09-03-2009, 11:00 PM
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According to a regional portal, wowtelugu.com, YSR was a second-generation Christian. His father Raja Reddy became Christian through missionaries while serving in the military in Burma. âAfter returning to India, he was despised by his own caste folk and shunted out of the village. By this time, missionaries in India were leaving the shores and handing over the administration of the Church to the national Indians. It was in 1947 that the Church of South India [one of four united churches in the Anglican Communion] was formed. Sri Raja Reddy began to attend the Church Services of this congregation.â
The Evangelical Fellowship of India (EFI) issued a statement today expressing profound grief over his death. âThe late YSR Reddy in his message dated 19 August 2009 to EFI on the occasion of All India Congress on Church in Mission expressed his gratitude to the âChristian Churches in India for their service to the nation in the field of education, health and social work and for promoting peace, reconciliation and development of all communities irrespective of caste and creedâ,â said the statement.
As a public figure, YSR regularly prayed at Hindu temples, such as the Tirumala Venkateswara Temple, which has a huge following in Andhra Pradesh. He also visited an Indian guru Satya Sai Baba in his ashram in Puttaparthy occasionally.
On September 2, when the search for the chief ministerâs chopper was underway, the Andhra Pradesh Endowments Minister Gade Venkat Reddy directed all temples to conduct special prayers for his safe return. Even the Tirumala Venkateswara Temple observed special prayers, reported The Hindu newspaper.
However, Hindu nationalists accused him of allowing missionaries to lure Hindus to Christianity and launched attacks on Christians since he became the chief minister in 2004. Several Christian priests and workers have been killed in the numerous attacks in the last few years. He was also flayed for tightening control over more than 1,84,000 temples in the state under the Hindu Temple Endowment Act.
During the missing chopperâs search operation on September 2, some intolerant Indians flooded the websites of daily newspapers with comments suggesting that God was punishing him for his âconversionâ agenda. âThis is big game of Christians, I hope God will punish YSR family if he escapes from this crash. He would like to change the stateâs name as âJesus Pradeshâ. Oh God, please punish him, punish him, punish him⦠save great Andhra Pradesh,â was one such comment by a person who identified himself only as Prashanth on the website of the Express Buzz dai
http://www.religiousintelligence.co.uk/n...ewsID=4961
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According to a regional portal, wowtelugu.com, YSR was a second-generation Christian. His father Raja Reddy became Christian through missionaries while serving in the military in Burma. âAfter returning to India, he was despised by his own caste folk and shunted out of the village. By this time, missionaries in India were leaving the shores and handing over the administration of the Church to the national Indians. It was in 1947 that the Church of South India [one of four united churches in the Anglican Communion] was formed. Sri Raja Reddy began to attend the Church Services of this congregation.â
The Evangelical Fellowship of India (EFI) issued a statement today expressing profound grief over his death. âThe late YSR Reddy in his message dated 19 August 2009 to EFI on the occasion of All India Congress on Church in Mission expressed his gratitude to the âChristian Churches in India for their service to the nation in the field of education, health and social work and for promoting peace, reconciliation and development of all communities irrespective of caste and creedâ,â said the statement.
As a public figure, YSR regularly prayed at Hindu temples, such as the Tirumala Venkateswara Temple, which has a huge following in Andhra Pradesh. He also visited an Indian guru Satya Sai Baba in his ashram in Puttaparthy occasionally.
On September 2, when the search for the chief ministerâs chopper was underway, the Andhra Pradesh Endowments Minister Gade Venkat Reddy directed all temples to conduct special prayers for his safe return. Even the Tirumala Venkateswara Temple observed special prayers, reported The Hindu newspaper.
However, Hindu nationalists accused him of allowing missionaries to lure Hindus to Christianity and launched attacks on Christians since he became the chief minister in 2004. Several Christian priests and workers have been killed in the numerous attacks in the last few years. He was also flayed for tightening control over more than 1,84,000 temples in the state under the Hindu Temple Endowment Act.
During the missing chopperâs search operation on September 2, some intolerant Indians flooded the websites of daily newspapers with comments suggesting that God was punishing him for his âconversionâ agenda. âThis is big game of Christians, I hope God will punish YSR family if he escapes from this crash. He would like to change the stateâs name as âJesus Pradeshâ. Oh God, please punish him, punish him, punish him⦠save great Andhra Pradesh,â was one such comment by a person who identified himself only as Prashanth on the website of the Express Buzz dai
http://www.religiousintelligence.co.uk/n...ewsID=4961
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