Shady Missionaries

“You may be aware that the Missionaries of Charity (yes, the Mother Teresa’s Group) is right now embroiled in a controversy where it has been revealed that it was involved in selling children

https://www.google.co.in/amp/s/www.firstpost.com/india/ranchi-baby-selling-racket-police-find-fourth-child-given-away-for-free-by-missionaries-of-charity-nun-4747181.html/amp

The fact of the matter is that this organisation and Mother Teresa herself are quite shady characters. Have a look at some of these old videos –

I think you should have a post on this and about how the Vatican goes about its business in India. The Church is, you know, very quick to blame BJP all of their imagined ills so it is necessary we also discuss their not so innocent ways.

Thanks in advance.”

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Jaydeepsinh Rathod
Jaydeepsinh Rathod
5 years ago

I hope people commment and discuss this topic. Atleast my fellow Indians. Too often, especially in the tenure of the current BJP govt., India has been portrayed as an increasingly dangerous country for its minorities. At the forefront of playing victim and making accusations has been the Church. This has been played around in the international media, especially in the UK & the US.

The reality has been that the ordinary Hindus do not harbour any hatred for the Christians though many Hindus harbor it for Muslims unfortunately. But it is the Church and its foot soldiers who are very active in tarnishing India. The reason purely is because they do not have a free hand in carrying out their nefarious activities – the chief being converting the tribals in remote areas to Christianity and also supporting the Naxals – as the case was in earlier govts.

The case of selling of children and sexual abuse of Nuns that have come up against the Church and the Missionaries in the recent weeks is not something new. In one of the videos posted in the OP, you can see that the Indian gentleman Chatterjee points out a case of a man who came out in 1988 with accusation of him being sold as a child to a European couple by none other than Teresa.

So when these Church foot soldiers come out accusing India of caste and religious violence, please take such accusations with a pinch of salt.

Karan
Karan
5 years ago

Converting to indic religions like buddhism, sikhism, jainism is fine but converting to abrahmanic religion is??. They take up reservations which is exclusively for lower caste hindus. Most of tge cryptos r behind unrest like tuticorin, chennai highway etc. They start speaking of Hinduism in denigrating manner et al. They (church)were also behind protests against nuclear power plant in kudankulam.In short, they create unrest(some of them). Most Christians r nice and respectful.

Janamejaya
Janamejaya
5 years ago

India seems to be under determined attack by missionaries belonging to various Christian denominations. They seem to be going about it in a very sophisticated, planned manner which is bound to bring them good results in long term unless Hindus wise up to their acts.

An example is the Joshua Project
https://joshuaproject.net

which has collected very detailed information about all Indian ethnicities and castes along with their customs, religious and cultural practices in order to provide them with the best methods to induce conversions.

While the Indian constitution allows freedom of religion and religious conversions I don’t think liberal Hindus appreciate how much such a determined effort to wipe out indigenous religious practices and supplant them with a imported Christianity is detrimental to India.

For one, its a kind of religious imperialism which by its very nature demeans religious traditions other than Christianity as ‘untrue’ or ‘superstitious’. Secondly, it wipes out entire swathes of unique cultural practices & leaves a desert in place & builds a very debilitating, permanent inferiority complex amongst the people. If converting to Christianity was that helpful then the entire sub saharan Africa which is now Christian by the efforts of the missionaries would have been a great place to live.

Finally after the western missionaries have succeeded in converting the people its not as if they would be all welcome to freely emigrate to the west and inter-marry with westerners. Instead the converted people will still have to remain in India and develop working relations with the Hindus. By their very nature recent converts tend to demean and discredit their erstwhile religion which will only exacerbate tensions with the Hindu community as we have seen recently in South Indian and also in the Punjab between Christian Dalits and the Sikhs.

