tolerance is not enough,
as it is simply external and fails to address internalized prejudice.
What is needed is respect as well. The new age as melting pot of
religions has served to facilitate better understanding, sympathy and even
adoption of other religions' ideas, but the hold of 'brand' religions is
still too strong. Meanwhile, superficial interfaith dialogs have
often turned into media rallies to promote politically correct images externally,
whereas the main work has to be internally done within the institutions.
One practical but courageous
recommendation is from Regina Schwartz in 'The Curse of Cain - The Violent
Legacy of Monotheism', namely to amend the Bible: "My revision would produce
an alternative Bible that subverts the dominant vision of violence..It
would be a Bible embracing multiplicity instead of monotheism..that new
versions, decrying the violence of monotheism, will proliferate.
The old "monotheistic" Book must be closed so that the new books may be
fruitful and multiply."
I am so glad to hear
a speaker at this conference tell us that the Bible is going to be retranslated
over the next ten years with the goal of removing all the hate speech against
women, Jews, blacks, and Gays/Lesbians. I strongly recommend that
they also add to their list to remove the Bible's hate speech against other
religions, especially since this hatred has caused most of the wars and
continues to prevent genuine cooperation among the peoples of the world.
The Archetype of Hatred
and its Social Impact
Christian plurality is
sometimes merely a statement of tolerance, and nothing more: 'Love thy
neighbor' but do not forget that this neighbor will be going to hell, unless
you can save him from his backwardness.
Since the Judeo-Christian
religious language is built on the premise that they are sinners, the resulting
language of conversion theology is based on polarizing humanity into those
favored or saved by God verses those not. This vocabulary of condemnation,
heathen, sinner, pagan is very strong and violent. Traditions rooted
in such language devalue and degenerate the individual, and are manifestations
of genocidal and holocaust archetypes.
A key question is: Are
we inherently condemned as per Christian dogma or inherently divine as
per Hinduism? The answer defines one's lens for viewing history, humanity
and the definition of progress. The exclusivist faiths do not share
the Hindu idea of divinity as an inner quality with different symbolic
representations.
Religious conversions
have always generated tremendous social tensions. The reason for
this is that such conversions become successful only when the people are
rooted out of their ancient traditions and are made to think that their
ancestors were evil people. The converts are made to say awful things
to the non-converts. Converts are also asked to ignore the local
traditions and to act contrary to them. For example, in Orissa (India)
it is considered to be inauspicious to plough the land on a particular
day. The missionaries insist that the converts disregard this ancient
tradition. The Church of England has asked its members to stay away
from meditation practices and yoga since they come from traditions that
the Church of England says are inferior to Christianity.
When Christianity or
Islam has entered a given culture, in many instances people are no longer
encouraged to be free to think independently. The Bible or Koran
then becomes the supreme authority that no one dares challenge. Despite
a freedom-loving outer lifestyle, Western civilization largely fails to
pursue spirituality with freedom.
Monotheism, which India
discovered long before the Semitic religions did, has now become confused
with mono-lithic and mono-poly. The monotheism vs. polytheism
debate needs to be re-phrased as: fear-based dogma vs. freedom of
discovery and experimentation of processes, methodologies and direct experience.
The first universities
of the world were built in India, and students from around the world flocked
there for higher education. When Islam destroyed the great civilization
of India, including its centers of learning in Takshashila, Vikramashila,
Nalanda and other places, it also destroyed the free-spirited genius that
was the basis for India's science. Not a single educational center
came up for several centuries following the Islamic invasions.
In Europe, Christianity
destroyed the great free-spirited Greek Civilization.
The natural progression
in the West has been from canonical absolutism to fanaticism. The
result in the 20th century was Communism, Fascism, and Nazism. Is
Proselytizing the return of the fanatic?
Hindus' Views of Other
Religions
The Hindus welcomed not
only Christians, but also fleeing Jewish and Zoroastrian communities since
ancient times. In this hospitable atmosphere, the migrants were able
to build up economic success, as is exhibited by the affluent Zoroastrians
in India today.
