Archbishop of Bangalore, Rev. Bernard Moras, is “ready to shed blood and give his life for Christ” (Economic Times, 23 September 2008). A similar readiness is also demonstrated by the Indian Mujahidin for the sake of Allah in their widely reported emails to the media at the time of the recent bomb blasts in Ahmedabad and New Delhi. 

It is by far clear that the immediate as well as long-term threat to India is of a religious and cultural kind. The bomb attacks on Hindus in the name of Islam and the decimation of Indian indigenous faiths and culture in the name of Christianity are still continuously and systematically taking their toll of innocent human lives and the cultural heritage of India. 

Three cities have been bombed in the span of two months and reportedly four states have erupted against monstrous conversion tactics (including cold-blooded murder and anti-Hindu pamphlets) in a matter of weeks. What is most striking about these attacks launched from two different sources is the common enmity for Hindu religion and culture. 

The chain of events that led Bishop Moras to publicly declare his desire for martyrdom was flagged off by a “hate” publication called “Satyadarshini” in which several Hindu gods and at least one revered sage were abused. The Indian Mujahidin emails too, specifically referred to Hindu gods in their diatribe against “disbelievers”. There is no doubt as to the object of this hate – the unconverted, the infidel, the pagan! Springing from none other than the Semitic fountain of thought – the Abrahamic culture, where even the god’s blessings are invariably bestowed through hate, greed and aggression. 

The attacks are generating tremendous hue and cry in the national and international media, but unfortunately and as usual, not in any objective or helpful manner to assuage matters. The nation-destroying party politics, inadequate legislative provisions and the abuse of a corrupt Central Government are causing unnecessary tragedy in the country by fuelling these unholy attacks. The general public, already reeling under high price rises and defenceless against real physical and spiritual threats, is left to fend for itself.

In the meantime, our rulers are pampering, bribing and assisting the enemies of the nation in a bid to buy divisive, sectarian votes, while following an aggressive incisive strategy for staying in power. They lie, bribe and deceive in Parliament for winning the imperial pat on the back. It may emerge in times to come that the top highlights of the present PM’s term were a lecture at Oxford and the family dinners he had at the White House. If we should really go on thinking in terms of a safe, independent and dignified Indian state for our future generations, the general public like you and I have to brave it ourselves and face the threats alone.

The first thing we have to accept is that our enemies are violent and wicked for no fault of ours and no amount of showing the other cheek, like M.K. Gandhi once advocated and Nehruvians still advice you and me to follow, is going to buy peace. Violence comprehends only violence, because violence excludes reason and hence communication. Talking to the extremists of these two religions to stop what they are doing is not going to fetch results. 

Calling the Indian Mujahidin for talks is exactly the same as calling the Catholic bishops in Kerala for talks, like VHP president S. Vedantam seems to have done. Shri L.K. Advani, who is against legislation to ban religious conversions, had this to say on 25 September in Orissa: “Time has come for a free and frank democratic debate and inter-faith dialogue on the issue of religious conversion with a view to building a firm national consensus against proselytisation using methods of coercion or inducements or by vilifying any faith.”

I regard Mr. Advani as an upright person compared to the spineless Manmohan Singh, but as a projected candidate for the prime minister’s office, he sounds too outdated and old, living more in a world of make-believe than in the turmoil of contemporary India. This naivety is indicative of a lack of perception, especially of the guileful nature of the Christian menace. Calling the Saudi prince or Hu Jintao to head a debate on democracy would have made more sense than parley with third-rung agents of one of the most authoritarian and misogynistic institutions in the world!

There are reasons why a compromise cannot be achieved with the extremists of these two religions. The ideologies propounded by the enemy groups are exclusive in nature and any dilution of these ideologies makes their existence meaningless. Regardless of whatever they might utter for the sake of public relations, the life breath of these organisations is their missions – killing infidels or converting pagans – and would turn into lifeless bodies without these objectives. 