I wish the BJP govt. puts a stop to this industrial scale conversion factories which the western Christian missions have managed to set up. Individual conversions by people who get attracted to a particular faith on their own is fine but this is not what has been going on. In India though, any concern on missionary activity labels you automatically as a bigot out on a religious war against Christians. Liberal Indian Hindus are so deracinated that they have internalized the western abrahamic tendency to view Hindu practices as primitive and shameful and hence you will never find them to trying to make a case for Hinduism to exist.

I read recently though the Indian inefficiency and corruption has managed to seep into Missionary efforts as well and funds to induce more conversions were being used up by local Christians to build Christian only communities on the sea-front in South India. This is the only thing which gives me hope otherwise I think a very large minority of India would soon be Christian or at least crypto Christian.

sbarrkum
5 years ago

I am from an Anglican and Evangelical background. On my mothers side ( I have some relatives (including mother and sisters) who are die hard Evangelicals.

Hindus and Buddhists (in SL) and even the established Protestant churches are going to have a hard time competing with Evangelicals. The Catholics seem relatively immune to Evangelical conversion.

When Hindu/Buddhist priests are ready to hug and kiss the poor and call them brother and sister, then maybe they can compete with the Evangelicals.

India and Ceylon can pass laws against conversion. That will just propagate more Evangelicals. Just read about Rome and the initial Christians. Christianity works best under pressure.

Buddhists and Hindus need to be more accepting of the marginalized and poor without saying that is their fate/karma.

Buddhism implies that you have to become rich/achieved much/wise to understand that desire causes sorrow. (also implied the poor will have desire and hence sorrow).

Christ said the poor will inherit the earth. The Evangelicals go onto say, believe and you will rich in this life and the next. Evangelicals will provide material (and emotional) support as well in this life.

Vikram
5 years ago
Reply to  sbarrkum

Why then are Evangelicals facing limited success in established Christian countries like the US and UK ?

The vast majority of American Christians seem to be converting to irreligion.

See here: https://www.huffingtonpost.com/carol-howard-merritt/why-evangelicalism-is-fai_b_503971.html

Janamejaya
Janamejaya
5 years ago
Reply to  sbarrkum

American white evangelicals who finance the evangelical platform are also ardent Trump supporters who want to severely limit black and brown emigration into USA. There are obvious limits to their philanthropy and a feeling of Christian brotherhood. They don’t accept fully Christian Mexicans, how will they accept Indians?

I don’t know about Sri Lanka, but there is a reason why many of these Christian converts in India are secretive about their conversion. Societal backlash aside many of them stand to lose the reservation benefits as well as other support which the govt. provides to the Hindu lower castes and Dalits. These benefits are many orders of magnitude greater than any which the evangelicals can provide. So its not as if Hinduism in India is devoid of any sense of a responsibility towards our less fortunate brothers.

However I agree with you on your assessment of Hindus not going out of their way to fraternize with other Hindus beyond their immediate family or caste. The biggest reason for this is that Hinduism is very much a religion about one’s personal ‘dharma’ and one’s personal relationship with God. This is a very individualistic concept and Hinduism doesn’t enjoin its adherents to form a community with a common goal or purpose. Infact I believe, having learnt from Islam an Christianity, ‘Hindutva’ is actually a movement in the direction of developing fraternity amongst Hindus.

AnAn
5 years ago
Reply to  Janamejaya

Janamejaya, I could critique evangelicals. However they very much accept evangelicals from other parts of the world and other backgrounds. This is my observation. If you wish to critique evangelicals, you can better do it from other angles.

Why do you think evangelicals oppose legal immigration? Is there polling on this? Note that evangelicals are disproportionately college educated compared to the general population. College educated Americans are far more likely to have strong affiliations with faith and regularly attend faith events than Americans without college degrees.

Here is a statistic you might know. About college educated caucasion American females there is a:
–4% out of wedlock birth rate
–12% divorce rate
Can you guess what the statistics are for caucasion females who don’t attend college?

