धर्म है जहाँ विजय है वहाँ

सोहन सिंह इन दिनों काफ़ी खुश हैं कि वो अब 'पूरी तरह से' हिंदू हो गए हैं. 42 वर्षीय सोहन ने हाल ही में अपने परिवार की परंपराओं के ख़िलाफ़ जाकर हिंदू रीति से अपनी माँ का दाह संस्कार किया.सोहन सिंह राजस्थान के कठात समुदाय से हैं. ऐसी मान्यता है कि राजस्थान के चार ज़िलों में फैले मेहरात, कठात और चीता समुदाय के क़रीब 10 लाख लोग हिंदू राजपूत राजा पृथ्वीराज चौहान के वंशज हैं.
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False Hopes Leave +ve Persons In Trauma

Preacher pronounce HIV/AIDS persons cured

The preacher accompanied by a top bureaucrat of the state

Dimapur August 10 : After their slow painful struggle to come to terms with their condition, a group of HIV positive people in Nagaland recently had all their hopes, faith and trust dashed to the ground with the false assurance of having been cured.

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Priests, nun held in Abhaya murder case

DH News Service, Thiruvananthapuram:

20 Nov. 2008

Sixteen years after the crime was committed, the CBI arrested two priests and a nun in the Sister Abhaya murder case and presented them in court on Wednesday.

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Number of Muslim members deepens from 35 to 27 in Lok Sabha 2009

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Three held for conversion bid

BANGALORE: Three, including a woman, were arrested on charges of proselytism by the HAL Airport police on Sunday. They were allegedly trying to lure people to convert with promises of better jobs overseas.

The incident came to light when the residents of Murugeshpalyanabbed Rama Reddy (26) hailing from Andhra Pradesh, Mike Barabas (35) and his wife Asmira Barbas of Karwar, when they were tryingto convert the locals on Sunday morning. The arrest was made following a complaint filed byPrabhod Kumar of Murugeshpalya.

"Three people, including the couple, tried to convince us that our religion and God were not real and that we have suffered enough. They even told that our God was responsible for our poor lifestyle. If we converted to their religion, they said they could offer us a better living overseas and financial support," the residents said.

As they tried to approach a bigger group, the locals held them and handed them over to the Airport police. Books, handouts and other materials used for conversion were seized from them.

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Catholic Bishop Meddling in Politics in Madhya Pradesh

ten Christians running for office in Madhya Pradesh

Voters in four states will follow those of Jammu and Kashmir who began casting their ballots yesterday. The first one will be Madhya Pradesh (27 November), a state ruled by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), a nationalist party linked to militant Hindu fundamentalist groups.

To know more about these elections AsiaNews talked to Fr Anand Muttungal, spokesman for the local Bishops' Conference, and Xavier Meda, deputy chairman of the Madhya Pradesh Isai Mahasangh (Madyha Pradesh Christian Federation), a local political action group.

For the first time ten Christians will run in state elections in Madhya Pradesh. One of them is Xavier Meda, a Tribal Christian who is trying to get elected in the Jhabua district. Meda, 32, talked to AsiaNews about his decision.

"Incidents caused by Hindu fundamentalist violence against Christians are routine in Jhabua," he said. "I have two small children and the future of our young generations needs to be secured. The majority community treats Tribal Christians with scorn and disdain and this has to end. For this to happen we must have our own voice in the [state] assembly to seek justice and rights for Christians, not only in Jhabua but throughout Madhya Pradesh and across the whole of India. This is one of the priorities in my election manifesto."

The Madhya Pradesh Isai Mahasangh (MPIM) made Meda's candidacy and that of nine other Christians possible. He is also the organisation's deputy chairman.

Fr Anand Muttungal, a spokesman for the local Bishops' Conference, is the MPIM's current coordinator; a man of inspiration.

"The Madhya Pradesh Isai Mahasangh is not a political party but a group of people of good will who have an active interest in politics. Among them are people who are sensitive to a secular approach to politics," Father Muttungal said. Hence, the group "short-listed candidates for nomination, asking they be given a chance to run in the Assembly elections."

"The local Catholic community has helped the population at large in health care, education and social assistance. Its initiatives are open to all, irrespective of caste or religion. However, the recent wave of anti-Christian sentiments and violence in places like Orissa or Karnataka we must enter the political arena," said the clergyman.

