(CHAKRA) In 1993 Christopher Hitchens exposed the myth of Mother Teresa as a caring old woman helping India ’s poor with Christian charity. Yet the myth persists that her disease infested incarceration centres are in the forefront of Christianity’s civilising mission in Hindu-majority India .
Switch onto any American fundamentalist Christian programme such as the notorious CBN and its 700 Club run by Pat Robertson and you will be asked for donations to help spread the true faith among the wretched and pathetic poverty stricken masses of India who are enslaved by a socio-economic condition created by the caste system and the demonic faith of Hinduism. Robertson’s Operation Blessing operates in many countries and as well as spreading hardcore intolerant Christianity through aid projects also provides Robertson with a lucrative income to help ‘fund’ his private helicopter and other nice little perks. Of course Robertson is far from alone and he does not just target Hindus.
KP Yohannen was born in India and from his adopted homeland of America launched the uncompromising message of conversion and vilification of heathen faiths in Gospel for Asia . Like Robertson, Yohannen is very keen that freedom of religion is pushed in all countries, especially India . Yet at the same time both men foam at the mouth at the very idea of even yoga coming to America . So perhaps we should take their freedom of religion with the unhealthy scepticism it deserves.
In the gallery of Hindu-hating Christian preacher types Yohannen is joined by fellow Indian immigrant Dinesh D’Souza now veteran of the American conservative scene. He is however a comparative latecomer to religious apologetics, even though one his early forays into writing involved a gushing eulogy for Jerry Falwell, a vile character who defended racial segregation. No surprise that on hearing of his death Christopher Hitchens referred to Falwell as a “carcass”. But D’Souza is quick to praise Christianity for bringing equality especially to Hindu converts like his own ancestors. He even praises Christianity for being responsible for India ’s recent economic rise and Hinduism as the reason for its backwardness for, yes, you guessed it, the caste system. The interesting thing is that Christian hardcore preachers like the delightful people just mentioned in my introduction seem to ignore their own backyard. This is not surprising. An estimated fifty million Americans are uninsured which means they lack basic health care. This year a documentary by BBC1’s Panorama exposed the raw reality of what this means. No job means no health care, something which is becoming an increasingly grim daily subsistence for the growing numbers if poor and unemployed.
And what exactly are the god-fearing doing to tackle this? Well in a disturbing article from the Digital Journal in 2009 entitled ‘Religious Right: Health Care Reform is Against God’s Plan’ Carol Forsloff exposed Christian groups such as Olive Tree Ministries, Minnesota family Council, Focus on the Family, The Christian Coalition of America and the American Family Association as calling for town hall meetings to be swamped in order to defeat health reforms being enacted to help the country’s least well off.
Obama was even called the anti-Christ for his efforts to tackle the simple fact that poor Americans simply cannot afford adequate health care which people in Europe take for granted. Southern Baptists meanwhile, a group that Obama would have been barred from even joining until the 1970s because of his part-African origins, claim that the president’s health reforms will fund an increase in abortions. While they are so keen to prevent the death of the unborn they remain unwilling to prevent the needless death of their fellow citizens from preventable diseases. In 2006 Dr. Richard Land, president of the Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission (ERLC) of the Southern Baptist Convention brushed off the idea of equality saying that not everyone can afford Cadillacs.
It is not simply that Christian hardcore groups are against equality of health care because while they fulminate against India ’s poverty being the result of the ‘caste system’ and above all that idol-worshipping false creed of Hinduism, the Christian fundamentalists sit upon a very dirty secret. Americans have always felt that god himself blessed their nation with special favour, making the United States a beacon to all mankind. An increasingly secular Europe has become irked at trans-Atlantic religious observance and moral superiority. Into the twenty-first century, bucking the trend in the developed world, Americans remain famous for their religious observance. There are two hundred Christian television channels, 1500 Christian radio stations, and Christian road signs everywhere. In many small towns the churches outnumber bars. It is impossible to avoid Christianity completely in America . In this the most powerful nation on earth, ninety-five percent of people believe in god, forty percent attend church at least weekly, and three out of four people belong to a church. Religious observance is at its deepest in the southern states where two thirds of people claim they have undergone a religious experience. George Bush Jr was in fact a radical evangelist who was enacting his vision of American exceptionalism, a nation whose destiny had been ordained by god.
America ’s creation myth states that the nation was founded by free men and women who created a democratic and egalitarian model society from scratch. In reality the freedoms taken for granted by modern America evolved only gradually from a harsh system of forced labour, penal servitude and black slavery. The Puritan origins of what became America remain evident in that nation’s culture and psyche, withstanding the diverse immigrant groups that have settled in what is now the United States . In 2006, George Walden, former private secretary to British foreign secretaries David Owen and Lord Carrington, reported that sixty per cent of Americans are Protestant Christians, of whom one quarter are evangelicals. Puritan ethic continues to infuse American society. The stress on individual virtue and personal development as a sign of one’s worth, hard work as an indication of merit, material success as a reward for diligence are legacies of the Puritan theocratic ethos.
The English Puritans who came to American shores wanted to build a utopia, and were heavily influenced by Calvinist ideas of predestination. With its concept of the “elect”, Calvinism held that god has decided our fate in advance, and only the fittest souls were predestined for salvation. The rest are damned as George Walden explained in his 2006 book ‘God Won’t Save America’:
Outlandish as its theory seems, the idea of predestination is by no means foreign to the contemporary American psyche. ‘A loser’ is a very American term, as is ‘a born loser’, with its implication that society is divided into losers and winners from the start. . . . We think of genetics as stark in its implications, but Calvinist predestination was starker, if only because Puritans made no allowance for what we would call environmental factors in deciding who was to be damned.