For example, the versions of Islam and Christianity these organisations preach not only claim that their religious pronouncements are the sole truth, but that other propositions and views are wrong and the only course of action open for them is to kill the infidels or convert the pagans. The dynamics of action emanating from these sectarian ideologies are ultimately directed only towards killing or conversion, so much so that killing and conversion are part and parcel of the religious ritual for the ardent members and office-holders of these groups, no matter what they pretend to be in public. An option without these missions doesn’t exist at all for them, other than to dematerialise, which they will not do voluntarily or willingly, unless and until there is another superior force to facilitate the inevitable. Therefore, a compromise theoretically doesn’t exist for these groups.

The two threats share very many characteristics other than their common origin, such as the blind fury, extermination of infidels or pagans as a fixed agenda, and the use of violence as a code of behaviour. However, there are marked differences between the two in their action plans. The Islamic plan here is exclusively the physical killing of infidels, the more the better, so that eventually the Islamic Caliphate rules an exclusively Muslim world under the Code of Sharia. 

The Christian action is also similarly aligned, but the methodology differs. Instead of physical killing, their agenda is to resort to the continued appropriation of human spirit and real estate through deceit, until the whole world is owned and ruled by Christian churches, so that the world is prepared for the Christian nirvana called Doomsday.

There is a fallacy prevailing among many Hindu groups organised against the Christian conversion activity that it is only the new evangelical groups from the USA which are engaged in forced or manipulated conversions. This false notion has also been subtly, but vigorously disseminated by the self-proclaimed “mainline” churches as damage control. A Roman Catholic Julio Ribeiro writes (Times of India, 28 September 2008), “Even the Catholic Church to which I belong has accepted that good human beings, irrespective of religious belief, can attain salvation.” The spokesman for the Catholic church is either fed a cock and bull story by his mentors, or is lying through his teeth. If what he says is really true, why don’t the Catholic clergy pack up their cassocks and go home to Vatican? 

The crux of the Pope’s homily in Paris (13 September 2008) was a veiled attack on Hindus. After quoting from the Bible, “Shun the worship of the idols”, the former Inquisitor General said, “… the errors of paganism had to be denounced, for they constituted a powerful source of alienation and they diverted man from his true destiny. They prevented him from recognising that Christ is the sole, true Saviour, the only one who points out to man the path to God … This appeal to shun idols, dear brothers and sisters, is also pertinent today.”  

On the one hand, Ribeiro confesses his ancestors were either forced or coerced to convert five centuries ago, but when it comes to what is going on in the present, he resorts to blind faith: “Personally, I do not believe that many Hindus have been converted to Christianity in recent times in Karnataka or even in Orissa.” Not only blind believers fall for this false propaganda, but also many naïve Hindu activists.

There is proof that except for a couple of relatively very small Eastern orthodox churches based in Kerala, all major churches in India, especially the Catholic church, pursue the policy of converting pagans by any means. The difference is only in the fervour, method and frequency. The orthodox methodology of conversions by the so-called “mainstream” churches is the domination of social services sectors like health and education. These form the groundwork and public relations activities that make the political and social environment conducive for conversion activity. 

Every activity of the majority of Christian churches is subservient to their utmost objective, which is conversion of the pagan. This is evidenced by the numerous official statements emanating from Vatican down the ages, like the encyclical of Pope Leo XIII in 1893 that specifically targets Hindus for conversion, the Ecclesia in Asia of Pope John Paul II and the most recent abuse of Hindus and Hinduism by the present Pope. 

The Catholic enterprise in the health and education sectors in highly literate urban areas are conducted as pure business for acquiring wealth, which programme also attracts government social funds and tax-free benefits bestowed by the ruling class. When it comes to the poor rural areas, their activities wear a cloak of charity, but moreover, double up as prayer halls and faith centres. As a result, the poor people who avail of these services are also unwittingly compelled to take part in the prayer meetings and there comes along the right occasion one fine moment to ask for the poor man’s soul in exchange of a trivial benefit.

The new breed of evangelicals funded by the USA operates in the same way as all the other churches, but they are not as smart or discreet as the conventional professionals to cover their tracks and usually work on shorter deadlines compared to, for example, the established, time-tested ways of the Catholic church. But they are no less effective in public relations and seem to get undue patronage from the national and international press. 

