Christians defensive after media blast

[stevekochi]

Christians in Nepal said today they are being forced to defend themselves against a wave of media attacks that accuse them of being a “foreign funded conversion force.”

“This has arisen now because certain elements want to influence lawmakers into re-introducing a ban on conversions and evangelization,” said Father Silas Bogati, director of Nepal Caritas.

Lawmakers are currently drawing up a new charter and recent proposals for new penal and civil codes have raised concerns among Christians that a re-introduction of the ban could become a reality.

“We are presently carrying out an advocacy campaign on behalf of the Church among lawmakers, so that unjust clauses won’t be included in the constitution or penal or civil codes,” said Father Bogati.

One such attack came in an article on Tuesday entitled Christianity, Communism & Constitution in the leading English language daily, Republica, accusing Christians of colluding with communists to “convert” Nepal into a secular country.

It also accused all major foreign donors of Nepal of being biased and siding with the Christian “agenda.”

Yesterday, the Nepal 1 TV channel broadcast a program recorded a few days earlier called People’s Verdict on Christianity in Nepal, in which Pastor Chari Bahadur Gahatraj, secretary of Nepal’s Christians Advisory Committee, was “grilled” on sensitive topics regarding Christianity.

Gahatraj today expressed shock at the way the show was edited after watching the program.

“They laid a trap and I fell for it. They edited it in such a way that I appeared to say: ‘Christian leaders and organizations are funded from overseas and are in need of scrutiny’ …. I am not usually nervous, but they made me sweat that day.’’

He said the hour-long program in which he was questioned by a studio audience had Hindu scriptural hymn clips playing from time to time — snuffing out his words when he was trying to make important points.

Although Christians were among the studio audience, it was only the Hindus shown asking questions or making accusations.

However, instead of keeping quiet as they did in the past, Christians are fighting back with online protests to the TV station and with “letters to the editor,” regarding the newspaper article.

Today, Republica published an article called Christianity, Freedom of Choice and Democracy by a young Christian journalist contesting the accusations made in the report on Tuesday.
source : ucanews.com/2011/07/07/christians-defensive-after-media-blast/

 

[Dale_M]

This is worth keeping an eye on. Certainly, India (its neighbor to the south) has a “nationalist” Hindu movement which has attacked Christians and Muslims, both in word and deed.

However, the article which was published in the English-language newspaper Republica was an opinion piece, written by the editor of Arthik Abhiyan (which seems to be a Nepali language magazine about business and politics. Here is the opinion article which was published in Republica:
myrepublica.com/portal/index.php?action=news_details&news_id=33108

Remember, Nepal during the past decade concluded a long civil war with a Maoist insurgency. And the government shifted from being a monarchy to being a representative democracy. So there has been fundamental changes occurring in the country. Then toss in that the conversion of Dalits aka “untouchables” is a major irritant among Hindu “nationalists.”

Here is the reply article which was published in Republica
myrepublica.com/portal/index.php?action=news_details&news_id=33182

The attack program which was run on the Nepal 1 is harder to figure out. Nepal 1 is a satellite channel which is beamed to Nepal, northeastern India, Burma and Malaysia. It describes itself as an “infotainment channel.”
nepal1tv.net/

Whether or not that attack program was a one-off or if it marks a shift in the programming of Nepal 1 is worth considering. The channel is seeking satellite distribution in some of the major cities of India where a sizable Nepali population lives.

 

[stevekochi]

i think china is not really a place for christians…
ucanews.com/2011/06/24/china-and-the-vatican-read-our-in-depth-12-month-report/

this shows the relations between china and vatican

 

[Holly3278]

Is Nepal a primarily Muslim or Hindu nation? I am honestly not sure myself. That said, if it is a Muslim nation, why would they ban conversions? Doesn’t the Quran say something about the fact that their should be no compulsion in religion? If there should be no compulsion in religion, shouldn’t that also mean that people should not be compelled to stay in a religion if they don’t want to and that they should be free to convert to another religion, regardless of what that religion is? If it is Hinduism, I would be rather surprised. I know that there are some extremists in the Hindu religion but isn’t Hinduism as a whole rather tolerant of other religions?

 

[Dale_M]

Is Nepal a primarily Muslim or Hindu nation?

Nepal is 81% Hindu and 11% Buddhist. Only 4% of Nepalis are Muslim.
cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/np.html

If it is Hinduism, I would be rather surprised. I know that there are some extremists in the Hindu religion but isn’t Hinduism as a whole rather tolerant of other religions?