In the US, faith is strongly correlated with:
–education
–income
–wealth
–academic performance
–physical health
–IQ
–not committing crimes
–not being incarcerated
–low divorce
–low out of wedlock birthrates

Although I don’t have data to prove it, I believe faith is also correlated with mental health. These statistics are widely known. This is why the new atheists (including Sam Harris) openly acknowledge these statistics and give possible explanations for these data points.

I know many spiritual Indian Christians. Many participate in Yoga, or Indian (I guess you can call it Hindu) spiritual movements. I have Christian relatives. In what way do they face “backlash” or discrimination? From a Sanathana Dharma, Hindu, Sarva Dharma, Arya perspective Jesus was a great spiritual master and deeply revered. Many people, especially Hindus, have mystical spiritual experiences with Jesus. It is completely normal for people to select Jesus as their Ishta Devata.

Hindus love for their children to go to Churches and see spiritually evolved Christians. I have never heard otherwise from anyone. My own extended family always encouraged it. [Encouraged mosques too.] Lots of Hindus attend Christian programs–most have no intention of converting and don’t understand why they need to choose . . . why can’t they be many religions at once. Many Hindus have a love affair with Christ.

Many of India’s christians have a foot in multiple camps (or are Hindu Christians to put it differently).

Janamejaya
Janamejaya
5 years ago
Reply to  sbarrkum

“India and Ceylon can pass laws against conversion. That will just propagate more Evangelicals. Just read about Rome and the initial Christians. Christianity works best under pressure.”

This is hyperbole. Just look at the state of Christians in Pakistan or any in other majority Muslim country like Egypt. They are not doing well and are actually declining rapidly as a percentage of the population.

Christians missionaries are not unbeatable. One just needs to understand their games and not allow them to take advantage of local politics and faultlines in the society. They have been trying to do exactly that in Tamil Nadu etc for a while.

And if one really has to convert to Christianity why would one chose the ‘loony fringe’ of Evangelical Christianity with their witch doctors (treating cancer with Bible ) and aversion to science (bombing abortion clinics, resistance against teaching evolution in schools etc). One should chose Roman Catholicism which for all its faults has a long history & tradition, great culture, excellent Church architecture and attractive pageantry.

Vikram
5 years ago

“Evangelicals will provide material (and emotional) support as well in this life.”

This is only really possible because of the currency differential between rich countries where Evangelicals happen to live, and the poor countries that they target for converts. Within the US, the Evangelical movement is heavily aligned with the Republican party, not exactly known for its empathy for the poor. Have posted a link in another comment, which will clarify more once my comment is moderated.

Janamejaya
Janamejaya
5 years ago
Reply to  Vikram

Evangelical Christianity seems heavily tied up with White American nationalism and a history of European immigrants coming to the US to make it big. I really don’t see why it can gather any members outside the USA except by the lure of immediate cash. The preaching heads of Evangelical Christianity talk like purveyors of Ponzi or Multi Level Marketing schemes with the insistence on getting rich through believing in Christ.

Here is another Economist article which adds to the one you have put in above.

“Prosperity preachers are often dismissed by mainstream theologians as pompadoured hucksters (think Oral Roberts, a pioneering televangelist) or as near-heretics, for suggesting that believers can achieve God-like powers over their own health and wealth. But they reflect a Trumpian worldview. “Blessed”, a book about the prosperity gospel by Ms Bowler, describes the fine line between telling boastful untruths and “positive confession”, by which a bankrupt might thank God for an imaginary gusher of money, or a deathly ill congregant might insist that she is already cured, in the belief that naming a desire will bring it about. Like the Trump family, megachurch pastors and their immaculately groomed wives and children are held up as models of divine favour: winners who have found the rungs of an invisible ladder to success. Prosperity ministries revere celebrity—a Los Angeles church gave Jesus his own star, evoking the ones on Hollywood’s Walk of Fame. The movement has deep roots, stretching back to 19th-century touring mesmerists and Pentecostal healers, and to the Depression-era pastor whose version of Psalm 23 began: ‘The Lord is my Banker, My Credit is Good.'”

https://www.economist.com/united-states/2017/05/18/why-evangelicals-love-donald-trump

AnAn
5 years ago
Reply to  Janamejaya

“Evangelical Christianity seems heavily tied up with White American nationalism and a history of European immigrants coming to the US to make it big.”
Simply not my observation.

