By Matters India Reporter
Bengaluru: The Indian Theological Association (ITA) ended their annual conference expressing grave concern over increasing influence of Hindu nationalism that tends to be intolerant toward minority religious groups in the country.
“Hindutva is trying to erase the secular fabric of the Constitution of India. The growing fundamentalism is bringing communal violence in different parts of the country,” says a statement the association issued after the April 26-29 conference.
Teachers of Christian theology from various parts of India attended the 41st conference at Dharmaram Vidya Kshetram, Pontifical Athenaeum of Theology, Philosophy, and Canon Law, Bengaluru. They addressed the theme, “Challenges of Religious Nationalism in India Today – A Theological Response.”
The press note notes that the politics of economic system now favors the corporate sector. “The GDP growth of India may increase but it is not reaching any improvement in the rural poor. It can be seen the pitiable banking system which has allowed many defaulters to escape India by robbing billions of rupees,” it adds.
The statement expressed concern over the killings of Narendra Achyut Dabholkar, rationalist and author from Maharashtra, and journalist Gauri Lankesh in Bengaluru. Such incidents show the voice of the civil society is being suppressed, the statement added.
“What is happening today is the falsification of history and historicization of myths. India is a country with diversity of culture, tradition and ethos. Pluralism is the essential nature to which keeping in mind the making of Indian constitution have given the world’s largest democratic republic of all citizens.
Hence the cultural nationalism of Hindutva that promotes one culture, one religion and one nation by eliminating other faith groups is a total catastrophe for India, it said.
“As responsible Indian Christian Theologians, the members felt the urgent need of the hour to counter the violent nationalism in creative and concerted way by propagating values of Indian Constitution, entering into interreligious dialogue, joining hands with people of good will, protecting our citizens, educating children in the schools the values of every faith tradition and the sublime constitution values of this great nation of India,” it added.
Father Udayanath Bishoyi, a visiting professor at Morning Star Regional Seminary, Calcutta, and a participants of the conference said, “The political nexus with religion is making alarming havoc in Indian polity.”
Six speakers addressed the gathering. The topics were apt to the present Indian situation where Hindu religious fundamentalism is growing and bringing about disturbing and inhuman situation, Father Bishoyi said.
“All speakers focused on the alertness and to counter the violent religious nationalism in creative and concerted ways so as to be in the grassroots level alongwith people of every faith tradition, joining with people of good will and safe guarding the Indian constitution. All have to work for upholding human dignity, the values of every ethos and culture of the rich tradition of India,” he added.
The association was founded in 1976 to promote the development of an Indian Christian theology.
The ITA often reflects the trajectory of the Indian church and society, Father Bishoyi said. It was founded as an open forum of Catholic theologians of India to engage in theological discourses and help develop an Indian and Asian Christian theology that embodies the struggles and hopes of the people in the region.
It fosters research in religion and society and empowers Indian theologians to do contextual theological discourses in Asian paradigms and praxes in the wider global scenario.
The ITA is an inclusive platform in the sense that scholars, social activists, thinkers, religious leaders of all faiths are participants and partners in the sadhana of developing an Indian/Asian theology so that Jesus’ Gospel of “Fullness of Life” (Jn 10:10) gets ‘roots’ and ‘wings’ in the Asian journey towards the Reign of God.
ITA has a band of committed theologians and thus is the organic realization of the aforesaid various movements. In the course of time, the vision of ITA had been a catalyst for initiating the movements like “Model Village”(1990) and “Socio-Religious Research Centre”(2001).