I can not speak as to Hinduism as a whole, however, Hindu extremists have repeatedly committed violence against Christians and Muslims in India, including terrorism. They have committed similar violence against Buddhists in Sri Lanka.
asianews.it/index.php?l=en&status=find&findkey=hindu&Find=Find

 

[Not_Sure_1]

Is Nepal a primarily Muslim or Hindu nation? I am honestly not sure myself. That said, if it is a Muslim nation, why would they ban conversions? Doesn’t the Quran say something about the fact that their should be no compulsion in religion? If there should be no compulsion in religion, shouldn’t that also mean that people should not be compelled to stay in a religion if they don’t want to and that they should be free to convert to another religion, regardless of what that religion is? If it is Hinduism, I would be rather surprised. I know that there are some extremists in the Hindu religion but isn’t Hinduism as a whole rather tolerant of other religions?

explain to me then why converting from Islam is considered a capital offense.

 

[joeantony]

Hello All,

There are couple of mentioning about India here so I thought I will just pitch in as I am from India and is in India.

I do not quite understand how the responses to the initial post sound. I have a feeling that respondents from a different part of the world think it must be just a media gimmick to increase the channel’s TRP ?

We have similar problems in India. First of all from an Indian stand point Christians are looked at as anti-nationals, those who have no values for local cultures and traditions because they embrace “Christian cultures and values”, they are helped by “foreign” funds, and they carry out secret agenda, they are all Vatican’s secret agents etc. You will all think that I am going overboard but trust me these mindsets are all true.

Yes, we all know that Islam act as a strong deterrent to have the freedom of religious choice. But the mind set of large Hindu Population is very seldom talked about. Though from the first look they look tolerant and peaceful there is a strong resentment against Christians.

The violence against Christians in India was the result of religious conversion. Again it is a complicated issue. Because in this part of the world when we say a Christian everybody associate them with Vatican, the Pope and churches with all the statues… yes you got the point, Catholicism. But they don’t know the difference between Catholics and rest of the denominations. Catholics in India is sensitive to nationalist feelings and local sensitivities and they have made rules and procedure when adopting some one to the faith officially through baptism. For example an adult who is a Hindu or Muslim wants to be a Catholic he is required to do Catechism before and get an affidavit from the Notary stating that he/she without force or coercion decided to be a Catholic. And they run their institutions and work without limiting to any particular communities, cast or religion.

If this is the case then how can Hindus claim that there is a forceful conversion? This is because people forget and ignore that there is a large group of other Christian denominations engage in many charitable social activities and preaching the Good News. Well its all good. And catholic priests, nuns from various religious orders do the same. Be informed about the innumerable schools, colleges, hospitals, old age homes, orphanages etc that are run by Catholics ( by each diocese). However it is often understood that other denominations put conditions to avail the services of these missions. Example, we will give you free education to your children only if you become one of us, we will treat you and your family in our hospitals if you become one of us, etc. And it is bad. Also I am told from reliable catholic sources that the behavior of many other denominations to offer money and services in order to in crease their head count damages the reputation of Christianity which in fact has only one identity in India which is Catholicism. However I am not stating that all religious missionary work is impaired with this behavior. There may be equally good amount of “preaching” going on. So we had a series of bloody violence against Christians last year or so. And who got attacked and killed, who got burned, whose hospitals and schools were destroyed ? Answer is Catholic’s. It is catholic nuns who get rapes, it is catholic priests who get assaulted and murdered.

Then religious extremists ( Political wing of theirs) demanded anti-conversion laws that prevents anyone basically from sharing the faith. Imagine in such scenario the only consolidated voice the Christianity got in this part of the world is the body of bishops who has to work tirelessly to educate the administration and work relentlessly with law makers, civil societies and politicians to get some justice done and also to prevent any such laws so that the entire Christian missionary work is continued even in such hostile environment.

The issue that our brother in the first post raised is a serious concern. However if the religious conversion that happens in Nepal is in an immoral, Un-Christian way, first Nepali Christians have to wake up and do some introspection. Only then they will able to talk,make people understand, bring every party to the table and reach a conclusion and common practices.

I am not suggesting that Christians cause any damage at all to the society, in fact it is mainly Christians who bring positive changes, giving hope to communities, who put human life and dignity first and working to serve the communities.

After all we knew what we are enrolling for when we became Christians right? These trials and persecution are guaranteed to us. So be happy and just hold on there! I praise God and thank Him when Mathew 5:11 is seen around me almost everyday !

God bless ,
Joe

 

[Dale_M]

explain to me then why converting from Islam is considered a capital offense.

I don’t think that is the issue here. Rather, it is converting from Hinduism which is considered to be an unforgivable offense, whether it is to Islam or to Christianity.