“I really don’t see why it can gather any members outside the USA except by the lure of immediate cash. The preaching heads of Evangelical Christianity talk like purveyors of Ponzi or Multi Level Marketing schemes with the insistence on getting rich through believing in Christ.”
Do not discount spiritual experiences.

I recently attended a friend’s funeral. It was evangelical. They had done a lot of work in the Philippines, India, Nepal and converted many people. They even brought some of the people they converted to the US and helped them get college degrees and successful careers. The “darkie” congregationalists were very much part of the community. Every “darkie” I spoke to broke down into uncontrolled tears when I alluded to any spiritual topic.

Evangelicals in the US are overwhelmingly middle class or upper middle class. Many are rich. They really help each other out. Constantly helping each other with academics and careers. As best I could tell the “darkie” members of the congregation were deeply grateful to the congregation for their help to get a visa to come to the US, get educated and get good careers. But most of all for filling their lives with love and God.

And trust me when I say they were authentic.

What is also true, however, is that the vast majority of “conservatives” and “Republicans” are not evengelicals. Many evangelicals are independent. Many support Biden, Lieberman and other religious Democrats.

sbarrkum
5 years ago
Reply to  Janamejaya

Going to combine Janamejaya and Vikrams comments and answer.

This is only really possible because of the currency differential between rich countries where Evangelicals happen to live, and the poor countries that they target for converts.
Jaydeepsinh Rathod says To this end, enormous amount of money in funnelled into India from overseas.

The first American missionaries into SL (North and East, Tamil areas) were from the Methodist Church. They invested enormous sums of money building Churches, Schools and Hospitals in Jaffna and Batticoloa. Thats why the Jaffna Tamils had a head start and became the privileged minority in SL.

As far as I know, Evangelicals do not funnel much into SL. My maternal grandparents converted to Evangelical Christianity (from Anglicans and Methodists) and built the first Evangelical Church (AOG) in the deep south (Galle) around 1940. American and Swedish missionaries in the 40’s were dirt poor and quite a few were supported by my grandparents.

Its only after the 50’s that one saw semi funded Evangelicals from the West. They mostly come here make some big gospel meetings and collect funds (10% tithes). As far as I see the money is trickling up. The mega church Evangelical church pastors are filthy rich. No different from Hindu and Buddhist Priests of large temple. A current minister Eran Wickramaratne, is the son of Colton Wickramaratne, the Pastor of biggest Evangelical church in Sri Lanka. There is even a Sindhi (Manu Mathani) who is a Pastor of Evangelical church in Colombo.

First AOG church in Galle (in Cripps Road)
https://photos.app.goo.gl/Pj2H17vppoVxdr5J9

Colton Wickramaratne
http://www.peopleschurch.lk/about/
Manu Mathani
http://www.believersfellowship.lk/about-us

Looks like there many Mathani’s running churches
https://www.google.com/search?q=mathani+church

the prosperity gospel
Fairly new phenomenon since about 30-40 years ago (oral Roberts). When I was growing up it was all about working or small and learning more of the bible and god. Asian type meditation, thats devils work.

Janamejaya saysAnd if one really has to convert to Christianity why would one chose the ‘loony fringe’ of Evangelical Christianity with their witch doctors (treating cancer with Bible ) and aversion to science (bombing abortion clinics, resistance against teaching evolution in schools etc).

I would ague there many witch doctors/priests with different religious affiliations that mutter and chant mumbo jumbo and claim to perform miracles. To me as an atheist many religions seem to have a loony fringe component.

