Author:
Publication: Deccan Herald
Date: April 22, 2005
URL: http://www.christianaggression.org/item_display.php?type=NEWS&id=1114231973
[Note from Hindu Vivek Kendra:
So conversion to Christianity takes the social fabric to a higher level?]
Nearly 111 years after its advent
in Mizoram and Manipur, Christianity has now waken up to the potent threat
that the star of David posed to the Cross in the two north-eastern states.
The Christian theologians and researchers
have of late launched a campaign to counter the growing affinity of some
Mizos and Kukis (a tribe of Manipur) towards Judaism.
The synagogues in Aizawl and Imphal
have a number of regulars since ages. But what have alarmed the Christian
scholars in the two states are recent media reports from Jerusalem that
a team of Rabbis from Israel would soon land in the region to conduct mass
conversions.
"Such mass conversion of people
from Christianity to Judaism will destroy the social fabric of both the
tribes. It is the need of the hour that we launch a social movement against
any such move," said P C Biaksiama of the Christian Research Centre in
Aizawl.
Dr Biaksiama and Rev Chuauthuama
of the Aizawl Theological College will take on the proponents of the Mizos'
Jewish descent in a public debate on Friday.
Although almost all Mizos, who earlier
practised indigenous faiths, embraced Christianity by mid 1940s, some of
them in early 1970s noticed that many of their traditional customs and
rituals matched with those of the Jews. This made them believe that their
ancestors had been Jews and lived in Israel.
Their belief was later endorsed
by Rabbi Eliahu Avichail, an eminent religious leader of Israel, who had
set up Amishav, an organisation based in Jerusalem, to trace and help the
descendants of Israel's 10 Lost Tribes to return to the "Holy Land", a
right that the Constitution of Israel has granted to every Jew.
According to the Amishav, now known
as 'Shavei Israel', the Mizos and Kukis are descendants of the 'Tribe of
Manasseh', which along with nine other tribes had been exiled from Israel's
northern kingdom after the Assiriyan invasion in 721 BC.
Nearly 7,000 Mizos and Kukis have
so far returned to Judaism. They call themselves 'Bnei Menashe' or the
'Sons of Manasseh'. The Amishav has helped nearly 800 of them migrate to
Israel. The process was stopped in 2003, as the Interior Ministry of the
Government of Israel had doubts over the Bnei Menashes' claim of Jewish
descent.
However, the apex religious body
of Israel, the Chief Rabbinate, last month recognised the Bnei Menashes
as the descendants of Israel.
But Rev Chuauthuama said the "nonsense"
claim of Jewish descent of the Mizos and Kukis was not based on historical
or anthropological facts. "There may be some similarities between the customs
of any two communities of the world. Some customs of the Mizos may resemble
those of the Israelites. But that doesn't mean that our ancestors were
Israelites and Jews," he said.
"The Church has never been convinced
with what they (Bnei Menashes) say. They have never been taken seriously.
Theirs is a small community, at least till now," said Rev Colney of the
Mizoram Presbyterian Church Synod.
'Religious invasion'
But Dr Biaksiama said not only the
Church, but also the Centre and state government should now wake up to
this "religious and cultural invasion", as the promise of a "better living
standards" in Israel may tempt many more to join the Bnei Menashes.
"The mass conversion by foreign
priests will pose a threat not only to social stability in the region,
but also to national security. A large number of people will forsake loyalty
to the Union of India, as they all will become eligible for a foreign citizenship,"
he said.
