Offstumped is focused on bringing a Right of Centre Reality Check to Indian Politics, News Media Reporting and Opinion through Blogs in English and Hindi since 2004.
Offstumped started initially on O3 over at Indiatimes.com and was initially syndicated on Blogger, Rediff Blogs and Yahoo. In 2006 Offstumped started to distribute via Google News on BNN.
Between September 2006 Offstumped was on the Indian National Interest and INI had become the primary content site for Offstumped.
In June of 2009 Offstumped left the INI platform to the present location.
Between July and October of 2009 Offstumped was on a hiatus before resuming active blogging.
You can follow Offstumped on Twitter here.
You can follow Offstumped Op-Ed columns in The Pioneer here.
You can follow Offstumped Podcasts and Live Events here.
For a recent interview with BlogAdda visit http://adda.at/Yossarin
dear yoss,
I request you to change your decision and please come back to blogging.
any way you are writing as much commenting on others blog like kanchan gupta’s and swapan da’s or on tweeting.
You are tweeting stuff that realy cant be condensed in a tweet.
so i request you once agian to come back to blogging.
further if it is some thing connected to BJP inner party stuff please understand politics is like this.
then if you are looking for some other blog model may I suggest http://www.michellemalkin.com
a real good issue /activisim/vitalising model or
http://www.towhall.com a collection of the intellects thinking on the same path.
sites mentioned are only examples, content not fully aprexiated.
any way ‘an all encompassing hindu,free enterprise,freespeech,for democracy,nationalist line of view(i think) you advocate must be pursued ina big way.
So please dont shy behind tweets.
hundred days is the honeymoon period for this government after this our voices must be raised.
Please get back to blogoshere.
Rone – Bad habits die hard I need to cut down my tweeting
Have to stick to my decision, be rest assured the energy is going towards more foundational long term goals.
YES dear OFFSTUMPED be back.
Point is where I vent my Anger against MEDIA and I find OFFSTUMPED the best….
9 rape case in DELHI in JUNE month,has any MEDIA question Women president,Women UPA chairperson, Women CM and WOmen speaker of Congi
Has any one questioned Home Minister of India responsile for security in Delhi.
And a Staged Act in MANGALORE made INTERNATIONAL news and all our MEDIA discussing debating in their Studio??????
Yoss, dont go man. we think of you as the alternative Hindu Media.
c’mon back man
though it is a blow for political blogging world, we wish you all the best in your future endeavors.
these are serious times .
i have reqested you to come back earlier ,
but i respect your decision.
But you have a platform …you have your readers.
now i check ur site to see what all news are u linkin.and actualy we need a site like that..
so can you pls bring that linkinng thing in to the front.
i beleive u are updating by mobile morning and eve.
“Is Ambika Sonia UPA-2s renuka chowdury http://is.gd/2jijj maybe they shud detain her in GITMO spare us the nuisance value Offstumped on Twitter 7 hours ago”
git mo is too much.
But you cant expect much from Ambika soni’s of the world.
leave it.
http://ibnlive.in.com/news/raje-seeks-peace-says-wont-quit-bjp/99308-37.html
this is the difference between congress and BJP.
it is ideology.
neither raje nor yashwant sinha nor jaswant sing nor arun shourie will leave.
now it is for the party to understand them.
i have requested you earlier.
But this is diffferent.
if you are so adament you should shut down this site wholy.
this is like showing the trailor by twweets but not the cinema.
Nobody in the media is taking on the UPA.And the policies they pursue are####.
BJP will settle their things.Or not
But there should be opposition atleast in the blogosphere.
BLOG
great to know that you are coming back.Do a “big goverment” and make a splash.
Pls dont sympethise with sashi tharoor just bcause he his part of the twiterrity class.the guy should have lost his job for the “sherem el sheikh doesnot have any valdity” comment.
The guy is a phony with no connections to ordinary people and also does not beleive in his party’s or voters of Trivanathapuram’s secular credentials. that is why he does not have the guts and hiding the fact that he has a christian wife christina giles after divorce frm Mrs thilothama his first wife in his website.And wiki page ceratainly managed by his crack IT team. He is insulting voters of Thiruvanathapuram.