From 1647, The Westminster Confession became the most authoritative English text for Calvinism and greatly influenced American Puritans in this idea of foreordained bifurcation of humanity into the saved and the damned. From this idea it is a linear development to the unscrupulous businessman offering products to the poorest, least educated and least intellectually endowed, designed to appeal to immediate emotional, sexual and instant gratification, or a drug dealer disclaiming all responsibility for supplying his addicts, who do are inherently incapable of knowing any better:
“In cold logic – and Puritan logic could be very chilly – both Calvin and the least scrupulous business folk of today have a point. If the consumers in question are hopeless profligates who will never get a grip of their lives, little harm can be done by trading on their vices. What sticks in the craw is the idea that of Christians acting on the premise that some human souls are irredeemable, and profiting from the knowledge. Basing itself on Puritan habits of thought, the American business conscience appears to be able to accommodate things that, to the non-Christian or agnostic, seem deeply impure. Puritan talk about the fecklessness of the poor can sound remarkably like the thinking of economic ultra-conservatives today, in which whole sections of society are overtly or tacitly written off. The fact that America has become a less socially mobile society than it was (according to a recent study only Britain is less meritocratic), and that educational opportunities are becoming as widely differentiated as incomes, makes this an even less Christian attitude.”
The individualism which sprang from settler America is a direct result of this Puritan ethos. Southern evangelicism in particular endorses the social status quo and has always defended social privilege, believing that government interference makes no difference to progress and prosperity. This conservative ethic is now spreading across the rest of the country. Its origins of course lie in the Puritan ethic of the original English settlers. The Religious Right has always insisted that America was meant to be a Christian nation. Exactly what this meant in terms of the poverty gap has been made abundantly clear. The Christian fundamentalist business empires took root in the 1960s but their roots went back much further.
In 1927 Bob Jones University was founded and became the largest national producer of fundamentalist preachers. By 1930 there were already fifty fundamentalist Bible colleges. Billy Graham rose to prominence from 1950 with his lucrative mega crusades. In 1960 Pat Robertson founded his Christian Broadcasting Network. In 1973 Paul and Jan Crouch founded what was to become world’s largest Christian broadcasting network, Trinity Broadcasting Network. In 1971 Jerry Falwell founded Liberty University in Lynchburg as a private educational institution. Liberty would grow into the world’s biggest Christian university. To this end the dominant and largely white Protestant preachers have opposed far-reaching social activism in the name of Christ.
In the 1980s Jerry Falwell founded the Moral Majority which promoted family values, anti-abortion, and patriotism. Falwell held that capitalism had been ordained by god. Property ownership, competition and commercial success was Biblical. He therefore argued for cuts in social welfare but increasing the defence budget. After 1988 Falwell’s fellow Christian fundamentalists Pat Robertson and Ralph Reed married pro-business with a socially conservative agenda to build the Christian Coalition which was actively courted by George Bush Jr. The Christian Religious Right denounced Medicare and supported cuts in government spending, even as it was willing to use power of government to enforce their fundamentalist values and intrude into the private lives of others notably abortion and homosexuality. A vice-like grip of history, ideology and theology now hold the monopoly of power in Washington . As America polarises the privileged top twenty per cent have tightened their grip on elite universities. The bottom twenty per cent are locked into a vicious cycle of low wages, few skills, indifferent schools and lack of health care which means that they are far less likely to exit poverty than the poor in Canada, Germany, Netherlands, Sweden and even Britain.
This underclass has developed its own subculture of alienation and disaffection as it is locked into a desperate struggle for survival and is all too familiar with the corrosive gun culture. By contrast the “overclass” is sheltered not only from gun culture, but is actively opting out of the American way of life using the conservative and anti-statist philosophy to justify its detachment. Just as the elite British schools of Westminster and St. Pauls dominate intake onto the universities of Oxford and Cambridge , Andover and Exeter pupils predominate in Yale and Harvard. By 1997 Warren Buffet was so concerned by this aristocracy of the rich that he organised the Campaign for Responsible Taxation. But he was up against George Bush’s plans for tax cuts and the huge support which he had from an elite who live in exclusive gated communities such as Hidden and Rolling Hills in California and are fierce critics of any state intervention in helping the poor. The growth of this Selfish Capitalism has been helped by the influence of Ayn Rand’s philosophy of Objectivism which decries altruism as evil and raises individual selfishness to be a virtue and has gone mainstream as seen by the Tea Party Movement. Therefore Christian fundamentalists have not hesitated to employ the ideas of the staunch secularist, atheist and virulently anti-religious Ayn Rand to argue that god helps those who help themselves. Most of America ’s wealthy do not accept resultant social responsibility that was common in the past with ruthless tycoon barons such as Rockefeller and Carnegie.
They follow the dictate of Cornelius Vanderbilt who was against philanthropy because giving away money meant losing power, and power was of course the key motivation for acquiring wealth. Downsizing has meant more part-time work and an impermanent labour market, better for employers as they can avoid paying for health insurance. Once in poverty few manage to leave since there is lower social mobility than Britain , Italy , Germany or France and will get worse. Although a flexible labour market is held to be the key to economic success, America has been very inefficient in placing poorly skilled workers into jobs. With lack of affordable housing trailer park communities have mushroomed as the poor have in effect become the serfs of the wealthy nobility. Is America still an economic and social model to emulate? Will Hutton of the Work Foundation has written on the Leninist inflexibility and dogma which surrounds much of American discourse on socio-economic inequality:
The journalist Barbara Ehrenreich conducted her own social experiment, spending 1998 working in a series of low-wage jobs as a waitress, hotel maid, cleaning woman, nursing-home aide and Wal-mart sales clerk. The result of her year, documented in Nickel and Dime, is an extraordinary, Orwellian testimony to how tough American working life is for the bottom 20 per cent. She had absolutely no financial margin beyond paying the rent and what she needed to survive; saving or finding the time for any training to upgrade her status was beyond her. ‘Most civilised nations compensate for the inadequacy of wages by providing relatively generous public services such as health insurance, free or subsidised housing and effective public transport,’ she writes. ‘But the United States , for all its wealth, leaves its citizens to fend for themselves – facing market based rents on their wages alone. For millions of Americans, that $10 – or even $8 or $6 – an hour is all there is.’