JanamejayaOne should chose Roman Catholicism which for all its faults has a long history & tradition, great culture, excellent Church architecture and attractive pageantry.
Many became Roman Catholics under the threat of sword a few centuries back. The churches were built by wealth stolen from the colonies. It is now an established religion in Asia, with all the hangups of its host countries. There is no active work among the poor and marginalised.

AnAn says Many of India’s christians have a foot in multiple camps (or are Hindu Christians to put it differently).
An absolute no no for a real Evangelical (and Protestant) Christians. i.e. There is only one God. even the act of kneeling/bowing in front of parents (forget about others) is forbidden.

Jaydeepsinh Rathod saysThe Church demonises the Hindu religion in the most vile manner before these tribals and therefore fills them with venom against their former religion as well as their fellow countrymen.
I wouldnt doubt it in the least. History repeating?, Arya vs Yaksha/Demons.

AnAn
5 years ago

White American nationalism . . . is I think greatly exaggerated. To the degree it exists it is a very recent phenomenon . . . a stupid reaction to the post modernist surge. I don’t think it will last. Why do I think this? Their members are overwhelmingly people who are without college degrees, lower middle class or poor. Who are their leaders? How can they succeed long term?

College educated Americans generally support globalization . . . most of their businesses and careers depend on it!

Kabir
5 years ago
Reply to  AnAn

Trump was not elected by the poor. There are a lot of rich White people who supported him. The realization that White people are no longer going to be the majority in the US really bothers some people. That and the backlash to having a Black president for eight years. Of course if Hillary hadn’t been such a horrible candidate, Trump may still have lost. But let’s not deny the amount of racism that exists in the US.

Raj Darbhanga
Raj Darbhanga
5 years ago

I’m no fan of the evangelicals, but you guys don’t know what you’re talking about.

The evangelical churches are chock full of minorities. They have very successful outreach programs to minority groups: Hispanics, Filipinos, and African Americans in particular. By and large, the evangelical leadership doesn’t seem to have much issue with ongoing immigration, population growth, etc. People tend remember the man as a racist, but President GWB (perhaps not technically an evangelical, but outwardly resembled a prototypical Southern evangelical) had no problem with ongoing mass immigration (including from Muslims) and even wanted to legalize Mexican illegals, against the wishes of most Republican voters.

The ones that are more opposed to immigration and with “white nationalist” inclinations actually tend to be the more secular types, guys like Steve Sailer, who comprise the “Alt Right”. The most ardently anti-immigration, pro-white Republican in recent memory, Donald Trump, is openly the least religious major Republican politician I can remember.

AnAn
5 years ago

College educated non evangelical Americans overwhelmingly voted against Trump. As did the upper middle class and non evangelical middle class.

Trump was only personally liked by a third or less of the voters who voted for him in 2016.

High School dropouts overwhelmingly voted for Trump . . . and his support among this segment has gone up (especially among male black and male hispanic high school dropouts). Trump did well among those who didn’t go to college too.

“Racism” is a charge leveled by the highly educated and affluent against less educated and the economically less successful. It is a class thing for the most part.

Maybe some of these poor and less educated caucasions are fearful of demographics (although I doubt that is their main motivation). But they have no great college educated leaders to lead them. Who are their intellectuals and thought leaders?

There is a fear of the rise of the rest (America only has 18% of global income and a rapidly falling share of global wealth) and the economic/social/political rise of successful American immigrants, ethnics, minorities. This is jealousy. And this did help elect Trump. As did the extreme patronizing, pretentious condescending disrespect college educated people show to non college educated people; and as the disrespect the Hillary campaign showed to evangelicals.

In general I think the rise of ethnonationalism identitarianism (whether black lives matter or of the caucasion variety) is greatly exaggerated by the media. These movements lack mass popular support.

Jaydeepsinh Rathod
Jaydeepsinh Rathod
5 years ago

I don’t we should spent so much time discussing the political affiliation of the American Evangelicals.

