Are Christians cowards? Are they afraid to confront their attackers? Pope Francis, in the wake of the recent church bombings in Lahore, stated that the world is trying to hide from the reality that Christians are being persecuted worldwide.
Be it Iraq, Syria, Nigeria, Somalia, Kenya or Pakistan – Christians are seen as soft targets. In other countries like China and Saudi Arabia they are suppressed. They are not allowed to build churches, pray together, bring a Bible or even send Christmas cards with religious images on them.
In erstwhile Christian countries public workers, even airhostesses, are not permitted to wear religious symbols like a cross, though this does not apply to Sikh and Muslim immigrants who assert their right to wear distinctive religious garb, even in the police and armed forces uniforms!
For how long should the Christian world keep quiet? With the BJP now in absolute power in India, there have been mounting attacks on Christians, from Delhi to Mangalore, and now West Bengal. Other than the blatant attacks, there is also the subterfuge – Ghar Vapsi, a proposed anti-conversion law, snide remarks against Mother Teresa and even the beef ban. So how much longer should Christians keep saying with Jesus “Forgive them Father! They do not know what they are doing” (Lk 23:34).
At the other end of the spectrum we have alarmist groups that cry foul at the smallest instance. The latest is when a convent in New Delhi was vandalized. The sisters themselves stated that it was not a communal act. Smriti Irani, the HRD Minister, an alumnus of the institution, rushed there. Even the Prime Minister hauled up the Delhi Police Commissioner. Yet several activist groups felt that this merited a strong street protest, and promptly did so.
Shortly after, two major temples in my hometown Kanpur had their donation boxes stolen. There was no hue and cry. I see periodic newspaper reports about ancient idols being stolen from Hindu temples. They do not cause a whimper of protest. We need to bear this in mind to keep our objectivity.
Should we be pacifist or alarmist? Are we bravehearts or cowards, or somewhere in between? It is not an easy question to answer. Those of us who seek enlightenment from the Bible would also find that the issue is a complex one.
The popular quote from Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount is “If anyone slaps you on the right cheek, let them slap your left cheek too” (Mat 5:39). This is known as the “turning the other cheek” syndrome; something which Mahatma Gandhi, Rev Martin Luther King Jr, Nelson Mandela and Abp Desmond Tutu used as an effective tool of political non-violence. But this is not the full story, because when Jesus himself was slapped during his trial before Caiphas the Chief Priest, he spiritedly retorted, “If I am right in what I have said, why do you hit me?” (Jn 18:23). He is reacting to blatant injustice, not retracting from it.
What about peaceful co-existence? Jesus is known as the Prince of Peace (Is 9:6). In his final discourse he says, “Peace is what I leave with you; it is my own peace that I give to you. I do not give it as the world does” (Jn 14:27). Later, when Peter, with his sword, strikes off the ear of one of the soldiers who had come to arrest Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus admonishes him saying, “All who take the sword will die by the sword” (Mat 26:52). Yet he himself had earlier said, “Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the world. No I did not come to bring peace but a sword” (Mat 10:34). As a caveat I may add that the sword referred to is the sword of division, not of violence.
So we would have to admit that circumstances vary, and necessitate various responses. Hence we need to be pragmatists, rather than pacifists or alarmists. We need to take each case on merit, contextualising it with the broader picture. Let us also not forget Newton’s Third Law of Motion that for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction; as evidenced from Paris to Dimapur.
Christian leaders need to be judicious. Some times right wing forces may deliberately provoke us (like some TV anchors) eliciting a response that we may later regret. Which brings me to the TV debates on such issues. Unfortunately most TV anchors are not concerned with the facts. They thrive on sensationalisation and controversy, which in turn increases their TRPs.
It is here that I find the Christian leadership totally lacking, especially on the English channels that I watch. Our so-called spokespersons are woefully inadequate, falling into the traps set for them, becoming argumentative and often trying to defend the indefensible. The latest case is of the sister principal of a famous ladies’ college in Mumbai. She was totally at sea. Maybe this is because priests and principals are used to talking down to others and seldom having to face public scrutiny.
Our priests and bishops are neither skilled orators, nor dramatists, who can swing a debate or public opinion. The All India Catholic Union (AICU) is the proper lay organization to handle the mass media, but its main office bearers are not in Mumbai/ Delhi where most TV channels/ studios are located. I perceive that Minorities in India are in for a long haul, so the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India (CBCI) and the AICU need to get their act together. As the saying goes, it is no use digging a well after the house has been burnt down.
