Suresh, 2009/3/15 Suresh Ramasubramanian <[email protected]>
> Interesting bit of nonsense here. Quality reporting (!) to be sure. I wouldn't dismiss it so easily. Churches in Kerala have long ago adoped the "nila-vilakku", a bronze lamp used in Hindu homes and religious ceremonies. I've been to as many churches as temples so I'm not aware of any other practices they have borrwed. Though I do find it hard to believe that a priest would say something like <snip> “despite idol worship being prohibited in Bible, we have idol worship in churches.” “The duty of every Christian is to convert non-Christians to Christianity by any means,” </snip> so openly, especially where there is press access. Sure-fire way to get yourself excommunicated. But my experience with Christian missionaries as well as Christian who seek to spread the good Lord's word have been fairly abrasive - I've had to be particularly rude to get them off my back. Somehow the mention that my parents are Hindu and I'm an atheist heightens their enthusiasm. Once in a while I used to humour them and there are quite a few of them waiting to go to heaven for having converted me :) We've also once had to rudely refuse family friends of ours offering us a copy of the Bible. When we refused, they left it on the coffee table on their way out and had to be reminded to pick it up. When my father was hopitalised a year ago, our erstwhile neighbours who are Pentecostal Christians organized a prayer meeting at their home - ostensibly to pray for my father's health, but invited everybody non-Christian from the neighbourhood (Hindus and Muslims). Nil attendance at that event made them stick to "I'll pray for you". That said, we also have Christian family friends who seek astrological advice and have horscopes checked before marriage. It works both ways I guess. Kiran
