10-09-2008, 11:17 PM
Oct 9, 2008
<b>
The real and rabid acts of religious conversion indeed lie at the very root of this cycle of violence</b>
From: Ram Kumar
09 September 2008
Let me start off my expressing profound sadness for all victims (of all faiths) in recent violence in Orissa , India and all other places around the world. This is a straight-from-the-heart rendering of pain and hope in connection with the recent tragedies in Orissa , India . I hope this letter reaches our fellow Christian, Hindu and Moslem brothers and sisters in India and elsewhere. Social change needs to start with conversation and this is a humble attempt to bridge divides.
In the latest incidents in Orissa, it is apparent that some possibly fringe members of the minority faith were complicity involved in the cold-blooded murder of a Hindu teacher and leader. The acknowledgement of this fundamental root-cause by most media outlets and indeed even the State seem to be more a mute after thought, confirming my belief that all they seem to care is about "a single faith" and not human life per se. Such a narrow lens on humanity is indeed the root cause of all evil and pain in today's world. Let me explainâ¦
The New Indian Elephant:
We ought not to ignore the elephant in the room. It is pertinent to point out that the root cause of this cycle of violence lies in actions committed with complicit or implicit actions of people in forcefully disrupting, disregarding and disputing the local culture and heritage of India . The real and rabid acts of religious conversion indeed lie at the very root of this cycle of violence. This is a clear violation of the fundamental right of a person to practice his own faith - without needless needling or malicious interference by other faiths and practices. While I respect your right to practice your religion I think some of you are grossly exceeding limits when you indulge in the kinds of illicit activities that attack the home-faith of a nation and its people. Let us examine how we can collectively stop this cycle through leadership and not mere statements of protest or regret.
Human rights are fundamentally built on the foundations of truth and honesty, devoid of hate and deception. There is enough documented evidence that many members of the Christian faith, belonging to diverse denominations of your own faith, in the name of your faith, are propagating "cultural genocide" by attacking, insulting, deriding and ridiculing the faith of a billion people. It is indeed shallow if in order to market and sell oneâs wares, one has to put down another man's faith. I clearly understand your metrics for success around "harvests" et al but fail to see how such a call to conversion can be human, humane and holy. I really do not understand.
When I read a statement on The Vatican's site that says "just as during the first Christian millennium the Cross was planted in Europe and during the second in the American continent and in Africa, so during the third millennium a great harvest of faith will be reaped in the vast and vibrant Asian continent" - this very statement sows the seeds for conflict. It does not take much to realize how narrow and partisan such a call is, and how the very strategy of your organization creates conflicts. It does not take a student of theology to decipher this. Let me ask you a few honest questions â please reflect on these with a straight mind, honest heart and a non-partisan lens:
At what cost do you want to "harvest souls"?
What purpose do you accomplish by engaging on cultural genocide?
What outcomes do you expect to sustain by driving diversity to possible extinction?
Is this human rights or just the pursuit of narrow partisan goals?
Finally, would you tolerate it if members of another faith declared their goals as "conversion" of members of your faith? Just like you have a so-called logic and rationale for conversion, its easy to imagine another man could say the same with authority? Your logic fails this simple test.
Our Country, Our Heritage:
Today India and many other nations are facing a scourge from the radicalization of missionary activities. Has what started perhaps in some quarters as a genuine 'human interest' endeavor evolved into a Frankenstein that is fed, funded and fueled by alien interests?
When all is said and done, what remains of a people and its identity is their culture. Their heritage. And their proud stories of ancient warriors, ways of life and brave ancestors. The thread of continuity woven through generations of experience makes one strong, proud and humble at the same time - grounded in confidence and free in ambition. Religious conversion attacks at the very roots of such a society.
Whether it is the Masai people of Masailand (today split between Kenya and Tanzania ) or the Dharmic people in India , the message of "peace" from alien cultures and vested interests is sowing a seed of division and hatred that no one should allow. Let alone, the so-called "messengers of peace". Whether you agree or not, whether you believe in it or not, the fact remains that we Indians (yes WE) have a common heritage that predates many countries and continents. When vested interests drive a wedge of partisan politics and narrow self-interest the result is what we see today.
I have numerous personal anecdotes even in my family of how Christian missionaries openly insult, riddicule and belittle Hindu traditions - and they start by "culturally attacking" innocent children who can easily be influenced. My own cousins have come home crying that "someone said bad things about our Gods" and gave them a "book" to read "if they did not want to go to hell". No prizes for guessing what the âsecret bookâ was. Come on, can any decent person do this to a 7 or 8 year old girl? Imagine if this nonsense happening many times over, at many places, and what you get is the unfortunate backlash. Would you agree if others did this to innocent girls in your faith or any faith for that matter? This kind of nonsense continues even to this day. And yes, you know it too.