Church in India Guilty for Miserable condition of Dalit Christians
New Delhi, November 15, 2009: In view of the forthcoming winter session of Parliament several church organizations are planning to held a demonstration at the Jantar Mantar on 19 th November . While agreeing with the broader objectives the Poor Christian Liberation Movement is of the opinion that the Church authorities in India have not done justice to the marginalised Christians.
The “Poor Christian Liberation Movement” PCLM President RL Francis stated that several Dalits have embraced Christianity for better and equal treatment but the despite conversion their conditions have not changed. The Dalit Christians are still victims of discrimination with in the Church.
The PCLM pointed out that Dalits or the socially underprivileged questions the church leadership for demanding special treatment for them they are treated badly Stating that Dalit Christians accounted for nearly 70 percent of India ’s Christian population, the PCLM, a Christian organization, accused high caste Christians of exploiting them.
The church leadership ‘exploit the poverty and unemployment” among the Dalits to convert them to Christianity. The Church bodies are demanding reservation from the Government but in their own institutions are neglecting and ill treating the Christians of Dalit background. Some all India Christian leaders are minting money from abroad in the name of demonstrations etc. “Let the Church in India make 50 % job reservation for Dalit Christians in their institutions and then go to government for relief” said the PCLM President R L Francis in a press statement.
“But despite a wide network of (Christian) missionary schools and colleges, most of Dalit Christians are illiterate and living in utter poverty because the convent schools are busy catering to the educational needs of rich and high caste people”, the statement further mentioned.
“Same is the case with job opportunities and entrepreneurship development. Dalit Christians are being denied all these facilities while the church leadership continues to flourish by usurping vast foreign funding and real estate resources,” Francis charged.
Issued by:
P B Lomeo
General Secretary – PCLM & editor Christian Post
http://www.dalitchristian.com
Reply to question from Pub Chick – yes the post was taken down many months back. It was an editorial decision. Older posts are reviewed from time to time for their relevance beyond the moment of debate. Those that are not deemed relevant are made private, they are not deleted.
To better appreciate this decision you must take not of posts that have not been made private e.g.
http://offstumped.wordpress.com/2010/01/29/iit-undergrads-and-age-of-consent/
and more specifically in the latter part of this comment
http://offstumped.wordpress.com/2010/01/29/iit-undergrads-and-age-of-consent/comment-page-1/#comment-37606
This is not the only post that was made private, many others have been as well
It is just that you have noticed it only now. Nothing more must be read into it.
Special on Valentines Day: Draw a bigger line than Macauly
Media and market have become busy in marketing of Valentines Day. Economic experts believe that market has crossed Rs 1200 crore in India and the growth rate is 20 percent every year. It is to be noted that half of the population of the country is youth. The supporters of Valentines Day portray-the opponents of Valentines Day as a villain and media helps them in doing so.
In the last few years, some ‘so called protectors of Indian culture’ used to make hype against Valentines Day Celebrations on the street. These incidents resemble more as a stage managed event and nothing else. Such kind of distortions in culture cannot be stopped by cosmetic processes. No religion and reformist movement in the world supports such blatant display of uninhibited sexual desire. However, this has become a norm in the name of modern life. There is some kind of sanctity attached to male-female relationship. Families are breaking- and it is a cause for concern in the western society.
Recent surveys confirm our belief that number of such cases are constantly increasing. However, we can still take solace from the fact that it is very low in India as marriage is regarded as a relationship of several births. According to a survey 54.5 marriages per thousand breaks in Sweeden and USA. In Britain, France, Germany and Canada this ratio is 42.6, 39.4, 38.3, and 37.0 respectively. In India the ratio is just 1.1 per thousand. It seems that Indian media seems some kind of internal conflict. At one side it publishes news of repercussions of such illicit act and on the other hand it sells sex and fashion brazenly through so called Love Guru.
Those who care for Indian culture should understand that St Valentine did not come in India; it took more than 150 years in doing so. Now, attempts are being made to establish Lord Macaulay. We should not be surprised if he becomes hero of Indian youths in the next one hundred years. There is a deep relationship between St.Valentine and Macaulay. Present Indian education system has been given by Macaulay. In 1835 Macaulay had released a memo and it clearly depicts the intention. Macaulay wanted to create such Indians that looks like Indian but in liking, thinking and all other aspects it is more a British. In a letter written to his father he says, “I am trying to develop such a system that will produce ‘Black Englishmen’. These people will feel proud in deriding their own culture. This will destroy Indian culture. Even if we have leave India in certain circumstances these ‘Black Englishmen’ will continue serving our purpose.”