"Last year alone there have been 35 serious incidents of violence against the Christian community. These do not include minor things like harassment, beatings, attacks against churches or false accusations against Christian workers," he explained. "Since the BJP came to power in 2003 the number of violent episodes has rise to over 150."

What is the profile of Christians involved in politics according to Father Muttungal? They are people who want to "take part in nation-building, interested in the country's development. Every Christian involved in politics directly contributes to building the nation; at the same time through their action they contribute to the kingdom of truth, justice, peace and development. This is what Christians are called to do; their vocation is to contribute to civil society and reaffirm the dignity of those who are last in society, those who have no voice."

In light of this the MPIM's agenda includes selecting candidates, training them and getting them into public life.

"It is my belief that at this point in time Christians are not ready to set up their own party. For this reason the MPIM has called on various parties to include Christian candidates on their ticket and support their cause," said Father Muttungal. "This year ten Christians are running for office in Madhya Pradesh for different political parties. Their number went from two to ten for the first time."

Recently the MPIM also passed a resolution to make 25 August Christian Martyrs Day in India. Anti-Christian attacks broke out in Orissa at the end of last August.

On this date the MPIM plans to commemorate "all Christians, starting with Saint Thomas, who was killed whilst serving the Lord."

For her part Sheela Shantiago, head of the MPIM's women's branch, proposed that women who experienced harassment and torture be honoured like those who suffered martyrdom.
http://www.asianews.it/index.php?l=en&art=13786&geo=2&theme=8&size=A

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Look at the style of propoganda by a Reverand !

Sequence of events as in Know
Rev. L Suohei Mhasi 20 August, 2008 09:53:00

1. The Naga National Council was the Naga political Institution through which the divided Naga had been awaken and brought together in the same stream of National Movement. So it will be very ungrateful on the part of every Naga if the role played by the NNC for the Nagas is unaware of. NNC had formed the Federal Government of Nagaland in 1956 and the Nagas were in solidarity under the umbrella of FGN since 1964. There was the first Naga political talk with the Government of India beginning from 1964 and after a series of talk it came to a fiasco.
2. When the talk had failed and the ceasefire was unilaterally abrogated by the GOI, Security Forces were deployed in Nagaland for combing operation under the pretext of being in aid of Civil Administration of the State Government. It resulted in untold cruel treatment meted out to the people. Villages were grouped together which caused unspeakable losses of lives, sufferings and miseries to the villagers. Curfews were imposed in the villages and towns very now and then, underground men were almost uprooted, Jails in Nagaland were overflowed with prisoners and prisoners were sent to Assam, Meghalaya and West Bengal. Killing, beating, kicking, electric shock, beating by hanging upside down and raping and the like were perpetuated on the people. God protected me when cruel fingers were dashed against my kidney by a boy. If the experiences are to be written, a big volume of book can be written. Why I said these? I need to say these to make the youngsters aware of the consequences of the failure of the last talk.
3. Repose of life was sought by the Church and through the Peace Council the so called Shillong Accord was signed between the Government of India and the Representatives of NNC/FGN. But they cannot be blamed because they could not withstand the odd Indian Army through the Constitution on India was accepted in the accord.
4. The Naga National Council and the Federal Government of Nagaland had been betrayed by some Satanic brained ones from among the workers. Had the leaders of NNC and FGN been in the right mindset they would have regretted for the inescapable humiliation they came across when the accord was signed and they should have encouraged the fellow workers who were in the remote Eastern region and treated them as survivors of Shillong Accord who can be instrumental in doing any thing good for the Naga people in such a situation. But NNC/FGN had sent Federal troops to the border led by one of the signatories and attacked their fellow workers, killed many people and compelled Isak and Muivah to resign from NNC. This was said to be the cause of formation of a new organisation known as National Socialist Council of Nagaland.
5. The NSCN was formed in 1980 but was split into NSCN (I-M) and NSCN (K) in 1988. Both of them had ceasefire agreement with the Government of India and the two Socialist Groups have earned the terminology “Fratricidal War” in Nagaland. NSCN (I-M) have high intellectual and capable leaders and their cadres are better trained and more disciplined. Their practices were borrowed practices from the East because some of their leaders were not hesitant to say, “We are constructing the Naga National road; any thing that obstructs the road will be removed.” A political talk between the Government of India and the NSCN (I-M) has been going on for a decade. It is being led by a faction but the cause is the Nada National cause. So every Naga should see that the talk is supported to be successful because the fallout of the failure will be repetition of the past history.
6. If sovereignty is out of question to the statement of the GoI, any sort of settlement should be made with the blessing of the Naga masses which will pave the way for a peaceful settlement whatsoever it may be. Unity after settlement means unity by means of force which will be repetition of the past history as stated above. By all means any thing which will reflect shadow on the people should be avoided.
7. Integration is in the process only. So we should remember that love is the only force of cohesion but let alone killing, even harsh words is the force of separation.
8. Peace is no problem if Christ is accepted to rule the heart. So the way of peace is turning to Christ. For a long time many of the people have turned to the devil but now turn to Christ and create a peaceful Chapter of Life.