Hinduism treats many
paths of salvation as valid, believing that each person may create a personal
spiritual path. This is the essence of the Hindu tolerance that gave
shelter to the religiously persecuted people of the world. There
are many God-Truths, but these are merely representations by different
people of a single God-Truth. This has given rise to hundreds of
sects and sub-sects within Hinduism, which have learned to co-exist.
There is no central authority to control people's personal belief on religious
matters. In no case has Hinduism caused alienation of people against
their own heritage.
Hindus never went to
any land with the power of the sword. Its spread outside the land
of its birth has always been through peaceful means. There have been
no attempts to convert people of other faiths. There is no particular
zeal and enthusiasm for one's beliefs to the point of wanting to 'educate'
others on one's own religious beliefs. Those from outside the Hindu
traditions who have been attracted to it have done so of their own initiative
due to its openness and freedom. Hindus never target anyone for conversion,
so the motive for hatred is not there. Rather, Hindus are challenging
Christian prejudices against Hindus that cause mistrust and hatred of Hindus
by Christians. You will find a picture of Christ in many Hindu homes.
It is the general Muslim view that Hindus are idolators, polytheists and
kafirs and doomed in the eyes of Allah. Hindus have no such doctrines
about Islam. Hindu dislike of Christianity and Islam is largely a
backlash against the centuries long efforts to convert them which are still
going on.
In Hinduism, there is
no concept similar to Christian martyrdom or Islamic jihad. The most
popular, important, and revered historical figures of Hinduism were not
martyrs. Spirituality is not about fighting someone of another religion.
There is no discussion of other religions in Hinduism, no campaigns against
'false gods'. Comparative religion is not of much interest to Hindus,
as they do not see religion through competitive or predatory eyes.
Christians, on the other hand, go out of their way to control positions
in academics to research and to teach about Hinduism, as a sort of competitor
intelligence gathering and hegemony.
There has never been
any Science verses Religion conflict in Hinduism.
Recommendation to stop
proselytizing
The Dalai Lama has written:
"There are many areas of common ground on which we can have harmony - helping,
respecting, and understanding each other - in a common effort to serve
humankind. The aim of human society must be the compassionate betterment
of human beings...I am interested not in converting other people to Buddhism
but in how we Buddhists can contribute to human society, according to our
own ideas. I believe that other religious faiths also think in a
similar way, seeking to contribute to the common aim." He recommends a
moratorium on proselytizing, at least for a certain period of time, in
order to given cooperative pluralism a chance.
Unfortunately, things
have not improved since Gandhi said:
"If I had the power and
could legislate, I would stop all proselytizing . In Hindu households the
advent of a missionary has meant the disruption of the family coming in
the wake of change of dress, manners, language, food and drink ." (Harijan:
November 5, 1935).
"Our innermost prayer
should be that a Hindu should be a better Hindu, a Muslim a better Muslim,
a Christian a better Christian." (Young India: January 19, 1928)
"I hold that proselytizing
under the cloak of humanitarian work is unhealthy to say the least.
It is most resented by people here. Religion after all is a deeply
personal thing. It touches the heart. Why should I change my
religion because a doctor who professes Christianity as his religion has
cured me of some disease, or why should the doctor expect such a change
whilst I am under his influence?" (Young India: April 23, 1931).
We should challenge the
missionaries to take one small country, say El Salvador (the name has significance
since it comes from 'salvation'), and help to remove all the poverty and
social ills of that Christian country. Only then could the missionaries
say that their objective is social uplifting and empowerment. Only
then might they have any credibility claiming that they could solve problems
in a larger and more complex nation such as India by conversion.
The doctrine of racial
superiority that the Europeans used to justify their colonial rule is gone,
but the attitude of Christian religious superiority continues. Such
religious exclusivism is backward and prejudicial, just like racism.