Here are some questions to consider â
What gives someone the right to come to a land and preach a message that makes the "natives" less proud of their own heritage?
What gives someone the right to question the history of continuity and culture that they themselves take pride in for their "home" cultures?
What gives someone the right to deny the future generations the diversity of cultures and ethnic identities?
What gives someone the right to come with vested and narrowly defined interests like conversion to a single faith?
Please know that I reject and denounce terror in all forms, but that includes terror on culture. Let each one of us within our own hearts find the peace to say - enough, this nonsense needs to stop. Will you be an ally of peace?
Call to Action:
It takes moral courage to stand up and take responsibility for deeds of your faith and community. It takes leadership to call on members of your faith to love and live in peaceful coexistence with members of other faiths. It takes self-confidence in one's own beliefs to ask your members to stop intentionally insulting, ridiculing and twisting the messages of another man's faith. Real religious leaders need to step above partisan interests and define a new vision for humanity. Such a new vision needs to extend above one's own âmetrics of successâ or selfish goals. Hailing from a faith that teaches me to pray for "everyone's good" (Lokasamastha Sukhino Bhavanthu) I am compelled to question why other faiths seem to take a narrow view of "good" and virtues. As a follower of Sanatana Dharma I understand that we are all one, we are all from the same source and we all merge into a single Universal force.
I recognize that many if not most practitioners of the Christian faith are peace loving people who believe in religious and ethnic co-existence. There are however a few but powerful radical forces who are not, and this message is for them. If you are a follower of any of the many diverse paths of the Christian faith in India ask yourself these questions - and please engage with your ministers, pastors and senior leaders on these questions:
Do you want (y)our Indian children and their children to forever forget the ethnic roots that you and your ancestors have in our Bharat?
Do you want our future generations to live and die as foreigners in (y)our own lands?
Do you want your faith and it's practitioners to be defined and remembered for the horrors of ethnic and cultural cleansing perpetrated in the name of religion?
Do you really believe that you are doing your Lord a favor by sowing the seeds of hatred in our country?
In closing, let us all ask ourselves the following questions - What right does someone have to take advantage of the poor and needy, and take advantage of societal imbalances to sow seeds for new and deeper rifts?
This is a genuine appeal to brothers and sisters of the Christian faith â please step up and become voices of reason in your community. Conversion at its very basic roots denies you and the youth of today and tomorrow pride and identity in (y)our own country and culture. In decrying one's ancient heritage and culture you deny your own right to identity and culture.
While you should continue to practice your chosen faith with pride and passion, please do not deny a similar right to your brothers and sisters of the Dharmic, Islamic or other faiths.
While you spread the message of peace of tolerance, remember to respect and recognize the messages of love and belonging from other faiths.
While you feed the poor and cloth the needy, do not make it a cheap stunt to simply harvest more souls - there can indeed be no endeavor more vile and vested than pursuing vested objectives.
The âforeignâ reactions:
Now, addressing the apparent reaction from the Italian government â I express deep regret at the statements made regarding the violence in India and the government's subsequent 'summons' to the Indian ambassador. Let us recognize that interference by a foreign religious organization or governments in the internal affairs of an independent nation state goes against the accepted principle of national independence and mutual non-interference. Now, where the statements made expressed regret for loss of human life, I accept it. However, there too I find many weaknesses in the statements and I am compelled to point it out. The statements till date seem to express deeper condolences for "brothers and sisters of the faith", an obvious reference that the loss of human life that followed the Christian faith is in some way more serious than the loss of "other" life - read Hindus who were killed. And this is where I see a fundamental weakness and lack of maturity in the response to the issue. Such responses only drive further wedges and sharpen blades on all sides. But let us rise beyond that.
We are Indians first, and then Hindus, Moslems, Sikhs or Christians. We are a nation with a recorded heritage that pre-dates many countries and continents. We have the right to be proud, respectful and reflective of (y)our common heritage and let no one deny us that fundamental right.
In conclusion, I ask you, (y)our government and religious leaders to step up and -
1. Respect - all faiths, even those different from yours
2. Recognize - that all faiths have a purpose and place on this God given Earth
3. Realize - that actions of cultural genocide will only perpetuate a cycle of harm and hatred - one that is definitely against the teachings of all faiths, including yours
Are you going to take the leadership or let another generation of "your brothers and sisters" indulge in cultural genocide in places like India , Africa , South America et al. This is time for a new vision, a new leadership, a new message for humanity.
1- Are you up for it?
2- Are you ready for new leadership that is the order of the day?
3- Will you and more importantly can you be a voice of sanity and respect, and not a mere partisan player in a game of religious rigidity?
In peace and sincere attempt to build bridges between our peoples and faiths I hope you will find a moment to respond.