Macaulay’s relative Edward Trevelyan had urged western society to help Macaulay in this mission. He explained western society how Macaulay’s policy was bearing fruit. He even told that how elite Bengali society had adopted this system of education and without any further attempt of conversion they have been able to spread Christianity and work of church. Trevelyan gave an example of how a Hindu youth-who had got liberal education-went in a temple of Goddess Kali and in stead of bowing his head with respect he told that I hope Madam you will be alive and kicking. Explaining further he told education can remove obstacles. Missionaries can capture Hindu bastions through this process. Our success should not be measured in terms of how many people were converted rather it should be measured how fast majority Hindu community is imbibing Christian culture.
Macaulay finally won in his mission and our own people are engaged in destroying old values and traditions. Today India is completely divided in two parts. First part looks towards western heroes and other part gets inspiration from Vedic India and its values. However, those who follow the second path are regarded as narrow minded and communalists. Those who advocate for western tradition feel proud in forgetting contribution of Kabir, Tulsi, Gurunanak, Buddha, Meera and Vivekananda but they cannot afford to forget St. Valentine. We should take solace from the fact that still a large section of people believe in our traditions. National values should be protected at any cost and it cannot be done through violent means. Instead, in order to fight we will have to draw even bigger line than Macaulay.
R. L Francis
The author is president of the Poor Christian Liberation Movement (PCLM)
PRESS RELEASE
Rich Church, Poor Christians
New Delhi: 22nd May 2011
The Church in India is increasingly loosing its focus and turning away from the poor. “While demanding the special package from the Govt. of India in the 12 th Five Year Plan (2012-2017 period) the Christian leadership must introspect about the resources available with the Church and how that can be utilized for the benefit of the poor Christians in India”, R.L. Francis president of Poor Christian Liberation Movement (PCLM) pointed out during the Press Conference at the Press Club in Moradabad in Western Uttar Pradesh on 21st May, 2011.
The condition of the North Indian Christians is far worse than their counter parts in South India, said Mr Gathia coordinator of the Church Parivartan Abhiyan pointed out during the press conferenc. He also said that despite the fact that the Church in India has more wealth than the combined assets of Tata, Birlas and Ambanis yet nearly 40 per cent of Christians in Jharkhand, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Bihar live in poverty having no food security and adequate housing.
Mr. R.L. Francis, president of the Poor Christians Liberation Movement (PCLM) addressed the press that the presence of specially Dalit and Tribal Christians in the Church run educational institutions and hospitals is negligible. The Church leadership runs the educational institutions and hospitals with a profit motive where the poor Christians do not have any place.
The Church is running 40,000 schools and owning some of the best educational institutions yet large number of Christian children dropout after class VIII and tribal girls end up as domestic servants. This is result of “wrong priorities” followed by the Church leaders in India and time has come for more active role and power to be given to the ordinary Christians in running the church institutions and property management in India, Fr. William Premdas Chaudhary, a dalit Catholic priest and Meherban James president of PCLM in Uttar Pradesh said.
Although, there are already some hints as to what the church’s new course will likely be, there are several doubts what actually; will be the response of the Church in India to the new emerging challenges. Million dollar question is, Will the Church in India reconsider seriously the desirability – in fact, the necessity—of “opting for the poor”? Will the poor Christians in India get fair deal? Where is the new life? Where are the winds of change? Asked, the Christians leaders from the church.
R L Francis
President – PCLM
Truth behind the appeal to Hindus
By R L Francis
Vatican’s thinking about Indian Christians is not based on facts and that is why Pontifical Council for Inter-religious Dialogue of Pope has issued a message on the eve of Dipawali for Hindus. In this message, Hindus have been told to fight against anti-Christian propaganda in the country. The appeal says Dipawali is the festival of conquer of light over dark. It again says that Hindus and Christian should jointly fight and pave the way for religious freedom. The Vatican’s appeal is very shrewd as it is trying to justify Conversion.
Vatican should know that Catholic Church enjoys equal freedom as Hindus do. Representative of Pope Benedict XVI Archbishop Salvatore Pennacchio is directly appointing Bishops in India without any problem. They are building new churches and schools in the name of minority rights. How much more freedom Vatican needs?