There is no question of lowering the height of some ones; humiliating, ignoring and isolating some ones but to recognize the personality of all and the genuine services of all irrespective of organisation and of past and present standing of every one of the people. Let the old things be gone and a new chapter be created in the name of Christ so that some Nagas are no longer being underground from other Nagas but all live and work together happily.
The way Christ and that of mankind are quit upside down. “Whosoever shall exalt himself shall be abased; and he that shall humble himself shall be exalted,” (Matt. 23:12) Mankind exalts himself to be exalted but Christ exalts those who humble themselves but those who exalt themselves are abased. So humble yourself to be exalted by Christ. Deter from the path of blood shed. There is nothing higher, greater and stronger than humbleness before God and before one another. We want to see that all of the Nagas love one another as brothers and sisters and as true witness of Christ. For the sake of Christ’s name these have been said. For the sake of Christ we speak, we give, we write and we expect everybody to respond to the call for peace for the sake of Christ.
Rev. L Suohei Mhasi
Kohima

http://www.morungexpress.com/writewing/1968.html

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Indian pastor charged with forced conversion

Pastor Oommen, of the Full Gospel Church of God in Jabalpur, Madhya Pradesh, has been charged under the Anti-Conversion Law.

A pastor in India and his wife have been arrested and charged under the forced conversion laws, reports Release International.

The police have locked their church and placed it under police guard, after a man who was baptised levelled charges of forced conversion and allurement.

Police raided the church on August 4 and took Pastor Sam Oommen into custody, along with his wife and two children. They later returned the children to a well-wisher.

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False Hopes Leave +ve Persons In Trauma
Christian Preacher falsely pronounce HIV/AIDS persons cured
The preacher was accompanied by a top bureaucrat of the state



