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S U B C O N T I N E N T A L D R I F T
Choose Your Own Faith
Under Indian law, it's allowed
By APARISIM GHOSH
November 18, 1999
Web posted at 5 a.m. Hong Kong time, 4 p.m. EDT
Excuse me while I suffer from an identity crisis. Ever since my essay on the papal visit to India was posted on this site last week, I've been at the receiving end of a torrent of electronic invective from angry readers. Most express their rage the old-fashioned way: by calling me names. I've been labeled an Indian propagandist, American lackey, bleeding-heart liberal, Godless communist, Hindu hater, Christian baiter--and a few other things I won't repeat in this family website. The most brutal putdown comes from Hareesh Mamillapalli, who described me with cutting condescension as "poor chap." Ouch!
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There have also been more reasoned responses, from people like Revathi Koteeswarn. She argues that the Hindu fundamentalists who protested at the Pope's visit were within their rights. "The last time I checked, India was a democratic country and freedom of speech was still ... respected," she writes, adding that these folks are right to be suspicious of missionaries because there have been mass conversions of poor Hindus to Christianity.
But surely that, too, is sanctioned by democracy. The Indian constitution allows its people to follow and preach any faith of their choosing. If some Christians wish to spread their religion among nonbelievers, so be it. There can be only one restriction: they cannot use physical force to induce conversion, for that would be a criminal offence.
Hindu zealots (many readers chided me for calling them "goons") claim the missionaries use subtle coercion--offering food, medicine and shelter to the hungry, sick and homeless in exchange for their acceptance of Jesus. Even if this is true, it's neither here nor there. Indian law doesn't prohibit proselytizing by means of charitable works. And let's not forget that the converted have rights, too.
In any event, I can't see why the fundamentalist goo- (oops!) folks are so angry at the conversion of a few Hindus. For one thing, there are plenty of us to spare. For another, if a man abandons one religion and embraces another just for the sake of food and clothing, then his devotion to the first was probably always shaky and his faith in the second is based on the flimsiest of foundations. Does Hinduism really lose by the departure of such "believers"? And does Christianity really gain?
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