Another essential difference between the new evangelicals and the so-called “mainline” evangelicals is that the new ones are manned on site by newly recruited shadowy individuals motivated only by the new rush of money from the USA that includes incentives and fringe benefits. The “mainline” ones are already sitting on a large pile of loot, a monopoly in the social trades and political privilege that can be extracted anytime from corrupt politicians. The new evangelicals are impatient, rude and impulsive, often resulting in spontaneous flare-ups of violence (like the murder of Swami Laxmanananda). They have not yet infiltrated into the Indian social fabric like the established churches, and hence do not have the political clout that assists the latter to escape retribution for murders and instigated suicides committed within their own aberrant walls. 

For these reasons, the new evangelicals often get into confrontations with Hindu activists for their brashness, rather than from any real difference in agenda and activity of the “mainline” churches. The slain Graham Staines is a good example of the new type of evangelical. The new evangelicals buy lands at more than the market price for their activity, but the old ones get it free from the government and they are out of the radar of the local Hindu organisations.

A press statement from the PRO of Bangalore Catholic Diocese, Adolf Washington, actually released two months ago to the Deccan Herald has been trying to create a gulf between the perceived upstarts and the self-proclaimed “mainline” churches: “There are several groups of people doing the rounds in Bangalore adopting persuasive techniques not just to convert people but also to spread animosity against mainstream Christian denominations. They hurl invectives against the teachings of Christian denominations and even induce people to tender a written “resignation” to the pastor or priest. Since some of these groups do not even accept the divinity of Christ, in effect, their conversion should not be understood as conversion to Christianity but to their organisation. Mainstream Christian denominations do not go on a conversion spree, only splinter groups and cultic groups do so probably for some self-gain.” The press release however gives a true account of the circumstances in Karnataka that led to the Hindu backlash. 

For the “mainline” proselytising churches, the adopted methodology for conversion of tribal people is a proven and time-tested procedure. Almost all tribal areas are hilly forest areas and the action begins with the planting of crosses on tribal land in remote areas, mostly on hilltops and sites visible from roads and paths. During Easter and other Christian holidays, regular processions to these crosses are organised by an already established church or prayer hall, sometimes from far-off places in buses or trucks. The witnessing tribal people, mostly children and women, are attracted to these extraordinary events as most of these parties are accompanied by music bands. The tribal people are also welcomed into the congregations and allowed to partake in food and drinks. 

Eventually, the cross becomes a chapel, the chapel becomes a prayer hall or a station (with in-house registration numbers inscribed on signboards), and the prayer hall or station becomes a full-fledged church, stage by stage. All tribal areas in Kerala – Attapady, Wyanad and Idukki – reveal distinct evidences of this crime in all its different stages – cross, chapel, prayer hall and church – undertaken primarily by the Syro-Malabar wing of the Catholic church. 

What pops up as a social service scheme for tribal people is held as an excuse for encroaching forest land on a very large scale. The complicity of various Kerala governments in this land grab goes back at least half a century. In this regard, it is worth remembering that the current petty quarrel between the Marxists and the Catholic church in Kerala began when Chief Minister Achuthanandan started evicting land grabbers from many areas, though the reasons attributed were otherwise. But the Catholic church managed to stop the eviction soon after it got started. The absence of justice and the biased actions of the concerned governments in favour of the enemies of India is bound to catapult the nation into more chaos and will result in more loss of innocent human lives.

The right action to start with would be the prosecution of the clergy of these enemy religions for preaching division and treason, and follow it up with the demolition of all buildings they have constructed on encroached land. Peace and justice are bound to follow. 

Before Hindus embark on this process, the onus is on Muslim and Christian laypeople who regard themselves as Indians to put a stop to the anti-national activities of their clergy and clip their powers. It is the foremost duty of ordinary lay people of these religions to prevent their self-proclaimed leaders from leading them into danger and trouble. This action would not only go a long way in maintaining peace among the communities, but also ensure that innocent lives are not lost for the sake of a handful of villains. This would also send an appropriate signal to politicians, who would be compelled to realise that the clergy are not the true representatives of the minority religious, but are the true enemies and traitors of India.

George Thundiparambil is the author of Maya, a novel on Kerala’s turbulent past