If one believes, as the Church teaches, that his/her non-Christian neighbors
will go to hell, it doesn't do much for communal harmony. Conversion
belongs to the times of colonialism. We have entered the era of Unity,
of coming together, of tolerance and accepting each other.
No society has advanced,
spiritually or materially, by converting from one faith to another.
It can be easily proved that the economic progress in Europe happened only
when the hold of the Vatican was reduced. When Christianity accepts
the right of other people to follow their own beliefs and creeds, then
only will Jesus Christ's spirit truly radiate in the world.
Proposed Declaration
of Religious Responsibilities
Until such time as proselytizing
is stopped, organized religion must be accepted as a field of competing
worldviews, with economic and political interests. Rules of fair
competition must be developed as in other competitive businesses.
Globalization makes it imperative to have an open and free religious environment,
in which individuals can choose, experiment with alternatives, and change
their religious path as often as they want.
There must exist certain
ethics of evangelizing or 'marketing' religion. A level playing field
in terms of such responsibility would raise standards of religious promotion
and reduce social tensions, which often arise from uncontrolled or unethical
competition. Every marketing company, despite its firm belief that
it has the 'best' or even only 'true' product, must comply with norms of
fair competition. I propose that religious organizations must be
required to comply with appropriate rules of fair competition.
A good starting point
is the US Federal Trade Commission's standards for telemarketing and mail
order selling, especially rules pertaining to poor and other disadvantaged
persons. While marketers argue in favor of their freedom to sell
and advertise, and for the public's right to choose freely (even unwisely),
the FTC has enacted laws balancing this freedom with protection from exploitation
of the poor and uninformed. The rewards of political and economic
power eschewed by zealots of religious conversion are often greater than
the financial rewards of marketing scams. Why should religions be
exempt from norms of honesty and fairness?
I propose a 'Camp David'
to disarm the religions of the world of all hatred. Following are
discussion ideas for a Declaration of Religious Responsibilities, from
such an event:
Freedom verses Hate Speech:
Should denigration of a community as 'condemned', 'sinners', 'pagans',
or 'heathen', be deemed as 'hate speech', which is unlawful in many places?
Which freedom is more important - freedom 'from' hatred, or freedom 'to'
hate? Should the quid pro quo for having religious freedom be respect for
others' religions?
Fair Competition: The
FTC considers it unlawful to trash one's competitor unreasonably or falsely.
Should false portrayals of another's religion be disallowed, even if done
in the name of God's work? (For example, statements that are true only
for a small percentage of followers of a religion, or only one denomination
of it, are often used to denounce the entire religion.)
Proselytizing verses
Consumer Protection: It is unlawful for commercial marketers to 'promise'
results that are untested or unproven. Likewise, should evangelists
have disclosure requirements on the basis for their claims? Should consumers
have the right to litigate when there is fraud, duress or false representation?
What is the definition of 'voluntary' conversion as opposed to intimidation
or financially based entrapment? In the sales pitch of many evangelists,
if one replaces 'God's love' with a commercial product, such a sales pitch
often compares with those that are considered fraud and prosecuted by the
FTC. Transparency of process should not get compromised in the drive
for market share by an aggressive religion.
Holy Wars: Should any
government, religion, organization or person that endorses, supports even
in principle, promotes, preaches, or facilitates any violence of any kind
in the name of religion against anyone whatsoever, be deemed guilty of
human rights violation?
Separation between Religion
and State: This principle of the United States should be reflected in its
policy, by denouncing 'official' or 'state' religions, or any preferential
treatment to the majority religion of a country. This would include
interest rates, job or commercial opportunities, public laws, holidays,
education and other rights. Are we ready to condemn all countries
where institutionalized preferences exist for certain religions?
Issues Within American
Higher Education
Since the social problems
discussed are ultimately about mental attitudes, educators in USA and India
should also be taken to task for their role in shaping young minds.