Dimapur August 10 : After their slow painful struggle to come to terms with their condition, a group of HIV positive people in Nagaland recently had all their hopes, faith and trust dashed to the ground with the false assurance of having been cured. An enthusiastic preacher from Mizoram – who was in the state capital for a healing crusade – decided to take his gift of healing to the HIV positive patients, and rounded up several of the lot at NMA’s Hospice in Kohima, where he preached, prayed and declared them “cured”.
The preacher was accompanied by a top bureaucrat of the state, senior officials of the Medical department and the Nagaland State Aids Control Society (NSACS) as well as members of the Naga Mothers Association (NMA).
It was disclosed that on August 2, Saturday, the said preacher along with the bureaucrats, visited Cradle Ridge, an NSACS-funded and NMA-run HIV/AIDS hospice in Kohima. After having prayed over them, the preacher declared that all the positive persons gathered there have been cured except one person who was repeatedly prayed over until he was declared ‘cured’ after the third prayer.
After the “curing”, the preacher challenged the positive people to get retested for HIV/AIDS when the hospital reopened on Monday. But the euphoria for the positive patients lasted only till 12 o’clock, Monday (having waited eagerly for the result of their retest), when they were found still HIV positive.
The affected positive persons are extremely hurt over the false hopes provided by the preacher and especially by the people who were supposed to look out for their welfare. “I couldn’t wait for Monday when they told me I was cured” says a member of the KNP+, who was also present during this charade. He was “a little” discouraged though not angry though.
However, he expressed greater concern for his other friends, especially those who were just coming to terms with their condition and starting to grow a little faith. One of the positive patients who was on ART had even wanted to stop taking the treatment immediately but she was convinced by the warden to continue the ART until results of retest on Monday proved otherwise.
But more than the incident at the hospice, the preachers did a greater damage to the positive patients by inviting some of them to give their testimony at the Mizo church on Sunday, where he would be preaching. While they were debating as to whether they should come out openly and declare themselves (whether as positive people or as ‘cured’), the preacher sent a vehicle to pick up five of them (four patients and one in-charge of the hospice) on Sunday evening. At the end of the service, the preacher announced to a packed congregation that “five” HIV positive patients have been cured and asked them to stand up and identify themselves. Though the four positive persons, through their in-charge, communicated reluctance to identify themselves, they eventually stood up on the insistence of the people sitting behind them. Now the state capital is said to be abuzz with news of HIV positive persons being cured by the preacher.
The entire episode has greatly affected the positive persons who are going through immense psychological trauma following the ugly incident. One HIV/AIDS worker termed the whole drama as “very stupid”. She says that some of them are supposedly “ok” but the others are disappointed, discouraged or angry. While an official of the NSACS tried to justify the incident saying that the prayer program had not been a project of the NSACS, and that they had gone simply because they had been invited, the HIV/AIDS worker maintains that the mere presence of top bureaucrats of NSACS and Medical department had endorsed the preacher’s announcement of having cured them of HIV/AIDS.
“They were the same people sanctioning the money for their treatment, the same people who were earlier going around saying there is no cure…” the HIV/AIDS worker said while explaining how the victims had been convinced of having been cured by their presence with the unknown preacher.
Despite the extensive damage, NSACS official maintained that “this was done with the best of interest” and the prayer had not been a project of the HIV/AIDS society. They had been there simply because they were invited. The positive persons, on the other hand, are now struggling all over again, to come to terms with the world with the help of concerned AIDS workers, believers and other members of the society.

http://www.morungexpress.com/frontpage/false_hopes_leave_ve_persons_in_trauma.html

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Vatican hopes Indian Bible will translate into surge of converts

A new version of the holy text depicts Virgin Mary in sari and Joseph in a loincloth and turban.
A print run of 30,000 of the new Bibles sold out in a week in Bombay.


Barefoot and wearing a sari, with a bindi on her forehead and a naked baby on her shoulder, the woman in the picture is unmistakably Indian. So is the man behind her, clad in a loincloth and turban.

They could be any poor family in an Indian village, or at one of the country's teeming railway stations. This, however, is no ordinary family.

The image is one of the Virgin Mary with Joseph and the baby Jesus in the first “Indianised” version of the Bible, published by the Roman Catholic Church last month.

The New Community Bible is part of an attempt by the Vatican to attract more converts in the world's second-most populous country as congregations decline in Europe and North America.

“I am sure this Bible, made in India and for Indians, will bring the word of God closer to millions of our people, not only Christians,” Oswald Gracias, the Archbishop of Bombay, said at a ceremony on the Bible's release.

Produced by the Society of St Paul, the Bible is the first in this nation of 1.1 billion to be written in simplified English. It features 27 sketches of typical Indian scenes: one shows a family in a slum beneath skyscrapers. Mahatma Gandhi and Mother Teresa also feature in lengthy notes interpreting the text for Indian readers.

The notes even quote Hindu scriptures, such as the Ramayana and Mahabharata epics, to help to explain Christianity to prospective converts. “We wanted to show the parallels between the themes in the Bible and in Indian religions,” Father Tony Charanghat, a spokesman for the Archbishop, said. “We've put the sacred text in a local context.”

Christianity is reputed to have been brought to India by Thomas the Apostle, “Doubting Thomas”, in AD52, and the first Catholic missionaries came from Portugal in the 16th century. It is now the third-largest religion in India - after Hinduism and Islam - with 24 million followers. Of those, 17 million are Catholics, compared with two million in 1900.

The growth of India's Christian flock has slowed since anti-conversion laws were introduced in seven states under pressure from Hindu nationalists. It is still far faster than in Europe and North America, where the congregation has grown by 2.3 per cent since 2000, compared with 21.4 per cent in Asia, according to the International Bulletin of Missionary Research. “The calculation is that this is the last great missionary front on Earth,” John L. Allen Jr, a Vatican expert based in Rome, said.

