Open Page of the Hindu on 13 March 2001
Ranging from the Oval Office in the White House to a Russian Mafia boss’s luxurious hideaway outside St Petersburg, – and I imagine including all the happening places in between – The Eleventh Commandment sets new standards in contemporary thriller writing. I would fain have this article provide like racy reading as the Jeffrey Archer novel with this truncated title from mine above.
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As a matter of fact, we owe this arresting title to Laura Kelly who very cleverly adds to God’s Ten Commandments found in the books of Exodus and Deuteronomy in the Bible. The authentic sounding “thou shall not convert” featured in the Open Page of the Hindu on 13 March 2001, has always resonated with a section of the population in India which is unable to reconcile itself with the wisdom of those who framed the constitution allowing for “freedom of conscience and free profession, practice and propagation of religion” in the country.
Now what good is propagation if it does not lead to conversion of at least some of the people to whom it is propagated? The meanings that tumble out of the dictionary for the word “propagate” include ” to reproduce, transmit, spread or multiply”. This makes it abundantly clear that the Constitution indeed envisages and provides for conversion. The current dispensation might find this surprising, but it is indeed true!
In the atmosphere of shrinking democratic space and narrowing religious tolerance prevalent in the country today, some of those “accused” of conversion find it expedient to claim they did no such thing. They simply propagated; conversion happened. Considering that faith is a matter of the heart somewhat like love, this is not so far fetched. But love itself is the subject of much regulation these days; but that is another story!
Already there is this debate over the vanishing line between volitional conversion and “forced” conversion, a distinction the constitution of the country does not make. If such a line exists, it is very easily crossed. Having provided for all the basic necessities of their people such as food,water,shelter and primary medicare, state governments across the nation have begun to take interest in straightening out their religious beliefs. When you promulgate an Ordinance as the state of Uttar Pradesh has recently done, by shifting the “burden of proof of whether a religious conversion was not effected through misrepresentation, force, undue influence, coercion, allurement or by any fraudulent means or by marriage, to the person who caused the conversion and where such conversion was facilitated by any person on such other person”, there is no way any practising Christian can escape. If one so much as offers a toffee to a little kid in the neighbourhood, sorry Mr.Christian, that, in the eyes of the authority constitutes inducement.
The missionaries down the centuries, unaware of such complications, were merrily meddling with the local culture and custom. For example, what a horrible thing it was to interfere with the time honoured practice of Sati. Let me bring just one such character to account. Henry Lyttleton was a soldier in the British Army in the 18th century and was posted in South India; he was also a practising Christian. The narrative in Wikipaedia gives the story of his crime: “According to common custom in those days Kokila (a young noble woman of Tanjore) was given in marriage early to a wealthy man of high rank in the royal court. But a short time later her husband died leaving her a widow. It is a common belief that she was rescued from the funeral pyre of the ensuing Sati (if you do not know the meaning of this word, count yourself among the liberated), by a soldier of the British army, Henry Lyttleton, who was passing along and who took pity on her seeing the plight of her horrendous circumstances.”
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The story from Wikipaedia goes on that “after putting her faith in Jesus Christ and signifying her conversion with baptism, Kokila – now Clarinda – immersed herself in missionary work and social services with complete zeal. She brought more willing people into Christianity through conversion in Tinneveli. She took up the cause of the under privileged, downtrodden, destitute, widows, orphans providing them the necessary support and aid and education, particularly helping the uneducated poor women towards their empowerment, even in that early semi unenlightened era. She was instrumental in building schools in Palayamkottai which are now major educational institutions. For all this she used her own private funds and had to face, along the way, innumerable difficulties…………and unexpected hindrances. But she was undaunted and never gave up on her purpose. Many among the Christian communities consider her a veritable and renowned missionary worker of her times.
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Henry Lyttleton, your heart might have been in the right place but I’m afraid you acted without thinking. Father Schwartz (Christian Friedrich Schwartz, a missionary from Prussia), didn’t you know it is a cognizable offense to baptize Kokila and convert her into Clarinda? OMG so many of the natives are now following Christ (the foreign God). What will become of their mores, their practice of subordinating women, their umpteen baseless fears, mindless superstition, their thousand deities?
And you Sarah Tucker, why oh why did you have to entangle yourself in the affairs of this country ? You had your own physical challenges and were confined to your room in England,weren’t you? How is it that you, ten thousands of miles away, considered the appalling condition of the women in this region due to their illiteracy? Why should the Christian Missionary Society go to the trouble of establishing the first college for women in South India (in 1895) and name it after you? Didn’t it occur to them that upon receiving the light of education through that institution, at least some of the women over the years would decide to put their faith in Jesus Christ? If this isn’t “inducement”, pray what is?