Vatican thinks that Christians have been victimized by Hindu extremists in the last few years and this has posed problems for missionaries. But Vatican should understand that Conversion has been the main reason behind these conflicts. Many enquiry commissions set up by various respective states in Odisha, Karnataka and Madhya Pradesh have pointed fingers towards this direction. However, Christian has every right and freedom to pursue their religion in India. The problem gets creates only where missionaries try to increase empire of church. Is this not a fact that poverty stricken areas of tribal regions are on the target of these missionaries? Why missionaries need to help only those who accepts their religion. “Jesus had said that if you greet only your brothers and sisters, what more are you doing than others? Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly father is perfect. (Math. 5:47-48)”
It is a fact that missionaries face problem only at those places where they try to convert. This has increased tension in the tribal region. Hindu organizations believe that Vatican is preparing ground for conversion on the basis of huge foreign funds. Though, they get these funds for social activity. Those who have already been converted, their conditions have not improved.
10 percent of the total population of catholic Christians in the country lies in Chotanagpur region. Even church documents accept that 91.47 percent domestic girl workers are Christians and non-Christians percentage (Sarna) is merely 1.3 percent. Sixty percent of the converted dalit Christians comprise the total population of Christians in this country. And, church is trying to include them in the list of Hindu dalits. It is clear that conversion does not open the doors of liberation.
Kanchi Shankaracharya Swami Jayendra Saraswati and some other spiritual had meeting with Cardinal Jean Louis Pierre Tauran, President of Vatican’s Pontifical Council for Inter-religious Dialogue for communal harmony in 2009 in Mumbai. Everybody accepted that conversion is the main obstacle in religious harmony. Now Pope Benedict XVI is having the meeting of the world’s spiritual leaders in Asisi of Italy and they are discuassing about the communal harmony.
Problem is that success of evangelical activity has been liked with the increasing the numbers. India is no exception. In north-east region Protestants and Catholics are fighting among themselves. Local catholic Bishop Jose Mukala protestant Christians are forcing Catholics to become protestant in the Kohima region. Properties of Catholics are being arsoned. They have appealed for their safety to United Nations. Few years ago catholic and protestant missionaries had decided that they will not convert each-other members. Now, the question is from where the number will come?
In this month hundreds of tribal representatives from nine states were called in Bhopal by Catholic Church in an Adivasi Mahotsava. The motive of this was to liberate them from social, economic and political exploitation. They were indoctrinated that they were not Hindus and they are free to chose their religion. This makes the motive amply clear. Two-years-ago Catholic Church had told that church is still at infancy stage among tribal people. The message is very clear. However, rift between tribal Christian and non-Christians is getting wider.
The appeal talks about anti-conversion law in few states in India which has posed problems for missionaries. Vatican should understand that Indian constitution permits them to follow any faith of their choice and it also allows them to propagate any religion. But there is a thin line between conversion and propagating the religion. It is the duty of the state to restrict the freedom of those whose only goal is to just convert people. It is a known fact that wherever people have been converted, social tension has increased. Now, onus of establishing social harmony lies on the shoulder of church. The church should spend the money on the welfare of those who have already been converted and are being exploited inside the church. Vatican should think about their liberation.
The writer is President, Poor Christian Liberation Movement.
An Open Letter of Indian Dalit Christians to HIS HOLINESS POPE BENEDICT XVI and Church Authority
December 23, 2011
Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you” – St Matthew 7.7
His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI
Secretariat of State
00120 Vatican City State – Europe
Wish You a Merry Christmas and New Year
Your Holiness,
The debate related to the status of Christians in India is going on and you are already aware of it. There are two points to this wide ranging debate. Firstly, social, economic and political status of converted Christians and second is growing tension in different parts of country due to conversion related activities. The second has more to do with the way catholic church adopts to function in the country.