The idea of an Indianised Bible was conceived in the 1980s after Bernardo Hurault, a French priest in Chile, produced a simple Spanish version with a commentary. His Christian Community Bible of 1971 has been translated into French, Filipino and Chinese and is used in South America, Africa and Asia.

Indian church leaders wanted more than a translation: they wanted cultural relevance. So they asked 20 experts on Christianity and Indian religions to devise a commentary that would help Indian converts. For example, when Jesus tells disciples to turn the other cheek, the notes compare this to Gandhi's creed of non-violence. Conservatives say that such devices corrupt the Bible's original meaning, while Hindu nationalists say that they amount to blatant proselytising.

A print run of 30,000 of the new Bibles sold out in a week in Bombay. In Delhi, St Paul's bookshop has only a few copies left. “We've had to limit the number of copies to three per person,” Father Stephen Calunkudy, who works at the shop, said. “We've even had Hindus coming in to buy a copy.”

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/faith/article4402482.ece

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India: Police Detain Mother Teresa Nuns On Charges Of Attempted Conversion

HYDERABAD, India, June 28, 2006 (UCAN) -- Indian police detained four Missionaries of Charity (MC) nuns on charges of attempting to convert people when the nuns visited a government-run hospital in the southern state of Andhra Pradesh.
The nuns were on a regular visit to Ruia hospital in Tirupati town, a popular Hindu pilgrimage center, 2,060 kilometers south of New Delhi.
Police detained the nuns in the hospital on the evening of June 25 and later took them to a police station, keeping them there until 10:30 p.m. Christian leaders say police acted at the request of a fanatic Hindu group.
Sister Rosaria, regional superior of the congregation, which Blessed Teresa of Kolkata founded, told UCA News the nuns have been visiting the hospital regularly for the past 20 years and provide medicine to poor patients who cannot afford it.
On June 25 , however, about 50 people, some with video cameras, approached the four nuns and accused them of trying to convert patients, Sister Rosaria said. The crowd swelled to about 300, and the nuns were kept in the hospital until around 8.30 p.m., after which they were taken to a police station.
Sister Maria, another local MC nun, said the Hindu activists probably "have not understood who we are and what we do."
Tirupati is in the territory of Cuddapah diocese, whose head, Bishop Doraboina Moses Prakasam, was away in Germany at the time of the incident. A diocesan source said Bishop Prakasam had contacted Archbishop Marampudi Joji of Hyderabad for help with the matter. Hyderabad, 600 kilometers north of Tirupati, is the state capital.

Reproduced with permission of United Catholic Asian News (UCAN)

http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2006/jun/06062904.html

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Counting Sheep?
The proselytizing zeal of American missionaries knows no slack even in tsunami aid


Seema Sirohi
Outlook India, 28 January 2005

Are American Christian evangelists using the devastation wreaked by the tsunami to spread the word of God – their God? Disturbing stories from the region and fund-raising appeals from religious leaders in the US who want to "plant Christian principles as early as possible" in the orphans of Indonesia, Sri Lanka and India have raised profound questions about proselytisation of vulnerable people in times of tragedy. Some groups send help along with Bibles – in Bhojpuri – to increase the fold in affected countries, making it harder for others to provide relief. By lacing help with questions of faith, however delicately, evangelical groups can deepen religious faultlines at a time when talk of civilisational wars rages in e-chat rooms.

The controversy surfaced earlier this month when Vernon Brewer, president of the Virginia-based missionary group World Help, told journalists he wanted to airlift 300 'tsunami orphans' from Banda Aceh to raise them in a Christian children's home. He quickly retracted when the Indonesian government banned adoptions by non-Muslim groups. From India surfaced a story about Samanthapettai, a fishing village in Tamil Nadu hit by the tsunami, where some Christian missionaries reportedly refused to distribute biscuits and water unless the Hindu recipients agreed to change their faith. When TV reporters approached the nuns, they refused to comment and left.

Local missionaries in India and other non-Christian countries are funded to a large extent by resource-rich American groups – powerful multi-million dollar corporations complete with TV channels and private planes. The websites, updated with fervent appeals for funds and tearful photos of tsunami survivors, are a window to their incredible organisation and explicit agendas for touching the "unreached people" or non-Christians with the hand of God. They look at India and Indonesia as "opportunities" for spreading the gospel. India is often described as a land of darkness, of idol worshippers and an area ripe for redemption.