And what’s the matter with you again Father Schwartz? What got into you that you left the comfort of your native Europe and chose to do missionary work in South India for the better part of your life? What is it that attached you to this country so much that you never, ever went back to Prussia? How is it that Thulaja Maharajah of Tanjore felt at ease about entrusting his son Serfoji to your care for education and social nurture, when the boy was barely ten? What made you bring young Vedanayagam from Tinneveli to Tanjore and present him a with the book of Psalms? And teach him the Bible day after day, so much so that Vedanayagam with his passion for Tamil and discovery of Christ should go on to create unparalleled literature in prose, poetry and drama? Isn’t it crazy that he ended up as a Christian poet in the royal Hindu Maratha court of Tanjore? Father Schwartz, I am afraid you are guilty too of the crimes of inducement and allurement through your superior knowledge of the world, its geography, astronomy, biology, zoology, mathematics, linguistics and the like which you quite freely transferred to Vedanayagam and the others.
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Can Frederick Tucker tell me why he left behind the advantage of an English college education and privileged civil service postings in England to join the Salvation Army? What made him endure the hardship of traveling to Nagercoil,when there was no railway to that place? And why did he embrace the leprosy afflicted? Was he (and others like him perishing by Cholera and other tropical epidemics at regular intervals) mad? Isn’t there some truth in the assertion that the Catherine Booth Hospital and the others like it in the region paved the way for Christendom to spread rapidly in the South of India? After all the creed that drove the organization was soup, soap and salvation. Would you say that you have no quarrel with the physicality of soup and soap coming from abroad, but would stop short of the spirituality of salvation?
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What about William Carey, Mother Teresa and a thousand other missionaries who let their involvement in social reformation and medicare speak their gospel aloud following Jesus’s exhortation in Matthew 10:8 which says “heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse those who have leprosy, drive out demons”. Surely they were not interested in the merely transactional; they were focused on the transformational.
Did you ever wonder what was the first book to be printed in India? If the answer is the Bible (in Tamil), it had a lot to do with the Saxonian missionay Bartholomäus Ziegenbalg who endured the perils of the sea, disembarked in Tranquebar (Tharangambady, Tamil Nadu) in 1706, learnt the local language and brought a printing press into the country all the way from ancient Denmark.
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Let us fast forward. I know the NGO Compassion International is now closed down in this country but I thought they were merely following what is said in the Bible in James 1:27: “Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.” Is that wrong when the religion in question is Christianity? When we have no qualms wooing foreign investment in multiple sectors, how does it become objectionable in the realm of social reformation involving care for the orphans and women’s empowerment? In a secular country – with no state religion – is Jesus Christ unwelcome even as Ram’s name is celebrated?
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But it has been so from the very early years A.D. Soon after apostle Peter (accompanied by John) miraculously cured a cripple in the name of Jesus, the Bible says in Acts 4 and I quote that “ the priests and the captain of the temple and the Sadducees came upon them, greatly annoyed because they were teaching the people and proclaiming in Jesus the resurrection from the dead. And they arrested them and put them in custody until the next day, for it was already evening. But many of those who had heard the word believed, and the number of the men came to about five thousand.
On the next day their rulers and elders and scribes gathered together in Jerusalem, ……… .. And when they had set them in the midst, they inquired, “By what power or by what name did you do this?” Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them, “Rulers of the people and elders, if we are being examined today concerning a good deed done to a crippled man, by what means this man has been healed, let it be known to all of you and to all the people of Israel that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead—by him this man is standing before you well. This Jesus is the stone that was rejected by you, the builders, which has become the cornerstone. And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men[by which we must be saved.”
Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were uneducated, common men, they were astonished. And they recognized that they had been with Jesus. But seeing the man who was healed standing beside them, they had nothing to say in opposition. But when they had commanded them to leave the council, they conferred with one another, saying, “What shall we do with these men? For that a notable sign has been performed through them is evident to all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and we cannot deny it. But in order that it may spread no further among the people, let us warn them to speak no more to anyone in this name (sounds familiar ?)” So they called them and charged them not to speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus. But Peter and John answered them, “Whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you rather than to God, you must judge, 20 for we cannot but speak of what we have seen and heard.” Unquote.
Yes, if we are proclaiming the name of Christ, me thinks there is no need to be apologetic about it, howsoever hostile the atmosphere. I know many people find fault with Christianity because of its proselytism, but it is entirely in accordance with Jesus’s great commission found in Mark 16:5: “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature.” What is more, the Indian constitution permits it, as we observed earlier. So isn’t it ridiculous that the U.P. government should lay down that a “religious convertor will have to give one month’s advance notice in the form prescribed in Schedule -II to District Magistrate or Additional District Magistrate” regarding proposed conversion? Is it not a matter of conscience and personal choice – freedoms we enjoy in this democratic secular republic of ours?
The problem is that nation states cannot differentiate between religion and faith. The census form doesn’t ask you what you believe in. It only wants to box you into some religion whether or not you subscribe to its creed with your whole heart. Merely the external trappings will do for this purpose. It is Billy Sunday who is quoted as saying that “Going to church doesn’t make you a Christian any more than going to a garage makes you an automobile” but how can we explain that to a district magistrate? How will he understand that God has no grandchildren and that every one personally, individually – irrespective of their proclaimed religion (Christianity included) – must consider the claims of Christ and decide for themselves if they want to put their faith in Him?