According to official estimates of government, there are 30 million Christians in the country and 70 percent of this population has directly come from socially and economically downtrodden community popularly known as “Dalits”. However, as per unofficial figures the population of minority Christians is not less than 60-70 million. Irony is that; these people have been constantly suppressed and exploited even under the structure of catholic church being led by you (Pope). They are ridiculed for their sacrifices made hundreds of years ago for the church. They don’t command equal status in the existing structure of church and this has made the sacrifices futile. Christianity stresses on the fact that God has created people with his own image and this has become founding stone of equality of human values in Christian society. But, they are continuously meted out differential treatment in the name of caste and birth. In order to catch your attention towards these core issues, I am writing this letter to you. I am going to discuss first core issue.
Ideology of Church
Theoretically, there is no place for non-equality and racism in the Christianity and when it is attached with identity of Catholic Church; the concept of caste automatically vanishes like camphor as the word ‘Catholic- means-Universal’. There is only one head of this universal community of people and that is none other than representative of Vicar of Christ which is responsible for recruitment of Bishops in order to guide their disciples. In that way Holy Father/Pope means ‘you’ are responsible for maintaining ‘Kingdom of heaven’ on the earth. Now, you should explain me where is the place of dirty ideology like casteism and racism in this ‘Kingdom of heaven’?
Deprived class in Indian church
Downtrodden class in India has always been victim of unequal treatment, casteism and social exploitation. In order to seek solace and relief from their pathetic condition they are still coming under the aegis of church for the last 3 or 4 centuries. But, here, too, they have been exploited in the name of caste and race. The hope with which they had come in the Christianity seems to have forfeited. On the contrary, they are now entangled in even deeper quagmire of inequality.
Church moving opposite to the ideology of Christianity
Catholic Church has completely failed in its duty to provide equality and justice to that majority of converted people under the structure controlled by you (Pope). The resources have been captured by upper-class Christians. After independence of India Catholic Church has immensely progressed which is reflected from heavy increase in the number of schools, colleges, social institutions, new diocese, Fathers, Bishops, nuns and their followers? However, despite this entire progress one thing that has not changed is the status of converted Christians.
Converted Christians are the backbone of Catholic Church in India but their participation in the structure of Catholic Church is zero. Bishop, Father and Cardinal from this class are rare to find and those who somehow managed after hard fought struggle are standing marginalized in the society. They are being treated differently by their upper-class brothers (Bishops and Fathers).
Thousands of organizations related to education, health and non-governmental organizations are being run by church and right to run these institutions has been conferred by Indian constitution. The structure of church being run under Vatican (You) has failed to do justice with converted Christians. Understanding the gravity of the situation Pope John Paul-II had severely criticized the attitude of unequal treatment and discriminatory approach in the church. In 2003, he had said that Bishops were appointed to look after lambs and it is their duty to abolish any kind of discrimination prevalent in the catholic church.
Betrayal of faith
There is widespread anger among converted Christians against the policies adopted by the church. They have started demanding their rights within the existing structure of church. The response of church has been abysmal in this regard. The church leadership has termed this anger unjustified. Instead of addressing the genuine concerns of converted Christians they have shied away from their responsibilities and are trying to shift it on government of India. This is being done in order to fulfill their own ulterior motive. By doing so church is pushing these people in the same quagmire of caste system.
When Indian constitution was being framed, constitution makers advocated for reservation of dalit class who were victim of caste oppression in the prevalent Hindu system. Majority of Hindu people sacrificed their right to equality in favour of their dalit brothers as a compensation of injustice meted out to them.
Your Holiness, do your representatives have moral right to betray the faith of those who had blindly believed on church and its promises. They have given their whole life to church. The story is similar to the poor widow about whom Jesus had said to their disciples, “Truly I tell you, this poor widow has put more into the treasury than all the others. They all gave out of their wealth; but she, out of her poverty, put in everything—all she had to live on.” (Mark 12: 41-44) we dalit catholic, had also left the facilities (reservation) given by Indian government.
Church should compensate
Church is now blaming others for its failures. When Indian constitution was being framed these converted Christians remained in the fold of church and did not switch their loyalties. Within the framework of constitution minorities were given special rights and privileges that were even unthinkable in USA and Europe. Taking benefit of these rights church has enlarged its empire but seems to have forgotten converted Christians. Church leadership is trying stifling the just demand of their own people who are backbone of the Catholic Church in the country.
Now, church leadership has no moral right to bring the converted people in the realm of same caste system that has oppressed them for centuries. Had they not gone in the fold of church and continued with the Hindu system they, too, would have enjoyed benefits bestowed upon them by constitution of India and progressed like their other Dalit Hindu brothers in the same fashion.
