Indian Church – Silent spectator

By M L Satyan

Bengaluru: Today the nation is witnessing terrible tragedies in the backdrop of Covid-19. Millions of people have been affected and we see continuous deaths occurring in every nook and corner of the country. Neither the federal government nor the state government has come forward to own responsibility for this national-level disaster.

The greatest irony is that the ruling government’s priorities have been construction of Ram Temple, holding state-level elections and building Central Vista. The rulers have turned deaf ears to the continuous warnings given by medical experts and scientists about the second wave of Covid-19. The consequence – the present tragedies.

Besides Covid-19 tragedy, the country has been facing economic crisis; growing unemployment; crony capitalism; government’s capture of Election Commission, Reserve Bank of India, Central Bureau of Investigation, Parliament, Judiciary and Media; China’s invasion on the India-China borders; and planned destruction of farming and farmers.

Modern prophets: The simple, yet dynamic and indomitable farmers have been protesting on the Delhi borders for so many months. They have the courage to oppose the farm bills that will harm the agriculture sector. Every farmer’s voice is quite prophetic.

Rahul Gandhi has been challenging the ruling government as a responsible leader. There are three more political personalities – Mamata Banerjee of West Bengal, M K Stalin of Tamil Nadu and Pinarayi Vijayan of Kerala. They have always opposed the anti-people policies of the federal government. In the recent elections they have given a tough fight with fascist parties and won their victory.

The latest prophetic personality is Arundhati Roy who has made an appeal to the Prime Minister to step down.

I wish to highlight some points in her appeal:
• This virus prospers in an atmosphere of fear and hatred and ignorance. It prospers when you clamp down on those who speak out. It prospers when you manage the media to such an extent that the real truth is only reported in the international media.
• This is a crisis of your making. You cannot solve it. You can only make it worse.
• The state chief ministers can elect a few representatives so that all parties feel represented. And then scientists, public health experts, doctors, experienced bureaucrats. You may not understand this, but this is called democracy.
• Your incompetence is giving other countries a legitimate excuse to try and interfere in our affairs.
• Please step down. We cannot wait till 2024. Never would people like myself have imagined the day would come when we would find ourselves appealing to you for this.
• I am swallowing my pride to join millions of my fellow citizens in saying please sir, step aside. You have forfeited the moral right to be our prime minister.
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The church leaders: What are the church leaders doing? Can the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India, Conference of Catholic Bishops in India (Latin rite), Conference of Religious India and other Christian organizations write a daring letter like Arundhati Roy? In spite of enormous institutions, writers, social/human rights activists, rallies, meetings candle-light marches Stan Swamy could not be brought out of the jail till today. What does it show? The Church in India is still not prophetic.

The hierarchy has their own priorities. In December, 2020 Cardinal Oswald Gracias, president of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India, George Alencherry, the head of the Syro-Malabar Church, and Syro-Malankara Church leader Baselios Mar Cleemis met Prime Minister Modi. The discussion focused on the following issues:

a) Inviting Pope Francis to India
b) Continued incarceration of Father Stan Swamy
c) Equitable distribution of the minority funds
d) Certain difficulties faced in Kerala Church

On December 28, 2020, some representatives of the Malankara Syrian Church met Prime Minister Modi. On December 29, 2020 the representatives of the Jacobite Church met Modi. Why? The Jacobite and the Orthodox denominations have been fighting for the control of 2,000-odd churches and their rich coffers. They sought Modi’s mediation for an amicable solution.

As mentioned above, the Church leaders have their own “petty agendas.” They do not seem to be concerned about what the nation is going through presently. They have failed to exercise their “prophetic responsibility” to challenge the pro-crony capitalist prime minister who is leading the nation towards disaster.

Be prophetic: Let these Church leaders read the books of Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Hosea and Amos and understand how the prophets challenged the corrupt rulers of their time and spoke on behalf of the oppressed people. Here are some samples:

“Listen to this, you that trample on the needy and try to destroy the poor of the country. You say to yourselves, “We can hardly wait for the holy days to be over so that we can sell our corn. When will the Sabbath end, so that we can start selling again? Then we can overcharge, use false measures and tamper with the scales to cheat our customers. We will find a poor man who cannot pay his debts, not even the price of a pair of sandals, and we will buy him as a slave.” (Amos 8:4-6).

“The Lord has an accusation to bring against this land… There is no faithfulness or love in the land…The people make promises and break them; they lie, murder, steal and commit adultery. Crimes increase and there is one murder after another.” (Hosea 4:1-2).

What did Jesus do in his time? He always stood by the side of the excluded communities and reached out the unreached. He challenged the exploitative hierarchical structure, corrupt rulers, officials and priests. He knew very well that he had to pay a heavy price – death on the cross. He fought till the end.

The Church leaders must learn a great lesson from the prophetic political leaders mentioned earlier and the dynamic farmers on how to oppose laws, policies, systems, and structures that are harmful to the citizens and challenge them.

Like Nero, let them not fiddle while the country is burning.