World Help has printed 1,00,000 Bibles in Bhojpuri, a language it glibly assumes was hidden from evangelists. "Imagine a group of 90 million people who have never been able to read God's Word in their own language until just recently. What an incredible opportunity God is giving us to provide Bibles for the Bhojpuri for the very first time!" declares its mission statement. (Not quite an accurate claim: Bible work in Bhojpuri is nearly a century old in India, even older if you count work targeted at the diaspora.) Yet, the statement goes on: "Our strategy for the next seven years is to plant 1,00,000 organised churches and 1 million house churches in the least-reached area of the world...specifically in the North India(n) state of Uttar Pradesh." This January, World Help is sending a mission to India "where God is overcoming hundreds of years of false religions and idol worship. In...Allahabad alone, 40,000 new believers now meet weekly to worship the one true God."

Another group, Samaritan's Purse, has also energised around the tsunami tragedy. Headed by Franklin Graham, son of presidential godman Billy Graham, this North Carolina-based group's helicopter is helping ferry victims from inaccessible areas. Graham, who appears on his website in a leather jacket more suited to Mick Jagger, called Islam an "evil and wicked" religion after the 9/11 attacks. While organising relief for the tsunami victims, Graham told The Baltimore Sun, "If we are going to depend on Muslims to go in and help Muslims, well, they aren't coming." He publicly hoped the victims and their kin "would come to know the God I know", which to some was an admission of the larger purpose. He has left for Indonesia with a planeload of relief supplies.

Graham sees India as a "vast subcontinent" where Samaritan's Purse projects are "helping bring the gospel to thousands living in spiritual darkness".

However, Don Norrington, a spokesman for Graham, told Outlook that proselytisation, which he called an "inflammatory word", was not the group's policy. Currently, it is working in partnership with local Indian affiliates to rebuild a fishing village. The strategy allows US groups to maintain a safe distance from "conversions" while local groups do the work. But the 2003 annual report of Samaritan's Purse announces that in India it "completed 10 church buildings, with another four under construction, and provided support for pastors, Bible schools, Christian schools and a daycare centre".

Mission statements are generally explicit about their goals. Samaritan's Purse says it "serves the Church worldwide to promote the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ". The World Help website, which opens with a heart-wrenching photo of a crying Indian woman, lists its mission as "effective evangelism, discipleship, church planting, humanitarian aid, child sponsorship, leadership training and literature distribution". A specific appeal, scrubbed clean last week from the site, sought help to place Indonesian orphans so "their faith in Christ could become the foothold to reach the Aceh people".

"This kind of proselytisation demeans the idea of religious conversion, for it uses helplessness to spread a religion," says Ashutosh Varshney, political science professor at Michigan University. "A genuine change in conviction remains the best basis for religious conversion and should not be stopped. Few people in abysmal distress can exercise sound judgement."

John Hare, a professor at the Yale University's school of divinity, says in general Christian groups regard providing relief as part of Christian service. "They don't make a distinction between relief and spreading the gospel. But if they're using aid as leverage in acceptance of the gospel, it is inconsistent with what Christians believe," he said. Sid Balman, a spokesman for InterAction, a coalition of 160 US relief organisations which raised nearly $200 million for tsunami aid, said its charter doesn't prohibit proselytisation but does ask members to respect local norms and abide by laws. Asked how they monitored member groups, Balman said the "only way it would work is if someone complained", an unlikely prospect unless another organised religion gets into the act. At least 30 per cent of the groups in InterAction are faith-based, some Jewish and Muslim.

When religious passions are high, it's important to analyse the role of all religious fundamentalists. While Muslim extremists are commonly denounced in the US media, Christian hardliners are rarely challenged. Leading evangelists routinely smear other religions, specially Islam, on mainstream networks and still receive grants from President George Bush. Jerry Falwell, founder of Moral Majority, called Prophet Mohammad "a terrorist" on CBS on October 6, 2002. The insult sparked a riot all the way out in Solapur, India, killing eight people and injuring 90 others.