In ‘Civilization’ Niall Ferguson found that Christianity was strong in America because it has become part of the commercial landscape not an alternative. Churches resemble shopping malls and the parallels are not coincidental. While correctly stating that unlike in Europe the lack of state religion meant that churches had to, and still do, compete for worshippers like any commercial venture, he could have mentioned something else. This is that churches provide essential social work. There is much greater degree of private philanthropy in America due to the lack of a welfare state on the lines of Europe . Churches help the poor with outreach programmes such as homeless shelters and free lunches. For that reason a fully comprehensive health care would negate the need for Christian organisations to play such a role to show how ‘good’ they are.
Hence it is not belief that draws people to the Christianity, but as with India , the exploitation of poverty and distress to create dependant automata. Full access to basic health care would thus be an unmitigated disaster to these organisations who assuage and compromise their selfish Objectivist perspective on life with a few crumbs for the less deserving human lice.
India is presently heralded as a rising economic star so can it provide any alternatives? This will no doubt be laughed off. After all people leave India in droves in order to come to America and many do very well indeed. The converse is not true. With its cheek-by-jowl poverty with super-rich how can a country like India hope to teach anything to America ? But looked at from another perspective it is perhaps rather surprising that with all its extremes of wealth India does not suffer even more fractious labour relations and social dysfunctionality. That is now changing as India imports some of the worst aspects of western civilisation, notably its glitzy false veneer, the now derided ‘bling-bling’ of fast cars, designer goods and half-naked girls which have saturated MTV watched by the mindless automata of a generation X. Yet at the same time there is also a revival of ancient Indian spirituality and philosophy with figures such as Swami Ramdev. This is key to understanding why wide disparity in wealth and status has not degenerated into an anti-social apocalypse.
American society would never tolerate such disparity and it is ominous how as the BBC Panorama programme exposed, you now have Americans driven by poverty to live in the drains of Las Vegas and the collapse of Detroit to eke out an existence in woodland tents because even the homeless shelters are overcrowded. America could grow on uninhibited capitalism because in the nineteenth century this was a vast hinterland with massive resources just waiting to be exploited. That is no longer the case as America is dependent on Arab oil and the economic generosity of China .
India is poor because the very free market laissez-fair system which brought prosperity and national clout to America and its former colonial master of Britain was disastrous to India . Just like the advent of the constitutional monarchy after the 1688 Glorious Revolution was a progressive stride for Great Britain but an unmitigated disaster for Ireland, so India’s first brush with capitalism involved weavers having their hands amputated and logistic controls placed in order that India’s industry could not compete with Britain.
India poverty
Dinesh D’Souza may give ‘Two Cheers for Colonialism’ and stress the imperial legacy of rule of law, parliamentary democracy and the sonnets of Shakespeare as beneficial legacies. But at the time the harsh reality was poverty, starvation and destitution on a mass scale just as it was in Ireland in 1846 during the Potato Famine. What has been derided after independence as the ‘Hindu rate of growth’ by Lord Desai was in fact the result of state planning and interference based upon the very same bankrupt Marxist philosophy which this failed academic desperately clings to like a limpet. In doing so he ignores the very real ‘Hindu’ rate of growth which has powered the economic engine that is an Indian success story, namely the state of Gujarat under the vision of BJP Chief minister Narendra modi
BJP- Narendra Modi
Following reforms by Narasimha rao in 1991 India has of course opened up. While its growth has been impressive there is no doubt that stark contrasts in wealth remain making the BJP appear foolish, insulting to millions and certainly very premature with its slogan of ‘India Shining’. But beyond all the MTV style generation X mindless glitz there has indeed been a Hindu rate of growth. India has remained comparatively cohesive because of its pervading Hindu ethos. It is this deep ancient philosophy which made India a pioneer in the very elements which have become essential to western civilisation, notably decimal numbers and the invention of zero. Now that very same ethos is providing the foundation in revolutionary standards in health care. In a complete contrast to both the selfish fundamentalism of Ayn Rand’s Objectivism and the Puritan-Calvinist castigation that some people are born damned and inferior, Hindu Dharma needs to be seen within the framework of the traditional extended Hindu family, which plays the role of a surrogate welfare state. In this context, and in stark contrast to both Ayn Rand and Pat Robertson,
Krishna & Arjuna
The wealth a person acquires is not for just their own benefit but for the welfare of the extended family and others. One has a responsibility towards those members of one’s family who cannot maintain themselves. In another stark contrast to Objectivism any giving that is motivated by selfish considerations loses its value from the spiritual point of view: which of course has no place in the philosophy of Ayn Rand, Selfish Capitalism or America ’s Religious Christian Right.
The Bhagavad Gita speaks of three types of giving:
- A gift that is given without any expectation of appreciation or reward is beneficial to both giver and recipient.
- A gift that is given reluctantly and with the expectation of some advantage is harmful to both giver and recipient.
- A gift that is given without any regard for the feelings of the recipient and at the wrong time, so causing embarrassment to the recipient, is again harmful to both giver and recipient.
