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Strategies & Market Trends : India Coffee House -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Mohan Marette who wrote (9499)	11/9/1999 9:29:00 PM
From: Mohan Marette	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 12475

Sign of the times-(Hindustan Times Editorial)-In Defense of Pope It is an indication of the kind of tension that has been introduced into religious affairs in recent months that the Pope's statement about a "harvest of faith" in Asia has put even the Catholics on the defensive while the Sangh parivar has described the message as an abuse of hospitality and a challenge which has to be met. In this context, the parivar has reiterated its demand for a ban on conversions and called upon the Centre to probe the alleged link between the Christian missionaries and the insurgents in the north-east. Such responses show how the atmosphere in this country has changed. What would have been regarded a few years ago as nothing more than a routine speech by the head of a proselytising religion is now being projected as the aggressive espousal of an alien and even dangerous cause which has to be stoutly resisted. The immediate impact of such reactions will be to put the entire Christian community in India on notice as one which cannot be fully trusted. The renewed call for a ban on conversions is even more fatuous since it is a right which cannot be denied. A ban on conversions virtually amounts to a ban on religions since it outlaws the propagation of a faith. Such a prohibition means that the faithful of any religion will be able to hold only secret meetings since preachers will not be allowed to preach openly as it might be construed as a ploy to convert a person or a group. What the law can pronounce against is the practice of enticing someone to change his religion. But this can be enforced only by agencies authorised by the state and not by bigoted rabble-rousers pursuing a political agenda. If the Pope's message was so objectionable, the protests would have come from the followers of other religions also - Muslims, Buddhists, Sikhs, Parsis and even non-Catholic Christians. If there have been none, it is because there is nothing outrageous about the propagation of a faith in the modern world. Both propagation and conversion are fundamental rights in all civilised countries. Nor can the Pope be expected to praise other religions. His mission is to foster his own. That the Catholic effort is being renewed in Asia 2,000 years after the birth of Jesus is in itself an admission of the failure of Christianity in the continent of its birth. The reason for the failure is also known - the presence of great civilisations and resilient cultures based on sublime philosophical and spiritual achievements. And the base of such attainments was high intellectual calibre, not mean-spirited peddling of hate. hindustantimes.com