A sincere Indian
http://sarvesamachar.com/click_frameset.ph...-religious.html
<b>
The real and rabid acts of religious conversion indeed lie at the very root of this cycle of violence</b>
From: Ram Kumar
09 September 2008
Let me start off my expressing profound sadness for all victims (of all faiths) in recent violence in Orissa , India and all other places around the world. This is a straight-from-the-heart rendering of pain and hope in connection with the recent tragedies in Orissa , India . I hope this letter reaches our fellow Christian, Hindu and Moslem brothers and sisters in India and elsewhere. Social change needs to start with conversation and this is a humble attempt to bridge divides.
In the latest incidents in Orissa, it is apparent that some possibly fringe members of the minority faith were complicity involved in the cold-blooded murder of a Hindu teacher and leader. The acknowledgement of this fundamental root-cause by most media outlets and indeed even the State seem to be more a mute after thought, confirming my belief that all they seem to care is about "a single faith" and not human life per se. Such a narrow lens on humanity is indeed the root cause of all evil and pain in today's world. Let me explainâ¦
The New Indian Elephant:
We ought not to ignore the elephant in the room. It is pertinent to point out that the root cause of this cycle of violence lies in actions committed with complicit or implicit actions of people in forcefully disrupting, disregarding and disputing the local culture and heritage of India . The real and rabid acts of religious conversion indeed lie at the very root of this cycle of violence. This is a clear violation of the fundamental right of a person to practice his own faith - without needless needling or malicious interference by other faiths and practices. While I respect your right to practice your religion I think some of you are grossly exceeding limits when you indulge in the kinds of illicit activities that attack the home-faith of a nation and its people. Let us examine how we can collectively stop this cycle through leadership and not mere statements of protest or regret.
Human rights are fundamentally built on the foundations of truth and honesty, devoid of hate and deception. There is enough documented evidence that many members of the Christian faith, belonging to diverse denominations of your own faith, in the name of your faith, are propagating "cultural genocide" by attacking, insulting, deriding and ridiculing the faith of a billion people. It is indeed shallow if in order to market and sell oneâs wares, one has to put down another man's faith. I clearly understand your metrics for success around "harvests" et al but fail to see how such a call to conversion can be human, humane and holy. I really do not understand.
When I read a statement on The Vatican's site that says "just as during the first Christian millennium the Cross was planted in Europe and during the second in the American continent and in Africa, so during the third millennium a great harvest of faith will be reaped in the vast and vibrant Asian continent" - this very statement sows the seeds for conflict. It does not take much to realize how narrow and partisan such a call is, and how the very strategy of your organization creates conflicts. It does not take a student of theology to decipher this. Let me ask you a few honest questions â please reflect on these with a straight mind, honest heart and a non-partisan lens:
At what cost do you want to "harvest souls"?
What purpose do you accomplish by engaging on cultural genocide?
What outcomes do you expect to sustain by driving diversity to possible extinction?
Is this human rights or just the pursuit of narrow partisan goals?
Finally, would you tolerate it if members of another faith declared their goals as "conversion" of members of your faith? Just like you have a so-called logic and rationale for conversion, its easy to imagine another man could say the same with authority? Your logic fails this simple test.
Our Country, Our Heritage:
Today India and many other nations are facing a scourge from the radicalization of missionary activities. Has what started perhaps in some quarters as a genuine 'human interest' endeavor evolved into a Frankenstein that is fed, funded and fueled by alien interests?
When all is said and done, what remains of a people and its identity is their culture. Their heritage. And their proud stories of ancient warriors, ways of life and brave ancestors. The thread of continuity woven through generations of experience makes one strong, proud and humble at the same time - grounded in confidence and free in ambition. Religious conversion attacks at the very roots of such a society.
Whether it is the Masai people of Masailand (today split between Kenya and Tanzania ) or the Dharmic people in India , the message of "peace" from alien cultures and vested interests is sowing a seed of division and hatred that no one should allow. Let alone, the so-called "messengers of peace". Whether you agree or not, whether you believe in it or not, the fact remains that we Indians (yes WE) have a common heritage that predates many countries and continents. When vested interests drive a wedge of partisan politics and narrow self-interest the result is what we see today.
I have numerous personal anecdotes even in my family of how Christian missionaries openly insult, riddicule and belittle Hindu traditions - and they start by "culturally attacking" innocent children who can easily be influenced. My own cousins have come home crying that "someone said bad things about our Gods" and gave them a "book" to read "if they did not want to go to hell". No prizes for guessing what the âsecret bookâ was. Come on, can any decent person do this to a 7 or 8 year old girl? Imagine if this nonsense happening many times over, at many places, and what you get is the unfortunate backlash. Would you agree if others did this to innocent girls in your faith or any faith for that matter? This kind of nonsense continues even to this day. And yes, you know it too.
