The Hindu diaspora and American Christians

[Guest guest]

A dialogue between the Hindu diaspora and American Christians

By Atam Vetta in Oxford

 

Shri K.S. Sudarshan is concerned about the activities of Muslim and

Christian missionaries to convert Hindus (Organiser, issue dt.

October 9, 2005, "Conversion is a menace"). He identifies a serious

problem but, regrettably, gives no guidance on how to cope with this

menace. A few weeks ago, he said that a swayamsevak can make

suggestions for the consideration of the RSS leadership. I hope this

invitation is also open to every Hindu in the diaspora whether a

swayamsevak or not. Perhaps, he would allow me to draw his attention

and that of other Hindu leaders in the diaspora to a possible

solution so far as Christian conversions are concerned.

 

In the last 50 years the world has become rather small and each

country and religion needs `friends'. Buddhists and Buddhist

countries are natural friends of Hindus and Indians. The behaviour of

some Sri Lankan Buddhists is an exception. The `Look East' policy of

the last NDA government, in particular, the reaching out to Buddhists

countries was a step in the right direction. I have no doubt that

India's relations with these countries will strengthen. Today,

however, I wish to say to the Hindu diaspora that it needs to make a

serious effort to initiate and develop good relations with Christians

in the West and, in particular, with the neo-conservatives (NeoCons)

in the US. I hope that Shri Sudarshan and other Hindu leaders will

consider my suggestion seriously.

 

Good relations with NeoCons will not necessarily stop the conversion

activities of missionaries immediately, but its long term advantages

to India and to the Hindu diaspora are obvious as the US is likely to

remain the most powerful nation for the next few decades. It might

also have a positive effect on Christians in the North-East in India.

 

Hindu leaders living in India need to be aware of the revolution

taking place in western Christian thought. The Hindu media needs to

explain this transformation to Indians. There will then be less Hindu

victims of close minded Christian missionary predators who operate in

India.

 

Traditionally, Christians believe in the Virgin Birth and

Resurrection (the concept that Jesus `rose' from the dead). The late

Anglican Bishop Robinson in his book Honest to God published in the

sixties argued that shorn of the Virgin Birth and resurrection,

Christianity is like Hinduism. Today, only a few British Anglican

Bishops believe in the Virgin Birth and Resurrection. (Anglican

Church is the Church of England and the Church of India is its

counterpart in India). I suspect that most bishops of the Church of

India still believe in the Virgin Birth and Resurrection. This is

because their knowledge of science and modern Christian theology lags

behind that of Anglican bishops. Thus, a modern British Anglican

bishop is closer to Hindus than the less knowledgeable Indian bishop.

Currently, many Anglican bishops are busy propagating the

myth "Christians, Muslims—bhai bhai". It may be sometime before like

the late bishop Robinson, they realise that they are very close to

Hindus.

 

What about the Catholic Church? In the past, the Catholic Church has

been strong on doctrinal issues. Now a change seems to be in the

offing. For example, the main story on page 5 of the Times (London)

on October 5, 2005 was "Catholic Church no longer swears by the truth

of the Bible". It stated that the hierarchy of the Catholic Church in

Britain "has published a teaching document instructing the faithful

that some parts of the Bible are not actually true". By any standards

this is a revolutionary change. Such a change takes time to filter

through to the masses and it may be some time before it reaches

Catholics in India.

 

A `real' Christian believes in the absolute truth of the Bible. `born

again' Christians believe in the literal truth of the Bible. NeoCons

in the US are born-again Christians. President Bush is also a born-

again Christian. It was the NeoCons' efforts that increased the Bush

vote by nearly eight million in the 2004 Presidential election. They

are a powerful and rich lobby in the US and are likely to remain so

in the next few decades. A dialogue with liberal Americans has been

going on for a few years now and we are seeing some of the benefits

of this dialogue. Now the Hindu diaspora needs to open a dialogue

with NeoCons also.

 

Good relations with NeoCons will not necessarily stop the conversion

activities of missionaries immediately, but its long term advantages

to India and to the Hindu diaspora are obvious as US is likely to

remain the most powerful nation for the next few decades. It might

also have a positive effect on Christians in the North-East in India.

 

This dialogue will be difficult, more so because some of the NeoCons'

money is used for conversion of Hindus in India. In my view a

dialogue is not only necessary but is essential if the Hindu diaspora

wishes to have political clout in the international arena.

 

How can the Hindu diaspora initiate this almost impossible task? I

hope Shri Sudarshan and other Hindu leaders will deliberate on this

question and then provide an answer to the diaspora. As the task is

almost impossible it will need the same clear vision and

determination that the Jews have shown since 1956 to achieve a

similarly impossible task.

 

For quite a few centuries Christians used the verse in the Bible

(Matthew xxvii, 25) which says "His (Jesus) blood will be on us and

on our children" to blame Jews for the crucifixion of Jesus (Jesus

and his disciples were Jews). Jews were discriminated against and

disliked by Christians for centuries. The only `good' Jew was the one

who converted to Christianity. The US was not particularly in favour

of Israel. Indeed, to convince President Truman to vote in favour of

the resolution to create Israel some American Jewish leaders

presented him a list of Jewish voters in New York about a day before

the vote in the United Nations. President Truman was impressed and

the US voted in favour of the resolution. A vote against that

resolution by the US would have vetoed Israel's creation.

 

In 1956 when Israel at the behest of Britain and France invaded

Egypt, President Eisenhower forced it to give up all ill-gotten

gains. Jews then realised that the real power has shifted from Europe

to the US. They launched a well co-ordinated and single minded

campaign for friendship with the American people. The rest is

history.

 

Leaders of the Hindu diaspora need to plan a road map to launch a

campaign "Christians, Hindus bhai bhai" in the US. I suggest Shri

Sudarshan should take the first step on this long, difficult and

treacherous road.

 

(The writer can be contacted at vettaatam@a...)

http://www.organiser.org/dynamic/modules.php?

name=Content&pa=showpage&pid=102&page=9

 

--- End forwarded message ---