The study, or lack thereof, about India spreads across many diverse departments
in American Universities- South Asian Studies, Religious Studies, Indology,
Anthropology, History, Sociology, Political Science, Psychology, and Philosophy.
In general, few Indians have gone into higher studies for the humanities,
preferring sciences and other lucrative fields instead. Most Indians
who have entered the humanities as a serious career have had an ideological
agenda, and over the past 50 years, this was almost exclusively Marxist
and/or Christian. In fact, it amazing to see such a large number
of Indian Christians in the academic field of studying Hinduism, whereas
Hindus seldom enter the field of academic study of Hinduism and virtually
never bother to study Christianity. Here are some observations about
specific departments:
South Asian Studies,
Anthropology, Social Studies, and History:
There are somewhere between
3 and 5 faculty positions for East Asia (China, Japan, etc) studies, for
every position for South Asia. This is because Japan understood the
leverage of endowing chairs for Japan studies at major universities, and
today these chairs proliferate. They also endowed many influential
institutions such as the Asia Society, and hence `controlled' or at least
influenced the selection process. (Note that while there is a Tibet
House in New York, and similar entities for so many countries' cultural
promotion, there is not even an India House in New York.) Funds for South
Asia studies are very low compared to China/Japan even in places such as
Brookings Institute and other think tanks.
Also, the Pakistan government
is very active in such educational interventions, whereas India has not
yet learnt the value. As one example, the government of Pakistan
announced in May, 2000 that it is endowing the Quaid-I-Azam Chair in Pakistan
Studies at Berkeley in the South Asian Studies department. A similar
chair is also being done at Columbia.
Much of the coverage
of India in these departments is about social problems facing women, caste,
religious conflicts, nuclear bombs, pollution, .They are hardly the place
where a student would get a balanced appreciation about the gifts of India's
civilization to the world. The mentality and agenda seem to be one
of social re-engineering rather than social studies. These departments
are seeping with leftist and/or social anthropological portrayals - as
a land of problems and every kind of strange and backward phenomenon.
Academic Indians have not fought against this and sometimes facilitated
it. It has become especially fashionable for Indian women to trash
India's heritage as being responsible for all sorts of women's problems,
and for Indian Christians to trash Hinduism - and this has been encouraged
by the West. Perhaps, they should study whether it was the destruction
of the indigenous civilization by Islam and Christianity that caused and/or
exacerbated many of the problems.
Religious Studies:
These departments are
enjoying popularity and growth, as religion becomes more popular among
students. Unfortunately, despite Hinduism's pre-eminence as the fountainhead
of Buddhism and much of Asian civilization, and its intellectual position
in the realm of religion in general, it is amazing that THERE IS NOT ONE
SINGLE HINDUISM STUDIES CHAIR in USA and the only one in North America
is in Concordia (Canada). There are chairs on Sikhism, many on Buddhism,
and of course literally dozens on the Judeo, Christian, and Islamic religions.
There are now even chairs for such obscure religions as `Shintoism', but
still Hinduism has none. Most teachers of Hinduism in these departments
are non Hindu - the only major world religion with little representation
from within. Recently, Indians in Indiana raised money to endow a
Rabindranath Tagore Chair for India Studies. Its occupant is a well-known
scholar of Indian philosophy and Hinduism, who is also a Christian preacher.
Lately, his support for young scholars writing Orientalism (e.g.
Richard King's new book) has disappointed many who were surprised to see
his U-Turn away from being India friendly.
In the American Academy
of Religion, out of 9,000 members, those who are members in the special
group for Religions in South Asian (RISA) are around 400 or so. There
are numerous special groups each for the study of one specific religion
such as Judaism, Christianity, Buddhism, Islam, but there has been little
interest in having such a group specifically for Hinduism. At the
AAR's annual 2000 event, it is interesting to note that even a panel to
review the media portrayal of Hinduism and Buddhism has only non-Hindus.
