HINDHU TOLERANCE AND THE CHRISTIAN MASSACRES- AN EXPLANATION

I dislike to make copy-paste but this article of Kushwant Singh in Hindustan Times explains logically the reflections of upper- class Hindhu and the resentment and background of the culprits responsible for the massacres, still giving the impression that Hinduismus is the right faith giving no reason to convert.


Recent incidents of violence and vandalism against Christians and their churches deserve to be condemned unreservedly. They have blackened the fair face of Mother India and ruined the reputation of Hindus being the most religiously tolerant people in the world. At the same time, we must take a closer look at people who convert from one faith to another.

To start with, let it be understood that these days there are no forced conversions anywhere in the world. India is no exception. Those who assert that the poor, innocent and ignorant of India are being forced to accept Christianity are blatant liars. A few, very few educated and well-to-do men and women convert to another faith when they do not find solace in the faith of their ancestors. Examples are to be found in America and Europe of men and women of substance turning from Judaism and Christianity to Buddhism, Hinduism, Islam and Sikhism.

There are also men and women who convert to the faith of those they wish to marry. We have plenty of cases of Hindu, Muslim, Christian and Sikh inter-marriages. However, the largest number of converts come from communities discriminated against. The outstanding example was that of Dalit leader Bhimrao Ambedkar who led his Mahar community to embrace Buddhism because they were discriminated against by upper caste Hindus. This is also true of over 90 per cent of Indian Muslims whose ancestors being lower caste embraced Islam which gave them equal status. That gives lie to the often-repeated slander that Islam made converts by the sword.

An equally large number of people converted out of gratitude. They were neglected, ignorant and poor. When strangers came to look after them, opened schools and hospitals for them, taught them, healed them and helped them to stand on their own feet to hold their heads high, they felt grateful towards their benefactors. Most of them were Christian missionaries who worked in remote villages and brought hope to the lives of people who were deprived of hope.

To this day, Christian missionaries run the best schools, colleges and hospitals in our country. They are inexpensive and free of corruption. They get converts because of the sense of gratitude they generate. Can this be called forcible conversion? Why don’t the great champions of Hinduism look within their hearts and find out why so many are disenchanted by their pretensions of piety? Let them first set their own houses in order, purge the caste system out of Hindu society and welcome with open arms all those who wish to join them.

No one will then convert from Hinduism to another religion.

I apologize to Hindustan times and Kushant Singh for violating their coyrights without permission

PEACEFULL HINDHI & THE CHRISTIAN MASSACRES

30 September 2008
The attacks on Christian continue in Kandhamal on Tuesday after rampaging Hindi killed one person and injured 15 in a pre-dawn raid on three villages in Ghumusar Udaygiri. Two churches and around 70 houses were also damaged as tribal Kandhs continued their attacks on Pana Christians, fuelled by ethnic and communal reasons.
In the latest attack, around 1,000 armed tribals swooped on three villages, Rudangia, Gadaguda and Telingia spread over a radius of 5km in Udaygiri block, and targeted Pana-Dalits who have embraced Christianity, said an official source.
The mobs desecrated two churches, torched and razed over 70 houses and brutally assaulted around 15 people.
A woman, Ramani Naik (50), of Rudangia, died on the spot. The official death toll has now gone up to 32. The condition of nine others is said to be serious and they have been shifted to the MKCG medical college at Berhampur, in Ganjam.
Three of those injured have bullet injuries. Eight people, including two women, have been arrested in connection with the incident. The attack came hours after three crude bombs were set off near a relief camp on Monday.



30 September 2008
BHUBANESWAR : violenceagainst Christians continue: One woman was axed to death and 10 people were wounded on Sept. 30 as the Hindu radical violence entered a sixth week, reported UCA News.

The killing raised the number of confirmed deaths to 47 in the violence that began in the eastern Indian state on Aug. 24.
The attackers came with petrol bombs, swords, axes and knives, and "brutally attacked sleeping families," said the priest, who left the parish for safety after the anti-Christian pogrom began. An 8-year-old boy and his mother are among those critically injured in the attack that began around 4 a.m., said the priest, who now stays in the state capital of Bhubaneswar, some 1,745 kilometers southeast of New Delhi.
Father Parichha said Catholics and Protestants in the villages did not expect the attacks because most families there are Christian. About 35 of Rudangia's 40 families belong to Christian Churches and denominations, while Gadaguda has 25 Christian and five Hindu families.
The burning is still continuing. There is no one to stop them. People are fleeing for their life," the priest told UCA News at 11 a.m., just hours after the attacks.

29 September 2008
A Catholic in the Phiringia area was critically injured when Hindu radicals tortured him after he refused to denounce his faith. The man is now hospitalized,

28 Sept. 2008
Three bodies, including that of a woman, were fished out of the Salunki River in Phulbani, headquarters of Kandhamal district, 350 kilometers west of Bhubaneswar. On the same day, 30 Catholic houses in the Daringabadi area were attacked, looted and set on fire. The attackers also reportedly feasted on some livestock. These attacks cannot happen without the support of the local Hindu families, the hatred has several roots, including jealousy over Christians' progress and the desire to possess Christian farmland.
The violence also has displaced an estimated 50,000 people, who are now hiding in forests, living in state-run relief camps or staying with relatives in cities and towns outside the troubled areas.

29 Septemer 2008
Crude bombs were brought to explosioan on Monday at two places and houses burned in Kandhmal and two crude bombs exploded in separate incidents at Baliguda and K Nuagaon areas on Sunday night, five houses were reportedly torched under Gochhapada police station area in Phirigia block. Theblasts were intended to create panic and not kill. The Gochhapada house damage issue is said to have stemmed from ethnic considerations with tribal Kandhs baying for Dalit Panas' blood.
Reports from various parts of the district said blasts were directed at relief camps where Christian families, who have been targetted by Hindu activists.
The official toll in the religious violence rose to 31 with the administration confirming recovery of one more body from Badasalunki river at Bisipada village near Phulbani.

28 September 2008
Sunday, police found the body of Priyatamma Digal, an auxillary nursing and midwife (ANM) worker, from the river. On Monday, the body of Meghanath, Priyatamma's husband, was fished out. The couple was killed last Thursday.