Inculturation: the OTHER christian conversion tactic

[Husky]

3. Found via the christianizingbharatanatyam.blogspot.com/



[color="#0000FF"]kaminidandapani.typepad.com/my_weblog/2010/10/love-thy-neighbor.html[/color]



On "christian carnatic" music. Full of applauding comments.



The blog owner comments:

[...]

[color="#0000FF"]I disagree with you that Carnatic music should confine itself to singing about Hindu gods. I see no reason why this should be the case, just because the bulk of the music of this genre is devoted to Hinduism.[/color] Christian Carnatic music has not reached the heights that compositions of Dikshitar, or Thyaraja, or Syama Shastri have attained, but that is not because of the content of the music. It is still a genre that needs developing, that has not had a great composer who has come along and created sublime Christian Carnatic music. It should be nurtured and encouraged, and then it will truly flower.Where is the question of imitating? [color="#0000FF"]Christians have lived in India for 2000 years, and Carnatic music traditions are as much theirs as the Hindus'.[/color]

Posted by: Kamini | October 14, 2010 at 08:33 AM

1. "only the bulk of the music of this genre is devoted to Hinduism" <- That's all the Hinduness that the blog hostess can find in Carnatic music.

2. "Christians have lived in India for 2000 years, and Carnatic music traditions are as much theirs as the Hindus'." <- Next to how christians have *not* lived in India for anywhere near 2000 years, apparently all that is required for alien ideologies to claim the religious traditions of others is... is being in India for x amount of years.

So by that "logic", if the alien parasite sticks around in India long enough, Hindu Kovils and Temple lands are "as much christians' as the Hindus'"?



The first sane comment (which the above comment was in response to):

[...]

I think I have heard this priest in our local television channel,where he made a devastating attempt to do a kacheri. He cannot say ten swaroms at a row. The only evidence I could see that he was a student of Yesudas was his beard. That is often a good disguise for ignorance.

I am a Christian. In the history of the Church in Kerala,I don't find any Karnatic music experts. Yesudas never tried that mistake,because he knows the traditions of Karnatic music.The Keerthanas are all praises of Hindu Gods,and it needs tremendous devotion for it to come out.It was not meant for Christian church recitals.Christians in India imitate many traditional styles,and incorporate them in to their practices. I have heard some of these poor attempts of praises to Mother Mary in Karnatic ragas,to my utter despair.

I always wanted to tell this priest to stick on to his job,and not to try to dirty the only pure tradition we keep in India.

By the way,did it really come from your heart?



Posted by: Dr Antony | October 09, 2010 at 10:24 PM

The best comment at the link - by George Thundiparambil again:

[color="#0000FF"]Ms. Kamini Dandapani's blog post is a revelation of how gullible and naive Hindus are and can still be, and how easily they can be deceived by the chameleon-like activities of professional Christians. I say "professional" because the processes of cultural appropriation are invariably done by the clergy who are trained and assigned according to their skills to do what they are doing and devote 24/7 in propagating their religion. Apparently Ms. Dandapani has also probably never heard of "Christian yoga", "Christunatyam", etc. It is most likely that she also doesn't know what Christianity exactly is. For that one has to study it with the eyes open.[/color]

[color="#800080"](Bold bit is a VERY important point.)[/color]



Sadly, the vulnerable situation the Hindus find themselves in (dwindling numbers, dis-empowered in their own country of origin, etc.) may be attributed to the characteristic Hindu naivety as exemplified by Ms. Dandapani. Cultures who similarly thought in these lines are no longer on this earth to talk about their culture.



Long after Hindus and Bharatanatyam are gone and buried, with the earth and dharma destroyed and burnt, Ms. Dandapani can find relief now in the thought that there will be Christian padres left to conduct the last carnatic concert on the prophesied doomsday. I am not saying this because of any irrational hatred I nurse for Christians or Christianity - most of my beloved relatives are still Christian, carrying on out of convenience or ignorance or arrogance. There is much evidence on my side if one cares to stick out her neck and look around.



Christmas and Easter were once pagan festivals in Europe around 1500 years ago, but none of the pagans remain to talk about them. How many people living on earth know that these were pagan festivals that had nothing to do with Christians or Jesus. The birthday of Jesus (Christmas) was celebrated by all early Christians on January 7th and is still celebrated by many Eastern Christians on that day. The date changed when the "faith" came to Europe. They changed the date to usurp the winter solstice celebration of the pagans and fixed it on December 24th, one of the dates in the traditional festival. Easter was the festival of the pagans at the spring equinox, associated with the moon goddess Aster. Now both festivals are patented and celebrated all over the earth by the Christians.



In 1599, the Goan bishop of that time, Alexis Menezes, originally a Portuguese, chaired an acculturation program among the Eastern Christians of Kerala, known in history as the Diamper Synod, where they were asked not to follow Hindu arts, crafts, customs, rituals and festivals and made a long list of prohibited things. After the second Vatican Council in 1962, when the church made a series of U-turns to accommodate a discontented people and new knowledge, they made provisions for the regional churches to start appropriating local customs to make it more attractive for the laity and to facilitate proselytizing among peoples like the Hindus.



Christianity in its core is not at all different from Islam, perhaps a bit more stringent. Medieval European Christianity was much more evil than the modern-day Taliban. One only has to open the history books to find out. The Church liberalism is only a show for people living in the West, because otherwise they cannot wield the influence they still have, like having a seat at the UN and in all countries as diplomats. It was the fascist Mussolini who made Vatican a state. Inside the Indian churches, the Christians systematically tarnish the Hindu religion and on the outside, are taking over one Hindu institution after the other (like Kalakshetra). Many Christian orders have shed their white cassocks and wear saffron robes. Earlier they had shed their customary black for white cassocks when they found that Hindus ran away seeing the black outfit. The white cassock was adopted only for India.



For me, who has seen both worlds, Christianity in all its forms is sheer contamination of the mind and environment and distilled evil. If Ms. Dandapani has any doubt, I am at her disposal to clear that.



Posted by: George Thundiparambil | September 26, 2011 at 10:40 AM