Re: Shocking!

["Jiyalal S." <jekins@vsnl.net>]

---------------------------------------------------------------------
Please help make the Manifesto better, or accept it, and propagate it!
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Shocking it is and has been all along. But we the neo secularists have our
eyes shut by our convent educational background. All along during our
education, we have been looked down upon by our educator missionaries as we
are people who would refuse to convert to the "most modern and international
religion, christianity that has come to save the people of India from its
old, superstitious, castetist 'religion' called Hinduism"

If you ask any enlightened Indian, Hindu or not, whether Hindus ever need to
have converted from an all encompassing, free thinking 'way of life' into
which they were born i.e. Hinduism, they will tell you that conversion need
not have taken place in the first place! Indians left to themselves would
not have converted, at least into a more restrictive regimen called religion
after having lived in a free state of mind. Had 'Force' of state power and
money not been used, it is illogical to find people in such large numbers
tying their hands up into the a new religion of their 'choice' born less
than 2000 years ago and not even having any revolutionary thoughts to offer.

Hinduism by its very character does not restrict you to follow any
particular form of worship or God's name, much less a godman's name.
If there are 36 crore gods it just represents the fertility of the human
mind when left free to choose one's own God to worship. Regimentation is the
last thing recommended by the vedas or our thinkers, the rishis. But by the
same token, Hinduism would not even stop voluntary conversion. Each Hindu
sect (and those who do not like to call themselves Hindus, namely Buddhists,
Jains, Sikhs) is after all a group of converts from basic Hinduism. So there
should be no objection to conversion per se.

Then what is shocking us. The shocking part is that large sums of money
should be pumped into the country for the purpose of quick and fly by night
conversion activity that too by foreign elements, and official apathy in
claiming that no foreign missionaries are given visas to enter the country
in the recent past. And we the neo secularists are busy castigating the
RSS/VHP for crimes against minorities which perhaps they have never
committed. Yes, they have criticised the 'alleged forcible conversions' and
asked these to be banned. Although I have nothing to do with their
ideologies, I feel that there is some merit in their demand for an immediate
stop or at least lawful regulation to proactive conversion activity.

It has been seen that whenever any area in India has a majority of any
minority religion, it becomes the Hub of illegal secessionist activity
sponsored by unfriendly foreign powers. Kashmir, Punjab Northeast are
examples.

Although it would be unfair to ban all conversion from your present faith,
Law should regulate the activity to ensure that the decision to convert was
the individual's own and not the statistic of success story of a missionary
(definitely not a foreign missionary). I am amazed how Indian missionaries
have decided to collectively pounce upon the RSS for suggesting formation of
an Indian Church. It is a perfectly fine idea if we stop being biased
against Hindu
organisations. The Vatican and Pope have done a disservice to Humanity by
calling to redouble efforts at conversion to christianity. Why should Indian
Catholics not behave as Indians by rejecting the conversion diktat of the
Vatican and strive to spread christianity vertically and convert only
those individuals who have really decided for themselves to convert rather
than offer inducements to convert shaky people to fill statistics to show
their foriegn masters?

I would suggest that we evolve a consensus to have a 'Conversion Commission'
like Minorities and Human rights Commissions. This Commission should have
the right to declare any doubtful conversion null and void legally and also
hear complaints of 'Forcible' or 'Proactive' conversion activity and should
have the status of a legal body. Let political parties think of the future
of the country rather than pander to missionaries desires in return for a
few votes of minorities. The Indian minorities have the capability to rise
above their organised religious heads' demands and show their true
Indianess.

S.Jiyalal




--------------------------------------------------------------------------
This is the National Debate on System Reform.       debate@indiapolicy.org
Rules, Procedures, Archives:            ../debate/
-------------------------------------------------------------------------