Shortly after I was elected National President of the AICU in 1990 I had my baptism by fire because of the Gajraula nuns’ rape case. Mrs. Lennie Gonsalves, then head of our women’s wing, gave a clarion call for a pan India shutdown. It happened. We met Prime Minister V.P. Singh, who left a cabinet meeting (in which he threw out his deputy, Devilal) to meet us. In our presence he called U.P. Chief Minister Mulayam Singh Yadav, to take immediate action and grant protection.
However, the other side of the story is that when we actually visited Gajraula some MPs from Kerala were telling the nuns in Malayalam not to talk to us, as they would take it up as a Kerala issue. What they did not know was that Mrs. Gonsalves, who was with me, was a Malayali too, and understood every word of their conversation. The story doesn’t end there.
After the hot and dusty trip to Gajraula I returned to the CBCI Centre at New Delhi, where I had a room, only to find the whole place locked. Everybody had gone to the Ashoka Hotel for a farewell cocktail party thrown by Archbishop Cacciavillan, the Papal Nuncio, who was then the Dean of the Diplomatic Corps in the capital. Sweaty as I was, I took a smoke-spewing auto to the grand Ashoka, to find all the priests and nuns wining and dining. I stood out like a sore thumb in my crumpled kurta pyjama. Some did ask me, between sips and snacks, what was the scenario at Gajraula. But the irony was not lost on me. Horrendous rape and sumptuous food!
Shortly after Gajraula we had the Jogeshwari case, where two nuns were mysteriously murdered. Since there was a strong Catholic presence, including super cops, in Mumbai, I had no role to play. But I recall an allegation at that time that the murdered nuns were sexually active, so there was a call for exhumation of the bodies, to ascertain the facts. But the Catholic leadership of tinsel town baulked at the idea, and the cloud of doubt remained. This was gross mishandling of the situation and the crime was never solved.
I am quoting these two incidents because they are symptomatic of how we handle crises, or rather the lack of it. A contributory factor is the hierarchy’s inability to trust the laity and make them the frontline for crisis management. Catholics can become Chiefs of Army Staff, Governors, Ambassadors, Chief Ministers etc, but in the Church their role is limited to being glorified altar boys walking down the aisles with a collection bag! My blood boils.
Christians sometimes say that as long as there are Muslims in India, Christians can feel protected. This is no longer so, because right now there seems to be a “clash of civilizations” in both the West and Mid-East, and it is having its repercussions in India.
Another tactical blunder that Christian leaders fall prey to is to quote American reports or Obama’s comments about religious freedom in India. Hindutvawadis gleefully latch on to such statements to project Christians as lackeys of the West who are damaging the image of the country in international fora. I personally believe that the USA is the biggest perpetrator of terrorism and the most loyal supporter of Saudi Arabia.
Hours after his admonishment to Modi in India, Obama was in Saudi Arabia, for King Faizal’s funeral. His wife, Michelle, was reprimanded for not wearing a veil. Buddy Barak did not have the guts to issue even a veiled threat to the Saudis about religious freedom (pun intended).
We also need to squarely address the issue of conversions, as that is the countervailing argument thrown at us for whatever happens. It is bad tactics to repeat ad nauseum that the country’s Constitution allows for the propagation of faith. I recall the statement of Pope John Paul II when he visited India as a State Guest in 1999, appealing for the conversion of Asia. It was a PR disaster par excellance that we have not yet been able to live down. We need to remind ourselves what the Book of Ecclesiastes says, that there is a time for everything (cf Ecc 3:1-8). Jesus also advocates that we read the signs of the times (cf Lk 12:54-56).
While the Catholic Church has indeed changed with the times and has no single minded agenda for proselytisation, the same cannot be said for a host of others. Mushroom groups and Bible thumpers still go around decrying idolatry and threatening hell and damnation. It is time we told such evangelical groups that they are propagating a distorted understanding of Christianity, and even causing enmity in some circles.
I also feel that it is time that Christian leaders interacted on equal terms with leaders of other faiths in open dialogue, and in the vast area of human rights. Every child, woman or laborer that is being exploited or victimized, is equally precious in the eyes of the Lord. I believe that our safety does not lie so much under the umbrella of a bigger brother like the Muslims in India. It rather lies more in the goodwill and respect of the vast majority of our Hindu brethren.
We often boast of our services to society in the field of education and health. Let others say this of us. We should not be seen as blowing our own trumpets. With Jesus we must say, “I am but a servant doing my duty” (cf Lk 7:10). Let us then be neither pacifists nor alarmists, but pragmatists. Let us also evolve a cohesive form of crisis management, more erudite spokespersons, and a greater bond of trust between the hierarchy and the laity.
(The writer is the former National President of the AICU)