10-14-2008, 08:57 PM
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin--><b>Papal disinformation</b>
The Pioneer Edit Desk
<b>Benedict XVI has insulted every Indian</b>
In using the solemn and sacred occasion on Sunday, October 12, of the canonisation of Sister Alphonsa, the first Indian-born Catholic saint, to make gratuitous and exaggerated remarks about the condition of Christians in India, Pope Benedict XVI has done himself and his high office a huge disservice. Most of all he has hurt the sentiments of millions of Indian Christians who live here as equal citizens with full constitutional guarantees and donât need a foreign religious leader, especially one who doubles as a temporal head of state, to seek guarantees on their behalf. Making sweeping generalisations, refusing to understand the context and nuances of the situation in Karnataka and Orissa, the Pope has presented a one-sided picture of a âhaplessâ minority being persecuted by a âdominantâ Hindu majority. From the Inquisition to the hounding of Galileo â a scientist whose incarceration and humiliation, solely because he said the Earth moved around the Sun and not the other way round, Benedict XVI has justified even recently â the Catholic Churchâs hierarchy understands the establishment-dissent equation only in black and white terms. As such, the Pope has taken his pre-conceived notions and decided to impose them upon India. There is no question that some Hindu activists have gone over the top, are guilty of terrible violence, and need to be punished. Yet, is the issue of induced and fraudulent conversions â of Christian pastors buying up market share â not one that exercises the Vatican? Does the Pope justify and support hate-filled evangelist literature that denigrates Hindu gods and goddesses and abuses nativist spiritual traditions? This remains the crux of the crisis in Karnataka. The Pope and his close followers, remember, criticised the Da Vinci Code and wanted it banned for hurting Christian sentiments. <b>Are Hindu sentiments, on the other hand, fair game? </b>
Not every conflict in the world is impelled by just religious difference. That simplistic and highly flawed correlation is only made by such minds as Osama bin Laden. The Pope, surely, must see things with greater intellectual sophistication. In Orissa, the ethnic conflict between an aboriginal tribal group and a âlower casteâ group pre-existed their formal categorisation as Hindu and Christian. In Assam, to cite an instance the Pope may never have heard of, the battle between Bodos and Bangladeshi settlers is at one level a clash between a locally-rooted community and recent immigrants; at another level, it is a tussle between Christians (the religion of the organised Bodo leadership) and Muslims. Does the Pope now expect the King of Saudi Arabia, as Protector of the Holy Mosque, to write to him, as head of the Vatican, to get Bodo Christians to stop fighting with Assamese residents of Bangladeshi origin?
The most disappointing has been the response of the Indian Catholic clergy, which has completely let down the laity. It is content saying one thing to political parties in private, another to the media in public, and is glad to live off the borrowed publicity â- or notoriety â of Benedict XVIâs unfortunate remarks. As for the Pope himself, he began his reign speaking of Christian values being fundamental to European civilisation and identity. Yet, it is increasingly apparent he is not willing to use those parameters to define other civilisations, certainly not to appreciate the centrality of Hinduism to the Indic civilisation. India cannot help feeling let down.<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
The Pioneer Edit Desk
<b>Benedict XVI has insulted every Indian</b>
In using the solemn and sacred occasion on Sunday, October 12, of the canonisation of Sister Alphonsa, the first Indian-born Catholic saint, to make gratuitous and exaggerated remarks about the condition of Christians in India, Pope Benedict XVI has done himself and his high office a huge disservice. Most of all he has hurt the sentiments of millions of Indian Christians who live here as equal citizens with full constitutional guarantees and donât need a foreign religious leader, especially one who doubles as a temporal head of state, to seek guarantees on their behalf. Making sweeping generalisations, refusing to understand the context and nuances of the situation in Karnataka and Orissa, the Pope has presented a one-sided picture of a âhaplessâ minority being persecuted by a âdominantâ Hindu majority. From the Inquisition to the hounding of Galileo â a scientist whose incarceration and humiliation, solely because he said the Earth moved around the Sun and not the other way round, Benedict XVI has justified even recently â the Catholic Churchâs hierarchy understands the establishment-dissent equation only in black and white terms. As such, the Pope has taken his pre-conceived notions and decided to impose them upon India. There is no question that some Hindu activists have gone over the top, are guilty of terrible violence, and need to be punished. Yet, is the issue of induced and fraudulent conversions â of Christian pastors buying up market share â not one that exercises the Vatican? Does the Pope justify and support hate-filled evangelist literature that denigrates Hindu gods and goddesses and abuses nativist spiritual traditions? This remains the crux of the crisis in Karnataka. The Pope and his close followers, remember, criticised the Da Vinci Code and wanted it banned for hurting Christian sentiments. <b>Are Hindu sentiments, on the other hand, fair game? </b>
Not every conflict in the world is impelled by just religious difference. That simplistic and highly flawed correlation is only made by such minds as Osama bin Laden. The Pope, surely, must see things with greater intellectual sophistication. In Orissa, the ethnic conflict between an aboriginal tribal group and a âlower casteâ group pre-existed their formal categorisation as Hindu and Christian. In Assam, to cite an instance the Pope may never have heard of, the battle between Bodos and Bangladeshi settlers is at one level a clash between a locally-rooted community and recent immigrants; at another level, it is a tussle between Christians (the religion of the organised Bodo leadership) and Muslims. Does the Pope now expect the King of Saudi Arabia, as Protector of the Holy Mosque, to write to him, as head of the Vatican, to get Bodo Christians to stop fighting with Assamese residents of Bangladeshi origin?
The most disappointing has been the response of the Indian Catholic clergy, which has completely let down the laity. It is content saying one thing to political parties in private, another to the media in public, and is glad to live off the borrowed publicity â- or notoriety â of Benedict XVIâs unfortunate remarks. As for the Pope himself, he began his reign speaking of Christian values being fundamental to European civilisation and identity. Yet, it is increasingly apparent he is not willing to use those parameters to define other civilisations, certainly not to appreciate the centrality of Hinduism to the Indic civilisation. India cannot help feeling let down.<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->