Before being despoiled by colonialism India had these very values as the norm. The Chinese scholar Hiuen-Tsiang visited India in the seventh century during the period of the Indian king Harshavardhana. He recounted the king’s generous sharing of his wealth with his people. Similarly, the kings of Thanjavur in the nineteenth century were renowned for establishing chatrams, centres of hospitality located along the road to pilgrim centres, which took care of the needy, the sick and those who died in their care.But with the advent of colonialism, chatrams were deprived of this important role and as a result today ithese traditional institutions of hospitality are scenes of hunger, starvation and deprivation. Raja Sarfoji, the king of Thanjavur, in a letter to the British colonial masters in 1801, implored them to ensure that this tradition of hospitality would not be curtailed or done away with.
However for India ’s colonial masters these traditional institutions of hospitality were seen as a wasteful use of resources. The Indian kings were warned against directing funds to their maintenance, and elite Indians were quick to internalise this attitude. With the Famine Commission Report of 1880, an elaborate state-controlled bureaucratic management of supply and distribution of food was introduced, thus discouraging the existing centres of hospitality and undermining the religious and cultural values underpinning them. Dana includes selfless service or seva to those in need. Most Hindus are familiar with the story of King Rantideva, who was known for his generosity. When his kingdom was struck by a devastating famine, he wanted to share the suffering of his subjects and so fasted for 48 days until all his people were fed. When he was about to break his fast with a glass of water he heard the cry of a thirsty man. He gave his glass of water to the man. As he was about to take a morsel of food, there appeared an unexpected hungry guest to whom he gave it.
Fortunately the materialist neo-feudalism as exhibited most dramatically in American Christian fundamentalism, Selfish Capitalism and Objectivism could not kill off ancient India ’s spirituality completely.
On 23 November 1990 Sathya Sai Baba announced the building of super speciality hospital in Puttaparthi in south India . This was inaugurated a year later by Prime Minister Narasimha Rao. In 2001 a sister facility was opened at Whitefield in Bengalaru. These hospitals have 500 beds, 19 operating rooms, 11 ICUs, 4 Cardiac Cath Labs and speciality departments of cardiac sciences, urology, ophthalmology, orthopaedics, gastroenterology, plastic surgery, and neurosciences.
Thousands of operations take place every year. But the most amazing thing about these medical facilities in India is that they are all free for those who cannot afford to pay. Thousands of volunteer staff provide top quality medical care for India ’s most deprived and poverty stricken. Under the Sri Sathya Sai Healthcare Project private hospitals offer a specific number of beds for the free treatment of patients. In addition mobile medical centres now operate across villages in India .
“But it is not just in India . In 2009 the Sri Sathya Sai International Centre for Medical Services was established with its main hub in Los Angeles . From here world class medical caps are run around the globe. This does not halt at mere medical care. In Africa and South-East Asia the organisation had distributed mosquito nets impregnated with insecticide in order to combat malaria with 85,000 distributed in Kenya alone reducing the incidence of malaria by half. Mass immunisation programmes are processed along with education on hygiene and healthy living to reduce illness in the first pace. Unlike America where rapacious pharmaceutical firms and health insurance companies use their allies in the churches and legislature to ensure that adequate health care becomes only the preserve of the wealthy, Sai organisations work to prevent actual disease and sickness appearing in the first place so that those from deprived backgrounds are not reduced into further debt from exorbitant medical expenses or forced to go in desperation to the well funded American backed fundamentalist Christian churches which operate in India, and indeed in their home countries, to use forms of ‘miracle’ cures: effectively medieval style witchcraft and quackery to cure everything from AIDS to unemployment”. Sai Baba emphasised treating the patient and not merely the disease. In the words of David F Moxam, president and CEO of Authentic Inc, in Texas :
“The vision, compassion and professionalism of yourself and the members of the Sri Saithya Sai Institute of Higher Medical Sciences is, and remains, an inspiration for all of us. It makes us all feel good to be human and be a small part of such a wonderful dedication to our fellow man.”
It is certainly a lesson which should be well-heeded by Moxam’s fellow Americans. As the debate of health care provision rages and America’s self-righteous ‘Christocrats’ join Objectivists in averting their gaze from those less fortunate than themselves it may well be Hindu organisations such as that of Sathya Sai Baba which will need to make the world’s most powerful and richest nation reassess its moral and spiritual values. While Robertson, Yohannen and D’Souza rage about India and demonic Hinduism, one can at least say that India is a poorer country and hence one can expect the mass poverty which is encountered. But in America ?
Image of Sai Baba serving the poor
This is the richest and most powerful nation on earth, arguably the most successful society ever. Yet as Panorama revealed children go to school, hungry as their parents are forced to rely on free food handouts or eat rats. People live in drains literally beneath the glitzy glamour of Las Vegas . An operation for a hernia can mean losing one’s home to pay for the cost. A British medical charity that operated in the Amazon jungles now offers free medical and dental surgery to ordinary Americans who queue up in the bitter cold of an early morning just to be checked over for conditions such as rotting teeth because they simply cannot afford a visit to the doctor or dentist. How can a civilised society tolerate this in the name of ‘choice’ and ‘freedom’? Perhaps it is time that India returned the ‘favour’ bestowed upon it by missionaries so eager to exploit poverty and desperation by guiding the richest nation in the world in the concepts of Hindu sewa and dana: terminology which it has yet to learn.
By Ranbir Singh, Hindu Human Rights
While I agree with the author on the Indian spiritual ethos of Dana and support of the under-privileged by the privileged class, I am often beset with wonder when the same spiritual Indians, my fellow citizens, do not hesitate to ask for bribes, pay bribes, measure the success of a person in life with the extent of un-accounted wealth he/she has, consider not paying taxes or stealing from tax authorities as a symbol of their intelligence and power, and in general, accept corruption as a part of normal life.
I often wonder at this dichotomy in behaviour. Why are Indians so humane and gentle in private lives and how they become so in-human and greedy in public life so as to demand a cut even from the State pension of an elderly person or a widow who has no other source of income to feed his/her family?
xitian charity is just a front for fundamentalist xitian missionaries who need to be banned and jailed permanently in a mental asylum .When the US dumps Christianity then it will finally get a peace of mind under the influence of Hinduism
Dear all Nepalese & Indian Hindu Nationalists !
