Delving into the Christian outreach

Julio Ribeiro

ON Xmas Day, PM Narendra Modi threw his house open to select members of the Christian community. The Archbishop of the Archdiocese of Delhi, Anil Couto, was invited and, of course, he accepted the invite. Cardinal Oswald Gracias was present too. It presented them a golden opportunity to voice the collective view of most Christians that the fate of the community in ‘New India’ is very, very uncertain. Did the Church leaders do that?

Finally, should the Christians of India rejoice at the PM’s new-found admiration for their values of truth, compassion, justice and service?

How and why did Modi change his affections? Did he suddenly realise that all religions were conceived and made by men as explanations for the unknown or was it a compulsion in view of the Lok Sabha elections? Or was it the criticism he faces in the foreign press for being inimical to the minorities? Did the US President or the UK Prime Minister, the latter a practising Hindu, suggest to him that a change of heart would burnish his image?

PM Modi never fails to astonish and astound. Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman’s economist husband Parakala Prabhakar has closely followed the PM’s pronouncements. In the first chapter of his book, The Crooked Timber of New India — Essays on a Republic in Crisis, Prabhakar has mentioned the PM’s statements at different times and observed that he is not bothered if his stance changes with the occasion. The Bishops would be well advised to read this chapter.

Pastors owing allegiance to various Protestant Christian denominations, such as Jehovah’s Witnesses and Seventh Day Adventists, are routinely beaten up along with their supporters, while praying to the same Jesus Christ whom our PM has now cited as the model for his development programme, ‘Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas, Sabka Vishwas, Sabka Prayas’.

I am not enamoured of religious conversion. I feel it is more necessary for preachers of every religion to highlight the true spirit of religion, which encompasses truth, justice, compassion and service. All preachers should concentrate on making people better human beings. Changing gods is not a necessity.

Modi admitted in his ‘Christmas message’ that Christ was a servant. My favourite hymn at the weekly service in the Church is:

Lord, make me like You,

Please make me like You

You are a servant,

Make me one, too.

Every time I hear these words, I wonder: Why are all government officials not exposed to this simple thought? This is not to suggest that the Christian connection that inspired me should be held up as a guiding light. But the hymn, adopted and suitably tweaked to make it a universal principle, should be mandated by no less a person than our PM. I dare to propose this because nobody from the Sangh Parivar raised the voice of dissent to his ‘Christmas message’.

If Modi wants Christians to feel that they will not be discriminated against in ‘New Bharat’, he should begin by publicly advising BJP leaders like Assam CM Himanta Biswa Sarma not to make misleading statements. Sarma had accused iconic anthropologist Verrier Elwin of playing a role in converting tribals of the North-East and opposing the setting up of a petroleum industry in that region. That statement was partisan and false. Elvin had given up his Christian beliefs much before he visited the North-East for his anthropological research.

The government’s hesitation in approving the Supreme Court collegium’s recommendation in the case of Justice KM Joseph was another instance of its apparent bias against Christians. Justice Joseph, a former Chief Justice of the Uttarakhand High Court, was elevated to the post of a Supreme Court judge when it was certain that he could not hope to be the Chief Justice of India.

The main grouse of the Parivar against Christians is that they convert lower-caste Hindus, Dalits and tribals to Christianity and thereby distort the Hindu social order ordained by the Varna system. Such distortion happens only when there are mass conversions like those that took place in Goa after Portuguese missionaries of the Franciscan, Dominican and Jesuit orders followed their sea-faring compatriots to Goa in the 15th and 16th centuries. Such mass conversions are impossible today. They will neither be tolerated nor attempted.

Individual conversions do occur, most of them after interfaith marriages. The Catholic Church no longer insists on conversion prior to solemnising mixed marriages. In my family, most recent marriages have been interfaith. No conversion has taken place. Interfaith marriages of the less educated and economically weaker sections do sometimes result in conversion, mostly to the religion of the male partner. Such individual conversion should not make any dent in the Hindu social order.

I know of many Hindu men who have married Christian or Muslim women. The Parivar did not raise any objection to that. So why should it object to the love of a Christian or Muslim man for a Hindu woman? The only explanation could be the majoritarian attitude towards numerically weaker groups and its need to assert its superiority in a heterogeneous society. The anti-conversion laws enacted by some BJP-ruled states are nothing but an irritant and indication of an unfounded obsession. They need to be repealed.

“The nation proudly acknowledges the contribution of Christians,” the PM said to the assembled Christian leaders. He mentioned that the community had punched well above its weight in the fields of education, health and service to the poor and the needy. I am happy he admitted that. Often, Parivar elements would accuse Christians of performing these services with the intention of converting the helpless to their religion. They even accused Mother Teresa of converting the destitute she had taken under her care just before they breathed their last — another patently false accusation.

Instead of creating tensions, the Parivar should emulate the spirit of service of such compassionate Christians. I learn that it has already begun the process in tribal areas in particular. There is an element of competition and rivalry, like in the Bhil-dominated tribal areas of Gujarat. As a senior IAS officer of Gujarat whispered to me, the rivalry has resulted in the tribals benefiting from both quarters!

Finally, should the Christians of India rejoice at the PM’s new-found admiration for their values of truth, compassion, justice and service? I would advise a cautious approach. We have to wait and watch. The ordinary Hindu’s attitude towards his or her Christian neighbours in my city, Mumbai, has always been friendly. It is the government that needs to view them positively, like Modi says he is now doing.

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