Here are some questions to consider â
What gives someone the right to come to a land and preach a message that makes the "natives" less proud of their own heritage?
What gives someone the right to question the history of continuity and culture that they themselves take pride in for their "home" cultures?
What gives someone the right to deny the future generations the diversity of cultures and ethnic identities?
What gives someone the right to come with vested and narrowly defined interests like conversion to a single faith?
Please know that I reject and denounce terror in all forms, but that includes terror on culture. Let each one of us within our own hearts find the peace to say - enough, this nonsense needs to stop. Will you be an ally of peace?
Call to Action:
It takes moral courage to stand up and take responsibility for deeds of your faith and community. It takes leadership to call on members of your faith to love and live in peaceful coexistence with members of other faiths. It takes self-confidence in one's own beliefs to ask your members to stop intentionally insulting, ridiculing and twisting the messages of another man's faith. Real religious leaders need to step above partisan interests and define a new vision for humanity. Such a new vision needs to extend above one's own âmetrics of successâ or selfish goals. Hailing from a faith that teaches me to pray for "everyone's good" (Lokasamastha Sukhino Bhavanthu) I am compelled to question why other faiths seem to take a narrow view of "good" and virtues. As a follower of Sanatana Dharma I understand that we are all one, we are all from the same source and we all merge into a single Universal force.
I recognize that many if not most practitioners of the Christian faith are peace loving people who believe in religious and ethnic co-existence. There are however a few but powerful radical forces who are not, and this message is for them. If you are a follower of any of the many diverse paths of the Christian faith in India ask yourself these questions - and please engage with your ministers, pastors and senior leaders on these questions:
Do you want (y)our Indian children and their children to forever forget the ethnic roots that you and your ancestors have in our Bharat?
Do you want our future generations to live and die as foreigners in (y)our own lands?
Do you want your faith and it's practitioners to be defined and remembered for the horrors of ethnic and cultural cleansing perpetrated in the name of religion?
Do you really believe that you are doing your Lord a favor by sowing the seeds of hatred in our country?
In closing, let us all ask ourselves the following questions - What right does someone have to take advantage of the poor and needy, and take advantage of societal imbalances to sow seeds for new and deeper rifts?
This is a genuine appeal to brothers and sisters of the Christian faith â please step up and become voices of reason in your community. Conversion at its very basic roots denies you and the youth of today and tomorrow pride and identity in (y)our own country and culture. In decrying one's ancient heritage and culture you deny your own right to identity and culture.
While you should continue to practice your chosen faith with pride and passion, please do not deny a similar right to your brothers and sisters of the Dharmic, Islamic or other faiths.
While you spread the message of peace of tolerance, remember to respect and recognize the messages of love and belonging from other faiths.
While you feed the poor and cloth the needy, do not make it a cheap stunt to simply harvest more souls - there can indeed be no endeavor more vile and vested than pursuing vested objectives.
The âforeignâ reactions:
Now, addressing the apparent reaction from the Italian government â I express deep regret at the statements made regarding the violence in India and the government's subsequent 'summons' to the Indian ambassador. Let us recognize that interference by a foreign religious organization or governments in the internal affairs of an independent nation state goes against the accepted principle of national independence and mutual non-interference. Now, where the statements made expressed regret for loss of human life, I accept it. However, there too I find many weaknesses in the statements and I am compelled to point it out. The statements till date seem to express deeper condolences for "brothers and sisters of the faith", an obvious reference that the loss of human life that followed the Christian faith is in some way more serious than the loss of "other" life - read Hindus who were killed. And this is where I see a fundamental weakness and lack of maturity in the response to the issue. Such responses only drive further wedges and sharpen blades on all sides. But let us rise beyond that.
We are Indians first, and then Hindus, Moslems, Sikhs or Christians. We are a nation with a recorded heritage that pre-dates many countries and continents. We have the right to be proud, respectful and reflective of (y)our common heritage and let no one deny us that fundamental right.
In conclusion, I ask you, (y)our government and religious leaders to step up and -
1. Respect - all faiths, even those different from yours
2. Recognize - that all faiths have a purpose and place on this God given Earth
3. Realize - that actions of cultural genocide will only perpetuate a cycle of harm and hatred - one that is definitely against the teachings of all faiths, including yours
Are you going to take the leadership or let another generation of "your brothers and sisters" indulge in cultural genocide in places like India , Africa , South America et al. This is time for a new vision, a new leadership, a new message for humanity.
1- Are you up for it?
2- Are you ready for new leadership that is the order of the day?
3- Will you and more importantly can you be a voice of sanity and respect, and not a mere partisan player in a game of religious rigidity?
In peace and sincere attempt to build bridges between our peoples and faiths I hope you will find a moment to respond.
A sincere Indian
http://sarvesamachar.com/click_frameset.ph...-religious.html