We Nepalese and Indian Hindus are suffering from the conspiracies of foreigners to convert Christians from Hindus.The east India Co. and Mother Teresa in India and corrupted traitors’s role are the main cause to invite the posion virus- the Christianity.An Indian scholar Ashok T. Jaisinghani writes about the conspirator history of Christian- ‘The Christian religion was used to justify horrible and cruel acts of genocide. It was also used to intimidate Indigenous people by making them think bad things were happening to them because they were not Christians. The sales pitch was that if they would accept Jesus, then their lives would be good. Many Anishnaabek did not fall for it but yet it was always chipping away at our sense of who we are. While the Creationists and Evolutionists are often at odds, colonial interpretations of both theories supported a racist and genocidal policy.’
design is ending the Hindus’ identity.
In 1835 Lord Mecaule and in 1856 Caldwell used weapons to enforce Christianity after colonizing India. Their blasphemous act of disintegrating the Hindu religion has tainted the Christian religion. To show them different to that of Hindu religion, Christianity has shown utter disregard to the wearing of red vermillion (Tika and Sindhur), resorted to burning scriptures of codes of conduct of Vedic Hindu and Buddhism and vandalizing statues. In Nepal, some Christians erected Churches without any agreement after 2005; they had not to so such behavior. As such voices are raised by the employees of brokers of Christianity, Christian religion is becoming unpopular. In Arab nations due to the pressure mounted by the Christian nations of the west, they are forced to view them as their enemy.
‘The mother of Jesus Christ Mary had become pregnant before she had married. The problem was solved when she accepted one carpenter Yusuf (Joseph) as her husband. First he denied accepting her. Let it be- Jesus Christ came to India at the age of 12/13 with businessmen. He spent some days with Jainmuni (sage) in Rajasthan. Then he studied Ved in Kashi and Jagannathpuri. He achieved enlightenment through meditation in India. Jesus Christ preached on love, benediction, compassion and mercy by learning from ancient Vedic Hindu religion. He has shown honor to Veda in his books. He believed in Bhramh (the creator), Bishnu (the preserver and protector), Maheshwor (manager of truth, beauty & wellbeing) and ‘OM’. The word ‘OM’later changed into ‘Omen’. The manuscript of Christ can be read at the ‘Summit University’ in France. The tradition that precedes a birth, death, marriage and christening in Churches by priests and pastors corresponds with the Hindu traditions. There is a hexagon of Hindu Goddess ‘Saraswati’ (Goddess of Intellect) in the national insignia of Israel’s Jews.(Nepal Samachar Patra)
In 1835 Lord Mecaule and in 1856 Caldwell used weapons to enforce Christianity after colonizing India. Their blasphemous act of disintegrating the Hindu religion has tainted the Christian religion. To show them different to that of Hindu religion, Christianity has shown utter disregard to the wearing of red vermillion (Tika and Sindhur), resorted to burning scriptures of codes of conduct of Vedic Hindu and Buddhism and vandalizing statues. In Nepal, some Christians erected Churches without any agreement after 2005; they had not to so such behavior. As such voices are raised by the employees of brokers of Christianity, Christian religion is becoming unpopular. In Arab nations due to the pressure mounted by the Christian nations of the west, they are forced to view them as their enemy.
Then why we Hindus in the world are not ready to chase away these elvil elements ?
So, we should welcome the rising Hindu leaders like late King Mahendra in Nepal and BJP India as Narendra Modi.
Thank you.
Dirgha Raj Prasai
Kathmandu.
NEWSWEEK COLUMNIST Ms Lisa Miller says-‘we are all Hindus. The Rig Veda, the most ancient Hindu scripture, says: “Truth is one, but the sages speak of it by many names.” A Hindu believes there are many paths to God. The most traditional, conservative Christians have not been taught to think like this. They learn in Sunday school that their religion is true, and others are false. Let us all say “OM.” when you chant “OM,” it will resonate not only in the room but down through the ages.’ May 13, 2010 at > http://www.newsweek.com/id/237910
Voltaire wrote—’Christianity is the most ridiculous, the most absurd and bloody religion that has ever infected the world.’ Thomas Jefferson, the President of US 1801-09, observed-‘The Christian god is a three headed monster; cruel, vengeful and capricious. If one wishes to know more of this raging, three headed beast-like god, one only needs to look at the caliber of people who say they serve him. They are always of two classes: fools and hypocrites.
According to a 2008 Swiss Banking Association Report, Indians are the number one holder of Swiss bank accounts, totaling 1861 billion dollars. Three times as much as the number two holder of accounts, Russians at 610 billion. India is hemorrhaging its resources. Today, India is a land of 2000 Kings, but these Kings do not give any of their resources back to their people and land. When you point the finger, three fingers point back at yourself. Being a fanatical Hindu and pointing the finger at fanatical Christians is as ridiculous as it futile.
Christian mission want to destroy indian culture and religion.we are sinner is the main theory of christianity but hindu are divine in nature.they give money pressure everything to destroy indianness.we should protest against church jai sriram
Please stop project Sri Sathya Sai Baba as a saviour of the Hindus… He was (asn still is) a Universal Teacher, who taught life truths, much beyond the religious divide that’s grappling our world now!
While I appreciate your efforts, please know and understand that Sathya Sai Baba propagated the religion of love alone…. Do not trivialise His life by making Him a (only) Hindu’s Saviour…
Srividhya, It shows how much of a fool you are where in this article did it point out Sri Sathya Sai Baba is saviour of Hindus ?