At a time when America is increasingly viewed as waging a war against the Muslim world, hateful speech and charity with an ambiguous agenda from zealous Christians can only add to the tension.


Source:
Outlook India

Rights:
© Outlook Publishing (India) Private Limited 2005

http://yaleglobal.yale.edu/display.article?id=5190

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High court orders to deport Christian missionary

Sunday July 17 2005
HOSUR: Based on a direction from the Madras High Court, Hosur police have initiated action to deport a Christian priest from India, who had been illegally living in the country.

South Asian regional headquarters of the Christian missionary - Seventh Day Adventists - is located at Hosur. David Ron Watts, a Canadian national, is heading the South Asian division of Seventh Day Adventists.
Ron and his wife Dorothy Watts have been living in India on the American business visa. According to the Indian Emigration Act, an American business visa holder can stay in the country for 180 days without any registration.
It is alleged that Ron and his wife were involved in converting people into Christianity in several parts of South India. Based on complaints against them from various quarters, the Ministry of Home affairs issued a deportation order on the couple and sent it to the TN Government in 2003.
But the priest did not act upon the Home Ministry order and continued to live in India, particularly in Hosur.
In the meantime, a petition demanding eviction of Ron from India was filed in the Madras High Court recently.
Subsequently, the Madras High Court ordered Krishnagiri district police to evict Ron from the country. But it is said that the priest and his wife had disappeared from Hosur.

http://christianpersecutionindia.blogspot.com/2005_07_01_archive.html

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Christian priest arrested for abetting conversion

Monday, June 30, 2008
A Christian priest has been arrested for allegedly abetting conversion by enticing people with promises of work in Madhya Pradesh's Badwani district, police said Monday.



"We have been receiving complaints that priest Hatte Singh in Navalpur has been luring poor people, promising them work and other benefits if they adopted Christianity as their religion," Vijay Sisodia, a police official, told IANS over phone.
"The priest was held on Sunday after members of a Hindu outfit complained to us. We raided his residence in Navalpur and saw that he had collected about half a dozen poor people who, according to the complainants, were brought for conversion," he said.
Singh has been arrested on similar charges earlier also.
Police said a case has been registered against the priest and the matter would be probed.

http://www.indiaenews.com/religion/20080630/128701.htm

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'हिंसा में ईसाई भी शामिल थे' - आर्चबिशप

उड़ीसा के कंधमाल ज़िले में पिछले दिनों हुई हिंसा मामले में पहली बार ईसाई नेताओं ने माना है कि इसमें ईसाई लोग भी शामिल थे.

कंधमाल ज़िले में पिछले हफ्ते हुई सांप्रदायिक हिंसा की जांच के लिए राष्ट्रीय अल्पसंख्यक आयोग का तीन सदस्यीय दल प्रभावित इलाक़ों का दौरा करेगा और स्थिति की समीक्षा करेगा. पिछले हफ्ते 25 दिसंबर को विश्व हिंदू परिषद के बंद के दौरान हुई हिंसा के बाद 27 दिसंबर को ब्राह्मणीगांव में की हथियारबंद लोगों ने हमला किया था और अब ईसाई नेताओं का कहना है कि इसमें ईसाई लोग शामिल थे. भुवनेश्वर में पत्रकारों से बातचीत में कटक-भुवनेश्वर के आर्चबिशप रेव राफेल चेन्नाथ ने माना कि ब्राह्णणीगांव पर हुए हमले में ईसाई शामिल थे जिसमें एक व्यक्ति की मौत हो गई थी और करीब 70 घर जला दिए गए थे. उनका कहना था ' हम इस हिंसा की निंदा करते हैं, किसी भी प्रकार का भड़कावे में आकर हिंसा करना ग़लत है. ईसाईयों को कभी हिंसा नहीं करनी चाहिए.' ऑल इंडिया क्रिश्चियन काउंसिल के महासचिव जॉन दयाल ने भी हिंसा की निंदा की. दयाल ने 20 पृष्ठों की एक रिपोर्ट भी जारी की जिसमें कंधामल में हुई हिंसा के लिए पूर्ण रुप से राज्य सरकार को ज़िम्मेदार ठहराया गया. अब जहां एक तरफ ईसाई नेता मान रहे हैं कि 27 दिसंबर को हुए हमले में ईसाई लोग शामिल थे वहीं दूसरी ओर उड़ीसा की पुलिस पहले की कह चुकी है कि इस हमले में माओवादियों का भी हाथ था. अल्पसंख्यक आयोग का दौरा सोमवार को उड़ीसा के मुख्य सचिव अजीत त्रिपाठी और गृहसचिव तरुण कांति मिश्र आयोग के सदस्यों से मिलेंगे और अपनी सूचनाओं से उन्हें अवगत करवाएँगे. मंगलवार को आयोग के सदस्य कंधमाल में ब्राह्मणी गाँव के दौरे पर जाएँगे और वहाँ जाकर सांप्रदायिक दंगों के पीड़ित लोगों से और चर्च के सदस्यों से मिलेंगे. अल्पसंख्यक आयोग लौटकर एक बार फिर राज्य सरकार के अधिकारियों से चर्चा करेगा और फिर लौटकर दिल्ली में केंद्र सरकार को अपनी रिपोर्ट देगा. उल्लेखनीय है कि गत 25 दिसंबर को क्रिसमस के मौक़े पर कई चर्चों पर हमले किए गए थे. कंधमाल ज़िले में ब्राह्मणी गाँव सहित कई गाँवों में लोगों पर भी हमले किए गए थे और ईसाई समुदाय के लोगों के घर जला दिए थे. बाद में यह सांप्रदायिक दंगों में बदल गया था और वहाँ कई दिनों तक कर्फ़्यू लगाना पड़ा था.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/hindi/regionalnews/story/2008/01/080106_orissa_christian.shtml

