By Mr. Jacob Punnoose IPS (Retd)
Continuing from yesterday’s point on asserting our Indian identity, we must make others understand that conversion has never been a precondition for Christian service. Our services are given in love to anyone in distress because it is the way we profess our faith and spread the good news of God’s love. We must strongly refute the canard that these are blandishments for conversion.
Out of those hundreds of millions who have availed the services of these institutions for nearly two centuries, how many were offered blandishments? How many were deliberately lured? The demographic data over two centuries will prove that these allegations have no substantive basis[1] and that those who espoused Christianity did it for reasons of faith. We witness, practice, proclaim and propagate our faith by living the faith. We are commanded to be the salt of the earth; we are to melt and suffuse our surroundings with our faith. Salt wishes nothing for itself. As followers of Christ, we must burn to give light to the world; and do good deeds that shine so bright that others may glorify God in heaven.
Also Read:
The Catholic Church in India: The Harbinger of Hope
The Catholic Church in India: Asserting our Indian Identity
The Catholic Church in India: Evolving New Paradigms for Hope
Beware! Spirituality Without Love
We must also be conscious of the growth of groups within the Christian fraternity who advocate the spirituality of well being divorced from community life and who consciously and artificially seek experiences which are in reality nothing more than self-centredness detached from responsibility to our brothers and sisters[2]. Spirituality that excludes awareness of the poor must be decried as spiritual smugness.
Partnership With Victim
As Christians we are called upon to respond to injustice. We cannot walk away after we see the victim by the wayside. We have to be the Hope of the victims. Our faith urges us to be Good Samaritans. When conflicts based on caste, class, gender, religion and ethnicities arise, tribals and the Dalits tend to suffer the most. The law of the land puts such atrocities against Scheduled castes and Tribes on a special plane and commands an extraordinarily stringent procedure to deal with atrocities. We need to act in solidarity with all victims of such violence and injustice. When we partner the poor and the victimised, we disturb the status quo; and the ire of the status quo will be directed against us. But that is a Cross that we must willingly bear.
Drive for Dalit Dignity
Caste, with untouchability as its adjunct, is the curse of India[3]. It stunted our growth. No nation can rise if large sections[4] are kept undignified, illiterate and ignorant by custom. Every human being is entitled to seek recognition, justice, dignity and equality. The Church, which sees the image and likeness of Christ in every human being, must press for the elimination of discrimination against Dalits, irrespective of whether they are Christians or not. Knowledge is power. Casteist sanctions had created an exclusivist monopoly over knowledge[5].
Church, in its mission of mercy, empowered millions of such people by imparting education and healthcare. Over the years, many such people embraced other religions in the quest to escape the scourge of social exclusion. But caste in India is a birthmark and it will relentlessly pursue each to the grave. Apart from discrimination by the society at large, we ourselves have to re-examine whether our own prejudices and customs exclude them from proper social and communal engagement[6].
Protection of Tribal People
What is true of Dalits is generally true of tribals too, mainly on account of poverty and isolation. The socio-economic indicators of tribals are the worst among all communities, in many areas. Tribals constitute 8.6 per cent of the population in the country. They have a rich cultural heritage. Tribal areas are rich in natural and mineral resources and large corporations evict them to exploit their lands. Therefore all of us in the Church have to give hope, encouragement and supporting anchor to the tribal people.
To be continued tomorrow….
Mr. Jacob Punnoose IPS (Retd), 1975 batch, is former DGP & State Police Chief of Kerala, India and Vigilance Director. He was instrumental in starting the People Friendly Janamaithri Suraksha (community policing) Project of Kerala as well as the vastly popular Student Police Cadet Project which is now nationally adopted.
Footnotes
[1] For example, the percentage of Christians in Kerala has been steadily declining over the last 50 years. In India, Christians are a very small minority in spite of the facts that tens of crores of persons have benefitted from our institutions. If conversion any means had been the practice, this would not have been the case, after 200 years of missionary activity
[2] Pope Francis: Evangelii Gaudium: para 90
[3] “Untouchability is a soul-destroying sin. Caste is a social evil ..”: Mahatma Gandhi: Selected Letters II: 10-10-1932:
[4] Dalit communities constitute 16.6 per cent of the population in India.
[5] It excluded the majority from the founts of knowledge, and thereby from progress. It limited growth by restricting knowledge to a few; they, in turn, used the knowledge to retain that monopoly.
[6] As Pope Benedict XVI emphasized in 2011: I encourage you to persevere in this positive and practical witness, in fidelity to the Lord’s command and for the sake of the least of our brothers and sisters. May Christ’s faithful in India continue to assist all those in need in the communities around them, regardless of race, ethnicity, religion or social status, out of the conviction that all have been created in God’s image and all are due equal respect.