This article is based on Hindu Seva and Christian charity..Sathya Sai Babas work is based on the hindu concept of Seva with no secret agenda unlike christian missionaries which you dont seem to understand.And when you understand what Hinduism then you would know it is universal and full of love so dont trivialise Hinduism as some religion because in reality it is Dharma which is not a religion so learn your facts before opening your mouth .And remember this quote from Sri Sathya Sai Baba discourse at Whitefield in 2008
“All over the world there is going to be only one religion and the people in other countries would talk of only Hinduism. This would happen in another twenty to thirty years and one could see, the Hinduism in other parts of the countries would have its charm of attraction and popular among the other religious sects people”, said Sri Sathya Sai Baba of Puttaparthi on Saturday who has been camping at his Brindavan abode in Bangalore Kadagodi near the White Field Railway station.
So if Hinduism is not a religion of universal religion love then why even make these comments ?
@ Srividhya, Hindus don’t have a concept of saviour so stop reading the bible and try to understand what the point of this article is
Shannon are you making some sort of sick joke? Speaking of Swiss bank accounts, one of the biggest was held by Zaire’s king Mobutu, who as president for 40 years oversaw the wholesale looting of the former Belgian Congo until he was deposed. And who backed him? Yes good ole southern Bible Belt billionaire and founder of CBN, Pat Robertson. This son of a segregationist senator by the same name (who said the Bible prevented him from helping “coloured people” as Hitchens elucidates in ‘God is not Great’) overcame his father’s aversion to blacks so he could get Mobutu to give him concessions in natural resources. Are going to blame Hindus for that?
I understand and appreciate this article. But, I fail to understand why the word of Christopher Hitchens, a zealous atheist who was as anti-Hindu as he was anti-Christian, regarding Mother Teresa would provide any strength to the argument. The role of Puritanism (a Protestant concept) and Evangelism in mass conversions and the putting down of other religions is clearly evident. So the argument can stand on these alone.
Actually mraghavan Chris Hitchens’ arguments are a product of the very Christian environment he hates. The ‘god’ may have gone but the basic mindset and infrastructure remains. So he sees Hindu Dharma through these Christian goggles.
In any case his dissection of Sister Agnes (the fraud known as Mother Teresa) has yet to be surpassed.
I was until last year a Hindu but now I am a Christian. It is rather unfortunate if indeed what goes on in India missions is proselytism. Jesus was against proselytism! In Matthew chapter 23, Jesus condemns the scribes and pharisees for their hypocrisy and proselytism.
The two greatest commandments by Jesus are to Love God above all else and Love your neighbor as you love yourself. When I present you the good news that Jesus(God who has come in the flesh) died for your sins to provide an atoning sacrifice to God, as an cognitive and a moral being you have the right to either accept him or deny him. You are responsible to choose your path and there is no compulsion to convert. Now if i do try to convert you to Christianity for my personal gain or my churches gain I am not a true believer in Jesus Christ. Please read the bible before you make statements that Jesus was in india and learned from the Vedas because that is simply not true.
Jesus’s divinity is portrayed throughout the bible both the old testament(written thousands of years before jesus was born) and the new testament.
I hope you receive my comment in the light that I presented to you.
Love
Sri
Please! May be long, but readable-
Let’s Chase away Christians from Nepal & India!
By Dirgha Raj Prasai
Nepal and India both countries are the founder and original Land of Hinduism and civilization. We should have to keep cordial relation between Nepal and India. Due to the attached, raping and invading of Muslim and Christian, from 800 years ago, India could not save her prestigious identity. Still, the Indian nationalists are fighting against the traitors and foreigner’s religious intervention of Muslim and Christian. That is the good step of Indian nationalists. But, Nepal could save her sovereign prestige of Hindus and Buddhas.
Nepal is an original land of Hinduism and Buddhism. Since ancient time immemorial Pashupatinath Temple and the Buddhist shrine of Swoyambhunath have attested the harmonious relations between these two religions, which are spreading its fame round the globe. However, the Christians are systematically defiling this holy land, and bent on destroying its identities. They are adopting concerning conspiratorial schemes to maintain their imperialistic approach towards this country. The Christian missionaries are conning the Nepalese people of weak disposition by providing them money. This has enraged all Hindus and Buddhists. The American and Indian intelligence agencies like CIA and the European Union are conniving with the Maoists to turn Nepal into a Christian state. If we are not able to stop this kind of rape, the identity and existence of Hinduism and Buddhism will perish from this planet.
In 1743 Prithvi Narayan Shah during his visit to Banaras in India had seen Christians brutally murdering Hindus. This scene made him realize the necessity to annex all the smaller Hindu kingdoms of Himwatkhanda. Due to this inspiration the unification of Nepal was possible. In Bharatbarsha (major portion of Indian subcontinent) there existed more than 25 kingdoms. In those days India was not known as Hindustan. After unifying these kingdoms the English colonizers in acknowledgment of the majority of Hindus that constituted the population called it Hindustan. But before that time, Prithvi Narayan Shah had announced- ‘Nepal is an advantageous fortress. This is a fortress created by God. This is the real Hindustan.’
Prithvi Narayan Shah in time inspired to protect this holy land. He unified 54 states to form Kingdom of Nepal – all castes became one as Nepalese caste. A priest of Prithvi Narayan Shah, Shaktiballav Aryal praised this holy land- ‘Nepal is a country served by hermits from four sides; where Nilkantha (Hindu God Shiva) lives; where Koshi River flows. It is a place of the residency of mountain’s daughter, Gurhekali; where flows the chaste Bagmati River; where lies the Shiva Linga in Pashupati; where is Changunarayan; where is Bajrayogini, where is Pancha Lindeshwor Pachali Bhairav, such is country Nepal.’ This attests to the reality that this land is the foundation of Hindu culture.