The point of the thread is to highlight the shady manner in which the Christian Church operates in India. The point is – it is not an innocent victim as it tries to portray nor is the BJP/RSS the aggressors.

Zack,

Conversion of one own’s volition is not wrong. However the Church is luring illiterate and ill-informed tribals through various reprehensible means to convert to Christianity. To this end, enormous amount of money in funnelled into India from overseas. The Church demonises the Hindu religion in the most vile manner before these tribals and therefore fills them with venom against their former religion as well as their fellow countrymen.

The level of falsehoods and mischaracterisation done by the Church is enormous. In Southern India, they even try to peddle the shameless lie that Christianity came to South before the Hindu religion and that therefore Christianity is more native to South India than the Hindu religion.

Therefore to lie down and allow these people to run amok with their agenda is dangerous for the nation.

AnAn
5 years ago

Jaydeepsinh Rathod, your points have merit. What can be done about it?

Hindu spiritual leaders love Jesus and love Christians. Sarva Dharma is Sanathana Dharma. Therefore, the Hindu response is confused. Forget the Hindu response, even I don’t know how to respond.

Isn’t part of the problem dry Hindu hearts? Isn’t part of the problem that not enough Hindus speak openly about meditative and mystical experiences, including the ones that Yesua/Isha/Jesus give? The Hindus who know about these things keep it secret and refuse to talk about it–especially with poor illiterate tribals they don’t know very well.

Poor illiterate Hindus (who in many cases have major physical health, mental health and cognitive challenges) should be treated with great love and respect. Their spiritual questions should be answered. And they should be told that Jesus is a great Maharishi Brahmajnaani Kaivalya muni (or if they consider Jesus an avataar, that is also fine) who often talks to and guides humans around the world. Jesus is the Ishta Devata of many Hindus–and they are most welcome to consider Jesus their Ista Devata, sadguru and personal guru. They are also more than welcome to attend mosques, churches and all religious services from all traditions and accept help from all of them.

They can attend evangelical events and join evangelical communities while also remaining part of Dharmic communities and keeping their connection to their ancestors, culture and heritage. No backlash. Accept help from both. Win win!

I would end with an observation. Not all evengelicals are alike. I have met many who evangelize in India. Some are odd (in the way Jaydeepsinh Rathod describes) and some are more authentic and spiritual. When I speak to many evangelicals, they break down into tears of deep spiritual emotion (bhakti). When I quote biblical passages and say what they mean to me . . . again they break down in deep spiritual emotion. Of course I interpret them differently than they do in some cases . . . but when there is deep spiritual emotion, these discussions seem trite and irrelevant. Evangelicals rarely argue with me. And many, when you push below the surface, are far more open than official doctrine looks like from a distance. Many are genuinely seeking and humble.

Janamejaya
Janamejaya
5 years ago

I agree with your points.

I only referred to the political affiliations of Church going whites in the US in order to bring into light the contradictions in the things they do in the USA and the image they portray when out for conversion in African or Asian countries. I wished to point out that there are limits to their altruism.

Modern day Church activity seems to be very similar to the way European colonialists operated in the Africa and Asia. They intend to exploit local political differences and faultlines in the society to gain and maintain a foothold these countries. This behavior is easily perceptible in the way they have sought to enter into the various debates & disputes going on in India.Not many people know this but India had banned entry of missionaries into Arunachal Pradesh because Western Christian missionaries who had converted the whole population of states like Nagaland used to encourage Nagas to leave India and become an independent country. They even tried to negotiate with the Indian govt. on behalf of Nagas.

@Raj Darbhanga
While there may be some racial diversity in the Evangelical movement I suspect its there because other races like Blacks, Latinos or Filipinos (who already are 100% Christian) have their own evangelical preachers and churches. Every race can run its own Ponzi scheme or Multi Level Marketing scam.