Psychology:
This holds the greatest
promise for scientific and authentic portrayal of Indic thought, as many
psychologists have begun to appreciate yoga, meditation, various philosophies
of India, Kundalini, tantra, charkas, and even appreciate bhakti in this
context. The problem is plagiarism, as nobody wants to be associated
with a tradition having such a bad social reputation. But the evidence
of appropriation is still fresh in this field, and the scholars can be
caught red-handed and made to acknowledge. It would be a very important
task to introduce Indian thought into psychology books explicitly as Indian
thought. This also avoids the Judeo-Christian language and the social/anthropology
stereotyping. It would position it as a science of consciousness
rather than `religion' in the Judeo-Christian sense. But disappointingly,
at every conference on consciousness that I have attended over the past
3 or 4 years, the Indian representation is minimal - Deepak Chopra is a
big name, but he is alone and not a psychologist, whereas now there are
dozens of Christians and secular psychologists in the fray.
Philosophy:
Except for U of Hawaii
and Austin, major universities' philosophy departments do not offer a PhD
in Indian Philosophy and many do not acknowledge its existence. The
American Philosophical Association has many special interest groups within
it, but not one on Indian Philosophy.
Indology:
With its origins in colonialism,
this field is shrinking in size, the more sophisticated Orientalism now
being done by other humanities departments noted above.
Issues Within India's
Higher Education
For 50 years after its
independence, India pursued socialist secularism as its national policy,
in which indigenous heritage was devalued for the sake of 'progressive'
(read 'Marxist') ideology. While it has been fashionable to learn
European languages, Sanskrit was barely taught. Macaluayite Indians
pride themselves in knowing the Greek classics, but few students are taught
India's own classics of Ramayana and Mahabharata for fear of violating
secularism. There are NO DEPARTMENTS FOR RELIGIOUS STUDIES, except
one in Patiala University (which is a minor second tier university).
Rather than pluralism, the system adopted secularism, in the very land
that the rest of the world regards as the birthplace of so much spiritual
richness and diversity.
India's educators have
engaged in socially engineered portrayal of history, philosophy, social
studies, and other fields. Often the leftists and Christians have
collaborated with Western scholars to enhance and legitimize such portrayals,
and positioned themselves in high leverage academic jobs.
As one case in point,
take the history of Islamic invasions of India. Will Durant in 'Our
Oriental Heritage', page 459 writes:
"The Mohammedan Conquest
of India is probably the bloodiest story in history. It is a discouraging
tale, for its evident moral is that civilization is a precarious thing,
whose delicate complex of order and liberty, culture and peace may at any
time be overthrown by barbarians invading from without or multiplying within.
The Hindus ..had failed to organize their forces for the protection of
their frontiers and their capitals, their wealth and their freedom, from
the hordes of Scythians, Huns, Afghans and Turks hovering about India's
boundaries and waiting for national weakness to let them in. For
four hundred years (600-1000 A.D.) India invited conquest; and at last
it came... The bitter lesson that may be drawn from this tragedy
is that eternal vigilance is the price of civilization. A nation
must love peace, but keep its powder dry."
However, there continues
to be a complete educational blackout of this period of holocaust and genocide
lasting a few centuries, for the sake of political correctness and social
harmony. Now compare this policy to the situation in America's education.
The US textbooks have chapters on slavery taught to every American kid
today. With kids of all races present in the same classroom, there
is very open, unemotional, factual discussion; kids write essays and do
research on this history. Likewise, in the academic teaching of Christianity,
all the atrocities, wars, inquisitions, are part of the historical portrayal
without embarrassment or concern. Jews insist on the teaching of
the Jewish holocaust, and women are actively involved in proper portrayal
of their history and issues. Kids are taught to face the realities
of the world, and hopefully become more responsible than their ancestors
were, yet without anyone today being held liable for the past. The
American strategy is that openness would improve the relations in the long
run, rather than suppressing the horrors of the past.
Is it time for India's
educational system to excavate the past that it has attempted to bury -
ignored but not forgotten.