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Symposium on Pre-Primary & Primary School Education &
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Dear Kevin,
I read the article sent by you to me. I have to learn whether it is true or
just another bogey of 'conversions by force'.
Even in Goa there so many write-ups come in English and Marathi against the
Church. Why are they throwing stones if there are no fruits in the tree?
Dear Fr. Ivo,
> > Thank you for your wishes and patience with me on GoaNet.
>
You wrote: > Is there any truth to these claims from another blogsite called
> Awake! Arjuna quoting an article from the Deccan Herald from 2004?
> http://awakearjuna.blogspot.com/2005/03/plight-of-dalit-christians.html
> > Thank you for attempting to enlighten me on this topic.
> ---------------------
> Plight of Dalit Christians
>
> http://www.kentaxrecords.com/iaca/php/item_display.php?id=1110122794&type=articles
>
> Living as Dalit Christians
> Author: P.N. Benjamin
> Publication: Deccan Herald
> Date: January 9, 2004
>
> Twenty-two bishops and nearly three hundred delegates from dioceses
> spread all over the four Southern States will descend on Bangalore to
> attend the four-day Synod meeting of the Church of South India (CSI),
> beginning on January 10. The CSI runs 2000 schools, 130 colleges and
> 104 hospitals. More than 75% of its four million members are Dalit
> Christians.
>
> Social justice has been one of the main concerns of the Catholic and
> Protestant Churches in India since the 1960s. Though social justice is
> a profound idea, yet, like many other profound ideas, it gets profaned
> when men who mouth it are sans character. That is why "almost 20
> million Dalit Christians have been tamed and reduced to eternal slaves
> of the organised Church bodies," as a statement issued by a Dalit
> Christian organisation revealed recently.
*I have read also several write-ups by Dalits who are grateful to the
Church.
>
> To corrupt George Orwell's famous aphorism: all Indian Christians are
> equal, but some are more equal than others. By embracing Christianity,
> the Dalits have not found themselves emancipated from economic and
> social inequalities. Conversions have neither offered the Dalits a way
> of escape from the bondage of caste nor have they fostered the social
> transformation of the Dalit Christians. They still live under the same
> conditions of discrimination, exploitation and oppression.
>*The Church caters to them, but also they need the help of the Government.
>If other people consider them as dalits, what can they do? They are
>economically poor, that is why the Church is helping them and defending
>their human rights. Certainly there is social transformation. What blocks
>is the casteist mentality of the surrounding people.
> The Dalit Christians are "twice alienated', both by the Government and
> the Church. On the one hand they are denied, as Christians, the rights
> and benefits avaailed of by their fellow Dalits, and on the other, as
> Dalits, they are dominated and persecuted by the upper castes and the
> elite Dalits within the Church. The majority of Dalit Christians
> suffers from economic disparities, demoralising social discrimination
> and cruel denial of equal rights.
*That is precisely the reason why the Church is demanding from the
Government equal benefits for Christian dalits, because they are poor and
oppressed.
> The Church has sinned more than others in perpetuating social
> injustices against Dalit Christians. In Indian Christian communities,
> caste discrimination takes many forms. There are some churches built
> for separate groups. These places of worship even today retain their
> caste identity. Another example of casteist practice is allotting
> separate places in churches. Usually, the Christians of Scheduled
> Caste origin occupy the rear of the church. A flaring instance of
> caste distinction is found among the dead. The dead of the Dalit
> communities are buried in separate cemeteries.
*I do not know whether their situation is so bad in TamilNadu and Kerala
(and others States).
>
> It is said that charity begins at home. But, the home (Church) where
> it begins, the Dalits Christians do not belong. According to a study,
> all the landed properties of churches in India put together, the
> church is the second biggest landlord in the country, next only to the
> Government. In addition, the Church institutions and Church or
> Christians-led NGOs receive foreign financial support amounting to
> over Rs. 2500 crores per year. There is no transparency with regard to
> these funds as well the massive income accruing from the elite
> schools, colleges and hospitals and also shopping complexes built all
> over the major cities in the country. The poor Dalit Christian does
> not even get the crumbs, leave alone participation in Church matters.
> There seems to be a vested interest in keeping the Dalit Christians
> where they are to maintain the status quo in the Church.
>*This cannot be believed, when the Church caters to their needs. Land for
>the Church is for the institutions for the poor and rich of our country.
>"Foreign financial support" is precisely for the activities for the poor.
>If it is posisble for the Church to help the poor with the resources from
>our country so much the better. But the Church is international. Christian
>people from the four corners of the world help the Church wherever it is
>needed. Money from the churches in Germany (and the whole of Europe) goes
>whenever there is a tragedy in Africa or in Asia. These instituions cate to
>people of all religions. It is irresponsible statement to state that there
>is "no transparency". 'The poor Dalit Christian does not even get the
>crumbs'. Who gets? The poor, self-sacrificng missionaries? Sisters of
>Mother Teresa?
> The Church's call for re-distribution of national resources in favour
> of Dalit Christians will be heeded only when its own resources are
> re-allocated and used with a clear partiality for Dalits in its own
> fold. The Church's fearless stand for justice will no longer let it
> remain silent about the discrimination within the Church - a matter of
> shame to its members and an embarrassment to its friends.
>*Is it true?
> To a religion that has always prided itself on the advocacy of
> complete equality of all human beings, irrespective of caste, colour
> or race, the charge of discrimination within its own family is
> galling. Strangely enough, the Church has won its adherents in this
> country on the strength of its teaching about the dignity of all human
> beings and its rejection of distinctions based on birth, colour and
> race. Now it finds itself charged with failures on this very score. To
> the untouchables, the oppressed and those victimized in socially
> stratified society, Christianity once brought a message of hope. The
> reason it has lost its appeal is not that it has ceased to preach
> equality, but it has lost its nerve to practise it. It has compromised
> its own teaching.
>*Casteist mentality will take time to recede among human beings. Why is it
>now worse? The message is the same.
Are not Dalits rising up with the help of the Church?
> Church of South India Synod Executive Committee recently declared:
> "Caste discrimination is a blot against humanity. Caste is a direct
> assault on 200 million Dalits of India denying them their dignity and
> humanity and as Church we condemn this draconian discrimination."
> After reading it, one is tempted to tell the CSI leaders: "Physician,
> heal thyself!"
*It is easy to tell others. Will not the Church find fault with those who
are finding fault with the Church?
>
> The Church must realize that the Dalit Christians' plight calls for a
> deeper analysis of the problem so that Christian leaders do not throw
> stones at the caste system prevailing in Hinduism, but look to
> something more meaningful and constructive within itself.
> *Precisely the casteist mentality is coming from Hindu layers and is
> deeply ingrained in the people.
Christian message has changed the face in several parts around the world. It
requires time...
Fr.Ivo