The foregoing is not to argue that all of Christendom is snowy white and entirely praiseworthy. There is many a mission that is preoccupied with head counts and number of baptisms. There are those who have found in orphanages an easy way of feathering their own nests. It is a shame indeed that in some cases money flow to missionary organizations is linked to these meaningless statistics. There just cannot be any justification for such blatant abuse of the name of Christ. The State is well within its rights to come down heavily on such groups of course, but sadly many a deserving baby gets pushed out with the bathwater in the bargain.
But what is the rai·son d’être for the irrational behaviour of these Christians some of whose forebears met with death in the Colosseum with a song in their lips? When we buy a railway ticket to Mount station in the Madras suburban system do we ever wonder what moved St.Thomas to cross high seas, traverse the breadth of the country and preach Jesus Christ in Mylapore, only to get stabbed and die a martyr? The apostle Paul supplies the answer beautifully in several passages in the scriptures. Here are a couple of samples:
For the love of Christ constrains us (2 Corinthians 5:14)
…..may be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height; and to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge (Ephesians 3:18-19)
These confessions are of course anchored on that magnificent verse from Jesus found in John 3:16 which quite simply says “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life”.
The fact of the matter – if it needs reiterating at all – is that following the fall of Adam all mankind is in sin and can be redeemed only by the second Adam – Jesus Christ – who gave himself as an offering on the cross for the redemption of man. And Jesus was quite categorical when he stated that , “I am the way and the truth and the life” John 14:6. Along with certain other verses that emphasize the same truth, this assertion should summarily give the lie to the exalted and widely held notion that all religions are but several alternative paths to God. And it is no good clinging hopelessly to Universalism.
It is not at all fashionable to speak of sin in these modern times or maybe anytime. But thankfully Paul was bold: speaking of spiritual matters, he is on record saying:” For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord“(Romans 6:23) . Elsewhere he reiterates Jesus’s mission on earth: ” Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners” (1 Corinthians 1:15). But more or less in the same breadth, he also acknowledges that “the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing “( 1 Corinthians 1:18). But the message needs to be preached. It is in this context that Paul avers that “necessity is laid upon me. Woe is unto me, if I preach not the gospel!(1 Corinthians 9:16)
And why should Western nations – largely Christian – take the trouble of sending out missionaries? No doubt they heeded the call of the great apostle as he goes on: “How then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher? And how shall they preach unless they are sent? (Romans 10:14-16)
But it is no use blaming governments for the persecution of Christians. Jesus Himself foretold that “in this world you will have trouble” ( John 16:33). He was also forthright in declaring that “they shall lay their hands on you, and persecute you, delivering you up to the synagogues, and into prisons, being brought before kings and rulers for my name’s sake” (Luke 21:12). “Yes, the time is coming that whoever kills you will think that he offers God service” ( John 16:2).
Permit me to return to Vedanayagam mentioned earlier. He owed his faith in Jesus Christ to a vision of the cross he saw as a young boy. And as we alluded, later-on he became a great Christian poet recognized in literary circles at home and abroad. How do I know so much about him? Because he was quite simply my grandfather’s grandfather. Vedanayagam’s father was originally a temple priest in Tinneveli before he bacame a Christian. The point at which I am arriving is that I owe my Christian heritage to them. Now in the heat of propaganda by Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP), Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and Hindu Makkal Katchi should I stage a Ghar Wapsi (Hindi, meaning “Back to Home”) ? Is it even conceivable after receiving “the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ” (2 Corinthians 4:6) ?
Let me not single out Laura Kelly for special treatment here. There were certainly others hogging newsprint in this valiant effort. For example Ram Swarup to whom the Times of India generously accorded space in the 1980s. Writing on “Proselytisation as it is Practised”, he chronicled all the wrongs of the Christian religion in Europe and elsewhere over the centuries and asked a question as to the rationale of preaching Jesus in this country. ToI to its credit did not flinch from publishing my response at that time (25 April 1988):
But the problem with Laura Kelly is that she mixes up a physical activity with something beyond. She quotes the retired Chief Justice of the Nagpur High Court Mr.M.B.Niyogi extensively in the report generated by the Commission carrying his name that seems to have laboured making thirteen recommendations to check this “scourge” called conversion. But conversion is God’s work; preaching the gospel is the task entrusted to humans. In this context let me call upon Dr.Gamaliel a scholar who advised the Jewish leaders against punishing the apostles for the same crime of preaching and working miracles in the name of Jesus. He said on that occasion, “in the present case I advise you: Leave these men alone! Let them go! For if their purpose or activity is of human origin, it will fail. But if it is from God, you will not be able to stop these men; you will only find yourselves fighting against God.”
So I dare say Laura is out her depth dabbling in spiritual matters she scarcely comprehends, when she glibly trumpets:
“thou shall not convert”
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