Priests and Seminarians Arrested for Singing Christmas Carols in India

[mdgspencer]

http://catholicherald.co.uk/news/20...rested-for-singing-christmas-carols-in-india/

Christians in India in the most recent years have faced persecution after a militantly Hindu government took power.
The article reports that Catholic seminarians and priests were arrested after singing Christmas carols at Christian places. They were arrested and some of them charged under the guise of laws against forcibly converting Hindus to Christianity. Then eight priests went to aid the carolers. One of the priest’s cars was set on fire, and a mob came in to the police compound and beat them up in front of the police, who didn’t intervene.

 

[Trishie]

“Amen”
So very sad.

 

[AlNg]

The article tells only one side of the story. It does not tell the Hindu side. What is the Hindu side? I read a while back that Hindus in India object to Catholics going into their neighborhoods and going on and on with loud megaphones about how Hindus are pagans and are doomed to go to hell. Hindus report that their children are being pressured into converting from their pagan beliefs into Catholicism and thus being led away from their parents.

 

[FirstFiveEighth]

So is “going into neighborhoods and going on and on with loud megaphones about how Hindus are pagans and doomed to go to hell” code for “they sang the Little Drummer Boy where I could hear it”?

In most civilized countries we have simple laws against soliciting in neighborhoods and noise ordinances that prevent such things. I guess in India they just prefer to beat people into submission or death with mobs.

 

[AlNg]

So is “going into neighborhoods and going on and on with loud megaphones about how Hindus are pagans and doomed to go to hell” code for “they sang the Little Drummer Boy where I could hear it”?

Some Hindus consider this to be a nuisance and a disturbance of the peace. You are minding your own business and people are coming into your neighborhood shouting that you and your children are pagans and will burn forever in hell.
Do children have a right to live in peace and quiet or is it right to frighten them to death with stories of how they will burn forever in hell fire if they follow their parents?

 

[FirstFiveEighth]

Yeah, and clearly the appropriate response is to beat people to death for being annoying. Totally justified.

 

[AlNg]

Yeah, and clearly the appropriate response is to beat people to death for being annoying.

The article mentions beatings but not beating to death. Beating to death was not the response here. I advocate ;peace but that is not what the Christians in India want. Christians are going to the open markets in India and when they see a portrait of a Hindu god they will shout Shaitan. It is documented on youtube. In other words, they tell the Indians that the gods that they revere are the devil. How would you like it if people came with megaphones to Catholic schools and shouted terrible, blasphemous things about Jesus and Mary? And said that your Catholic religion is from the devil?
I advocate peace and brotherly love. I am opposed to any type of violence. But i don’t think it is right for Christians to be disrespectful toward Hindus and their religion.

 

[FirstFiveEighth]

The article mentions beatings but not beating to death. Beating to death was not the response here. I advocate ;peace but that is not what the Christians in India want. Christians are going to the open markets in India and when they see a portrait of a Hindu god they will shout Shaitan. It is documented on youtube. In other words, they tell the Indians that the gods that they revere are the devil. How would you like it if people came with megaphones to Catholic schools and shouted terrible, blasphemous things about Jesus and Mary? And said that your Catholic religion is from the devil?

I advocate peace and brotherly love. I am opposed to any type of violence. But i don’t think it is right for Christians to be disrespectful toward Hindus and their religion.

No, no one was beat to death in this instance. But it is a pretty typical response in India. A non-hindu man was recently beat to death because it was rumored- rumored- that he ate beef. Just as these particular people were not actually beat to death, neither were these carolers shouting into megaphones that hindu gods are demons. They were singing Christmas carols.

As for your rhetorical question, I am from the “Bible Belt”. I have been told my whole life by Baptists, Methodists, Presbyterians, 7th Day Adventists, etc that I am not a Christian, I worship multiple gods aka saints, my church is led by the antichrist, the church is the whore of babylon, I am going to hell, etc etc. Whoopty doo. Last I checked its not ok nor is it justifiable to have a mob violently attack someone and destroy their property for disagreeing on ideology or being an annoying street preacher.

But go ahead, keep telling us how it is the poor Hindus being victimized by the bad, aggressive Christians in a country that is 80% Hindu and less than 6% Christian. It is fascinating.

 

[AlNg]

But go ahead, keep telling us how it is the poor Hindus being victimized by the bad, aggressive Christians in a country that is 80% Hindu and less than 6% Christian.

Many Hindus love and revere Jesus. For example, if you read the books of Paramahansa Yogananda, you will see that there is a strong tradition in India that the three wise men were Hindu gurus from India and further that Jesus went to India when he was somewhere between 14 to 28 years old and that during this time Jesus “increased in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and man.” Luke 2:52. This is supported by Swami Abhedananda who visited the Himis monastery where ancient manuscripts recording this event are said to be stored. Although this is an old tradition in India, it should be noted that some historians say this is only a legend. But still it shows that many Hindus have great respect and admiration for Jesus. According to the historian D.P. Singhal, in his book “India and world civilization” , archaeologists have unearthed a vase near Baghdad indicating that a form of Hinduism was being practiced in Mesopotamia in the middle of the third millennium BC, showing that middle eastern religions were influenced by India’s spiritual culture.
Many Hindus are very tolerant of Christianity, but the unfortunate situation in many parts of India is that there is no reciprocation on the part of some of the intolerant Christian extremists who are making a nuisance of themselves and provoking disturbances.

 

[FirstFiveEighth]

So Hindus love and respect Jesus but the dang Christian extremists are just forcing them to violently attack Christians for disturbing the peace. Ha.

I can’t tell if you are joking or not.

 

[AlNg]

So Hindus love and respect Jesus but the dang Christian extremists are just forcing them to violently attack Christians for disturbing the peace. Ha.

There are extremists in both groups. It is a serious problem and is no laughing matter when Christian extremists enter a Hindu country and ridicule the Hindu religion which is much older than Christianity. Do you know what Shaitan means? Why do Christians shout this at portraits of hindu religious symbols in the open market, except to cause disturbance and to show disrespect?
Christians should watch the movie, the man who knew infinity, about Srinivasa Ramanujan, who was a devout Hindu. I doubt that these Christian extremists who attack Hindus and their beliefs are as intelligent as this great Indian mathematician and devout hindu who amazed English mathematician G. H. Hardy and many others with his incredible achievements and contributions to mathematical problems once considered insolvable.

 

[Katherine438]

This is so very sad to here … prayers go out to the priests in India.

 

[AlNg]

So Hindus love and respect Jesus but the dang Christian extremists are just forcing them to violently attack Christians for disturbing the peace.

In India, there are Christians and Hindus who are respectful of each other and who get along just fine. As long as Christians respect their Hindu friends, and don’t accuse them of Satanism, paganism, worshiping devils, etc., there should be more peace between the two.