From what I have read, the white American evangelical movement which is the richest and has the money and the motivation to go around the world for gaining converts, tends to support extreme right wing in the Republican Party. The articles above linked by me and Vikram support these assertions. Despite what Donald Trump’s personal beliefs are, white evangelicals have firmly supported him till now without a single murmur. They seem to care more about being anti-women rights, anti-abortion, anti-climate change, anti-colored emigrants than about ‘feeding the poor’ and ‘healing the sick’. They have politically supported all Americas wars in the current century.

AnAn
5 years ago

Janamejaya, is your purpose to persuade evangelicals to change behavior in India and developing countries? If so, isn’t a sweet approach more effective? If we wish to critique, shouldn’t our critiques be honest versus post modernist propaganda? There is plenty to authentically critique. Can’t we focus on that?

“tends to support extreme right wing in the Republican Party”
Please ask your evangelical friends about this. They are not “extreme right wing”. Their views on economic issues are very similar to a lot of techie and upper middle class self described “leftists” that I have met. Note that for many college educated upper middle class or rich Americans; to not describe themselves as a leftist is to risk getting accused of being racist. Most American political labels make almost no sense. I think we need to stop using them so much.

“I only referred to the political affiliations of Church going whites in the US in order to bring into light the contradictions in the things they do in the USA and the image they portray when out for conversion in African or Asian countries. I wished to point out that there are limits to their altruism.”
The hypocrisy to the degree their is hypocrisy is that in America they treat ethnics, immigrants and minorities well; try to learn about other religions; and tolerate other religions. However they don’t always behave the same way in India that they do in America.

“They seem to care more about being anti-women rights”
In what way are evangelicals anti woman? You have been lied too.
“anti-abortion”
This is their religious belief. I don’t understand what this has to do with left, right, or other stuff.
“anti-climate change”
Evangelicals tend to more highly educated, more affluent, and more globalized than most Americans. Where is the evidence that they don’t believe in climate change?
“anti-colored emigrants than about ‘feeding the poor’ and ‘healing the sick’.”
Completely disagree.
“They have politically supported all Americas wars in the current century.”
What do you disagree with them regarding with respect to foreign policy?

In terms of India, what would you ask evangelicals to do? Maybe I would ask them to try to understand other religions and cultures . . . and the deep similarities between themselves and others. Try to understand the close connection other religions have with Jesus. Try not to criticize others. Try to tolerate others. Maybe think about moving from tolerance to mutual respect. Understand the nuances how people like me interpret John 14.

Would you agree with me that 99% of the criticism should go to eastern faiths (Sikhism, Buddhism, Jainism, Hinduism . . . technically other Hindus consider all of them to be Hindus)? How many Hindus can even explain their own faith? How many Hindus are even curious about their own faith, let alone understand their own faith? When evangelicals ask Hindus questions in interfaith discussions most of what they hear from Hindus is gobbledygook. Most of the few Hindus who know a slight amount about their own faith are hypocrites and don’t practice what little they know. Unless Hindus get their act together, there is little point critiquing evangelicals.

Sanathana Dharma is based on freedom of art, thought, intuition and feeling. Most scriptures are filled with questions and dialogue. Inquiry was deeply prized by the ancients. Most Hindus would benefit from evangelicals proselytizing to them and having their beliefs and assumptions questioned. This will help them learn what Sanathana Dharma is, and understand themselves better. Faith is strengthened through inquiry and questions.

AnAn
5 years ago

Aren’t post modernists one of the largest contributors to poverty in the world? In America if someone finishes high school, gets married and stays married; the probability of they or their kids being poor is 2%. Who encourages poor people not to get married, not to stay married and have children in wedlock? Who quietly condones and justifies a culture of bullying nerds and geeks? Who actively attacks anyone who encourages young people from challenging backgrounds to build character, be good, study well, keep good company, clean their room; and avoid entertainment that doesn’t raise their soul vibration? Who yells about victim blaming when young people are encouraged to exercise and eat well? Who opposes respecting elders (family, religious leaders, teachers and police officers)

Brown Pundits