Author: SAR News
Publication: Renovacao
Date: September 1-15, 2002
Hindu fundamentalist organisations,
including the Munnani, Arya Samaj and the Bharatiya Janata Party, staged
a string of demonstrations here protesting the alleged conversion of a
group of 250 Hindu Dalits from the villages of Madurai, Ramanathapuram,
Them and Tirunelveli districts, by the Seventh Day Adventists at a function
in their school premises here.
The pastors of the Adventist Church
had allegedly "convinced the people who received baptism August 25 - 250
of them on a single day - of the benefits in store for them if they embraced
Christianity." A three-day ceremony preceded the baptism, which was widely
reported in the media.
The villagers were allegedly asked
to affirm their commitment to Christianity, Jesus Christ's second coming,
their determination to follow the Ten Commandments and their resolve to
part with one-tenth of their income for missionary works.
Inspired by the 'Operation Go One
Million' call given by the president of the Seventh Day Adventists in India,
D. R. Watts, a Canadian, the local pastors had a tough time to realise
the target, the organisers of the baptism ceremony said.
When the Adventists had organised
a similar function in Madurai in January 2001, about 1,500 people were
baptised, the organisers said. The baptised villagers received sewing machines
as gifts. Most of them belonged to the Sholavandan, Perayur, Thirumangalam
and Melur regions. Though the last year function was organised in the heart
of the city, there was no media exposition, they added.
But the three-day preparatory function
and the baptism August 25 had attracted a large number of onlookers and
members of the media. The first protest was by the BJP, which organised
a demonstration in Tallakulam condemning "conversion through allurements.
"The party accused every faction of Christianity of converting Hindus and
demanded a legislation to ban "conversion with funds secured from abroad."
In the wake of the BJP demonstration,
various groups organised a chain of protest in several parts of this region.
Arya Samaj secretary, Mr. Ramurthy, September 12, made a stinging attack
on the Christians for their attempts to lure innocent Hindus "to a foreign
religion and culture."
Though Adventist pastors initially
denied any incident of conversion, subsequently they said the people involved
in the 'Thirumarai Peruvizha' were not Hindus, but their own people whose
wards were initiated into the religion during the three-day meet.
The pastor in charge of the function
said: "The Adventists have committed no blunder to be accused this way.
The Constitution of India guarantees right to every individual to practise
and propagate one's religion." "Following reports in the media, many agencies
have started grilling us about the number of people baptised, the quantum
of money given, etc., which are disturbing our work for the poor," the
pastor added.
As a damage control exercise, the
Adventist Pastors have now approached Archbishop Marianus Arockiasamy of
Madurai "to use the Sunday pulpit to tell the congregation what really
happened." On his part Archbishop Arockiasamy has said, "it was unfortunate
that an unorganised church had baptised people in the way it was reported,
within days."
Principal of Theological Seminary,
Dr. Dyanchand Carr, said using such means as the Adventists reportedly
did to convert people should be condemned.