The Portuguese and English colonizers in India tried everything to destroy Hindu dignity. Twenty five years ago I had visited Goa of India where I learned about the Portuguese attack on Hindu dignity. It hurt me then and it still does now. Then the temples in Goa were razed down to built church. We can today see the remnants of the destroyed temples and the vandalized statues– idols with heads ripped off. After 1560, an inhumane carnage was let loose and anyone against Christianity burned alive. The properties belonging to Hindus were seized by the Church. Beautiful Hindu women were accused falsely, raped and then burned alive. In Goa, non-catholic, meaning Hindus, did not posses right to their property. Hindus were executed if found with Shaligram (Hindu idol) and Tulasi (herb bearing religious importance). Anyone was found doing Karma as per their tradition was killed. To cling on to Hindu rituals meant becoming the victim of execution. Thousands of men and women were burned in this process of imposition of a foreign religion. This continued till 1812 in Goa. The same incidents may repeat itself in Nepal for Christians have entered in the guise of needle and they will turn into plough to destroy our identities.
It is inexplicable – the cruelty of Christians over women. According to chief disciple of Christ Saint Paul, the creation of women was for entertainment. Christians did not recognize women as human beings. The decision to recognize woman as a human being was taken only in 1929 at Privy Council in London. It was viewed compulsory that bishop or clergy should keep company of prostitutes or concubines. The church opened brothels for priests. The level of repression of women in Christian society was to a degree that women were subjected to torture. They were at times whipped naked and impaled with needles to death. In many places women have been raped. In reality brokers who have taken on the burden of proselytizing people from foreign religion are not human, but wolves in disguise. Such inhumane Christians come in the guise of amiable humanists and suck blood of Hindus and Buddhists in Nepal. They distribute the incentive of money, job and other benefits to keep people in illusion. If we do not chase these criminals from this holy land, we will have to hand over our properties to Christians and accept death as their wish. We Nepalese people are not anti-Christian. However, if they wish to destroy our religion and cultural traditions we never support these elements.
According to OUTLOOK-India has exposed about the sexual criminality in Churches- ‘The complaints are dealt with by the bishops and they influence the laity. If a woman among the laity becomes pregnant because of a priest or a bishop, they build houses or give money to them and hush it up. A life is not born in the church. When it comes to the nuns, they either makes her abort the child or she is sent out of the church. If the nun tries to take it up, then she is ostracized by society. Financial irregularities are rampant. The priest collects money in the name of reconstruction of the church. The laity who comes to church donates in good faith. But some of the priests, they never reveal the exact amount to the parishioners…they take their share and hand over the remaining to the church.’
A Scholar Mr. JACK LOSH has exposed-22May 2012- ‘The Catholic Church’s leading exorcist priest has sensationally claimed a missing schoolgirl thought to be buried in a murdered gangster’s tomb was kidnapped for Vatican sex parties. Two years ago he claimed sex scandals rocking the Catholic Church were evidence that”the Devil was at work in the Vatican.” Mobster De Pedis was leader of murderous, drug-trafficking gang Banda della Magliana. He was gunned down aged 38 by members of his outfit after they fell out. Detectives investigating the disappearance of Emanuel Orlando believe De Pedis – whose name on the £12,000 tomb is spelt in diamonds – is linked to her kidnap. Last month the diocese of Rome, on orders from the Vatican, granted investigators permission to open up the gang boss’s tomb, controversially located in the holy Sant’Apollinare basilica close to Piazza Navona, central Rome. The burial was allegedly given the go-ahead when prison chaplain Father Vergari told bishops De Pedis had “repented while in jail and also done a lot of work for charity”, including large donations to the Catholic Church.
The point is, the Church is a tough nut to crack. It remains doubtful if it can be reformed even if the Pope were inclined to try. Because, its empire is today flung far across continents, nations, cultures and civilizations, and there are the machinations of countless vested interests at work. The Pope might be able to ensure that the cardinal principles of faith remain uniform and sacrosanct. But even that is not easy. For instance, saints deposed by the Vatican years ago are still venerated in Kerala. The Kerala church finds them useful. As for celibacy, if a priest gives it up, what can the Church do? Like all religious hierarchies that have gained influence in the modern world, the Catholic Church too, by and large, keeps word and deed apart. By word, I mean the word of Jesus, which is the bedrock of the Church. Perhaps it isn’t possible at all to make the two one if you wish to obtain and retain great power and great wealth. For who can live today the beggarly life that Jesus lived and expect to be taken seriously by presidents and prime ministers?
The Church is as worldly an institution as—a comparison to aid clarity—the United States of America, holding monopoly over an unbeatable brand name: Jesus. The J-brand, sedulously built up over 2,000 years, is so powerful that the blatant aberrations of the Church go unnoticed under its overpowering spiritual glamour. Without its charisma, the Church would collapse like a house of cards. Therefore, the last thing the Church wants is to let people find the real Jesus: a poor, wandering dreamer and revolutionary who just lost out. Old Sister Mary Chandy exposes- ‘here are so many incidents that hurt me. After I left the convent, I went through many trials and tribulations. It has been a long journey outside. Yes, both the priests and nuns drink wine and foreign liquor. When the priests drink, what spews from their mouths is absolute filth. If that is so, why have they kept my baptism certificate? It is now in their hands to prove I was not a nun. No, there are many good priests and nuns who do a lot of good work. But then there are also the bad ones. My advice to young Catholic girls is to not to go for counseling or confession to the priests.’
Rumors have it that Maoists’ leader Prachanda is a Protestant and Baburam Bhattarai a Catholic. Whether the Mohan Vaidya faction is also Christian is still a matter of research. May be, there are majority of Christians in the Maoists’ party. In this situation, foreign powers see an opportunity. It is easy for them to turn Nepal into a Christian state with the help of Maoists whom they would not oppose. The misfortune of Nepal is the wrong policies of political parties reared by foreign money. The American government had enlisted the Maoists in its terrorists’ list, but contradictorily American intelligence agency – CIA, is known to support the Maoists. American double standard is manifest. This is meant for Christianization. The American senate has given green signal to mercenaries to proselytize people in any part of the world. Though not mentioned in the constitution the justices of America regard their country as Christian.
