Zealous and aggressive in their faith, educated, young and well-trained in the home countries of their mentor Christian sects and ministries, with their financial needs taken care of, bible in hand, they have been spreading throughout India though not yet meaningfully, with single-minded focus.
Along with faith, they bring empathy, compassion and hope to the non-Christian rich and poor. They work with local cultures and traditions but they are insensitive to political climates and local politicians. They convert the young but in the process antagonize the parents - the ones who have the means and power to do harm to them. One could say they are brave. They go by various names - evangelicals, born agains, or the generic term ‘Christians’. My own niece a born and bred Catholic, married one. He comes from a landed Bombay-resident educated Punjabi Hindu family - father a naval captain and mother a college professor. He himself was an IIT post grad with a successful career start. Then both of them became ‘born agains’ and left to form their own church (no bricks and mortar here, just meetings in their apartment) in Delhi. His parents disowned him as their only son, but years later reconciled to his ‘craziness’ (their word, not mine). Through the years they learnt to live simply but not uncomfortably, thanks to their American church sponsors. Nothing like the well-heeled life they would have been living if he pursued his engineering career. Their small church of 4 or 5 people has now grown to a congregation of 550. Perhaps he brought his engineering efficiency along with his religious passion to bear on people who were suffering. The practise of the born-again consists mainly of bible reading and study followed by practical application of its exhortations. They have no rituals like traditional faiths do and their Sunday service consists of the pastor’s interpretation of ‘the word’ and singing of hymns they call ‘songs of praise’. For born-agains, suffering is the key to their door-opening skill. They home in on those who are suffering either physically or mentally and plough an easy field with their words and deeds. They become the replacement of the family that has abandoned these people and are looked upon as such. I don’t know whether that’s a good thing - giving love where there is none - or taking advantage of the vulnerable. They cause harm to the existing work of the Catholic Church that had established itself in a much quieter way in various parts of India. In the present Hindu militant politics, the old established Catholic tradition is painted with the same brush as these new Christian faith-militants, if I can call them that. In Goa too for some years now, the ‘born-agains’ have got a firm toe-hold though in frustration against the four century old faith of the locals, there are several skirmishes in villages where residents are provoked at the brash profession of faith and the easy appeal to the younger generation. Woh Zinda Hai https://youtu.be/HyxyIz-kDDs Roland. Toronto.