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केरल की राजनीति में चर्च की भूमिका
यूँ तो जाति और धर्म की राजनीति को लेकर उत्तर भारत के राज्यों की चर्चा होती है और दक्षिण के राज्यों की चर्चा नहीं होती. लेकिन वहाँ भी जाति और धर्म की राजनीति में एक अहम भूमिका है. केरल में कुल आबादी के लगभग 24 प्रतिशत इसाई हैं और स्वभाविक तौर पर यहां की राजनीति में इस संप्रदाय का असर भी है. केरल में ये समुदाय अल्पसंख्यक अवश्य हैं, पर अपेक्षाकृत संपन्न हैं. प्लांटेशन, काँफी उद्योग और बड़े लाँबी से यहां के इसाई जुड़े हैं. आर्थिक हित हिंदू अखबार के पत्रकार गौरी वासन नायर कहते हैं, ''ईसाई समुदाय के आर्थिक हित यहाँ बड़े हैं और इनकी रक्षा के लिए चर्च की भूमिका यहां के चुनावों में बड़ी अहम रहती है.''चर्च सीधे तौर पर चुनाव में हस्तक्षेप नहीं करता, पर एक सुनियोजित तरीक़े से चुनाव में किसी उम्मीदवार या पार्टी को चर्च का समर्थन मिलता है. गौरी-वासन नायर कहते हैं कि चर्च का समर्थन यहां आमतौर पर कांग्रेस के मोर्चे यूडीएफ या संयुक्त जनतांत्रिक मोर्चा को मिलता रहा है. तिरुवनंतपुरम के आर्च बिशप सिरिल मार बेसीलियोस भी केरल के चुनावों में चर्च की भूमिका को स्वीकार करते हैं. वे कहते हैं, ''चर्च सीधे तौर पर राजनीति में हस्तक्षेप नहीं करता, पर चर्च से जुड़े लोगों को भी राजनीतिक प्रक्रिया में शामिल होना चाहिए, चर्च का काम इंसान की बेहतरी के लिए काम करना है, और राजनीति इंसान के जीवन का अंग है.'' केरल में चर्च का समर्थन कांग्रेस को बेशक मिलता रहा हो पर कई बार वाममोर्चा ने भी इस वोट-बैंक में सेंध मारी है. वाममोर्चा ने कई बार चर्च से जुड़े लोगों को टिकट दिया है तो कई बार स्वतंत्र उम्मीदवार के तौर पर भी उनका समर्थन किया है, इस बार भी वाममोर्चा ने एर्नाकुलम और अल्लपी में ये चाल चली है. चर्च के समर्थन से वाममोर्चा को कितना फ़ायदा होगा ये तो चुनावों के परिणाम ही बताएँगे.

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