American President takes oath holding onto a bible instead of the constitution of America. Only a Christian can become the president of America. In spite of America’s rodomontade on democracy and human rights it is one undemocratic and intolerant nation. The creation of United Nations became possible due to the pressure from the Church. The UN became the protector of Christian terrorists. So we Nepalese people oppose the activities UN carried out in Nepal after 2006. They brag about human rights and democracy but in action they are contradicting in a way they attack other nation and their religions. The Protestant and Catholic Church are jealous and cannot tolerate scriptures, community and ideology of other religions around the world.
The Christians pretend to support indigenous groups by donating money. The mercenaries in this way destroy the religion and culture of the indigenous groups. In Nepal the forerunners of the rights of indigenous groups in and outside the political parties are divided and given economic support. So the churches built after 2006 without any agreement must be razed down. We must then appeal to all former Hindus and Buddhists who have turned into Christians to return to their former religion and rituals. If they do not comply we must strip them off state facilities. The state should responsibly stop forceful conversion of poor and victims into Christians. It is the duty of the state to keep them in national discipline.
In Christian religion, the bible supports slavery. The bible says – all slaves must be turned into Christians, in that way they will not rebel against the master and serve without grudge. In reality Christianity is not a religion but a poisonous tree that bears fruits which when taken will actuate a diabolic process in human beings. Christians are much strict in discriminatory approaches. They do not like to mingle with the lower class or black community. Although Christian. India’s constitutional expert Ambedkar (Harijan) says- ‘Christians discriminate inside church. We are separated by a railing inside the church. Our children who have turned into Christians are discriminated as untouchables, which are also seen at schools, hostel and hotels.’
American former President Jefferson has said- ‘The Christian religion subjected many to inhumane torture in course of proselytizing them– many were imprisoned; many thrown into fire, and given mental torture. The Christian religion deceived and tricked half the population of the world to keep them in illusion. Other half were made naïve.’ Similarly, South African leader Nelson Mandela has said- ‘In Africa, previously the Christians had the bible we possessed the land. Today we have the bible while Christians possess the land.’
They are seizing the properties and land of those unwilling to become Christians and those willing to do so. People had been turned into slaves and are still turning into slaves. This proves the wickedness of Christians. The brothers and sisters of Nepal especially- poor Bahuns and indigenous people who have become Christians must understand this fact. The Christians are giving us false assurances in a conspiracy to drown this country.
I would like to request Pope of Vatican City and Christian missionaries round the world not to attack on dignity of other religions. If our voices are not responded we must commit ourselves to oppose them and keep our mother-religion and tradition alive and intact. If we do not chase away such sinners and destructive elements, Nepalese will converted like refugees shedding tears of blood. May we hope such a day will never come! Long Live Nepal as a Hindu and Buddhist nation.
Thank you.
Dirgha Raj Prasai
Kathmandu
Email:dirgharajprasai@gmail.com
@Dirgha Raj Prasai,
It would be great if you could provide references to article that you have written.
Otherwise it just looks like propaganda against Christians.
There is a difference between Catholicism and Christianity. Please do not make ignorant comments or tarnish a group of people for practicing their religion based on what you feel a few people did. By writing this article you are promoting hatred among people. Goal is to love, not hate.
Thanks
Sri
What are some Hindu charities I can donate to ?
All I can say is “Wow”. You people have absolutely no clue what Christianity actually is. Not only that, you are proving correct any statements made about your religion being heathenish. The vitriol from the article and the posters is incredible. Perhaps you should take a few classes in logic, world religions, and specifically the actual beliefs and contributions of Christianity in the world. Of course it goes without saying that there have been too many people claiming the name of Christ who have done anything but act Christ-like. Granted. But the overwhelming majority of charities have been founded by Christians. You can’t say anything remotely similar about Hinduism (or any other religion for that matter). The complaints against the “health-care” overhaul were never once about denying a single person health care. In this country health care is a given. There are hospitals willing and able to assist those with less income all over the country. Obamacare, as it is typically labeled, is a perverse piece of legislation that will only result in more people dying, greater unemployment, less charity, more murders of children, and the trampling of any and all religious beliefs of everyone (including Hindus). You people could not be more uninformed if you tried.
At the cost of being accused of beating my own drum let me make it very clear – it was ME, NOT Hitchens who took a closer look at Teresa back in 1994, and got the ball rolling. We asked Hitch to present our film Hell’s Angel (he did write the script but did none of the research).
Indians especially are reluctant to ascribe any credit to me – the usual reason!!
Faith is embeded in heart and mind. Flowers, fire, words are oral and physical presumtions. In Hinduism no one can be converted to high caste BRAHMIN, they are converted as low cast SHUDRAS AS per MANUSMRITI:
The tongue of Shudra who spoke evil about Brahmin should be cut off (Apastamba Dharma Sutra II/10-26.
Those who are with stinking conduct they will enter a stinking womb, either the womb of a dog or the womb of a swine or womb of Shudra (Chandogya Upanishad 5-10-7)
Shudras must be prohibited from hearing, studying Vedas (Brahma Sutras 1.3.9.38)
More on google Why Dr.Ambedkar burnt Manusmriti.
Due to Brahmins discrimination of Shudra Hindus converted from, 850Bc to Jainism, from 500Bc to Budhism. Budhism was born in India but stamped out of India by Brahmins. Due to this discrimination Hinduism was confined to India only. In Asia from SriLanka to Japan there are more Budhists than Hindus.