After government of India, church is the only organized entity that can make available jobs but the participation of converted Christians is very low and maximum they can get is post of driver, cook, clerk, peon and gatekeeper. These jobs, too, can be availed on the mercy of Bishops and their condition is no better than slave laborer. I demand from church that they should compensate for the injustice and exploitation meted out to millions of converted Christians. Vatican had done this in the past and it can also be done here.
Church should change its policy
Church has always preferred safe trade. It has established thousands of schools, colleges and other institutions. This has benefited a lot to church leadership but majority of converted Christians have been largely deprived. Even in the field of education where church has practically monopoly it has failed to benefit converted Christians. We will not stop just after getting few benefits but Dalit Christians want their due share in the existing structure. Hindu society is changing very fast. Doors of temples are being opened for Dalit Hindus and many programmes are being run to abolish ignominious caste system whereas Christianity has not been able to do minor changes in its structure. Hindu dalits are constantly moving on but this is not the case with converted Christian society. Church administration being led by you is pushing them back. Perhaps their thinking is to assimilate converted Christians among 300 million Hindus. They believe that this will make the task of church leadership easier. Why it is that church leadership always seeks solution in putting converted Christians in the list of Hindu dalits.
It is the duty of church leadership that process of development should not only be being smooth. It is good to have institutions/policy made for the welfare of people. However, it is even more important that who are implementing them? Converted Christians should get share proportionate to their population. Unless and until this happens their position in the society will remain the same and their problems will persist.
Your Holiness,
In the first point I have tried to elaborate the first point related to the problems faced by converted Christians. In India the relationship between Catholic Church and its followers is not based on democratic set-up. Inside the church upper-caste Christians have more opportunity to progress than converted Christians. Considering the status of these people some fundamental structural changes are needed. At present Bishop is the “Key power” and they are appointed by the Vatican and that is why they feel themselves more responsible towards Vatican and less towards Kalisia. Most of the Catholics are of the view that Bishop should be elected by Kalisia and not by the Vatican so that they could be made more responsible towards their people.
Evangelization and escalating tension
Recently, for the sake of safety and security of Christian society you have appealed to Hindu society that they should stand-up against condemnable hate propaganda against Christians and should pave the way for religious freedom. Your concerns are genuine as tension between Christians and people from other faith has escalated over the years and at some places it has even taken violent turn. Be it ignominious incident of burning of Graham Stains with his two children in 1999 or Kandhmal riots or violence at some other place. Indian society has always opposed violence on the name of caste or religion. Indian government has acted swiftly whenever such incidents have taken place. Perpetrators of crime have been punished. Government has also constituted various commissions in this regard and their reports have been startling.
India has always been glorious symbol of tolerance and has shown respect for all religions and faiths with the feeling of amicable co-existence. There is no place for non-tolerant faith among majority of Hindu community. Every citizen respects fundamental right of religious freedom of other people.
Many commissions constituted by government on the wake of violent instances against Christians have also indicated towards imperialistic nature of church. There is an urgent need for introspection on the method of propagation of Christian faith as they have become instruments of growing tension with people of other faith. We can stop this by changing the current practices by the church and help create amicable atmosphere.
Freedom of church in India
Indian church and Christians have rights that are not even available to European church. In the matters related to Hindus, Muslims, Sikhs and other religions there is some government intervention. For example, properties of religious institutions in Muslims are looked after by Waqf board. Similarly, religious properties in Sikhs are also managed according to Indian law. Government has direct control over the income of big temples and this money is spent on upliftment of deprived class.
But, government has no intervention in matters pertaining to Christians. Bishops are appointed by you and Vatican and Fathers/Bishops has ownership over huge assets and resources of church. Though, even in Europe many countries have control over the properties of church. India is one such country where church enjoys immense religious freedom.
Introspection of evangelization policy is necessary.
Recently, Pontifical Council for Inter-religious Dialogue has raised few questions about status of religious freedom in India. The indication was towards anti-conversion law made by few states in India. Church is facing difficulty after enactment of this law. They should understand that Indian constitution allows anybody to follow faith of his/her choice and even allows propagation of religion. But, nobody can justify conversion of scheduled caste and tribes under the garb of social service. There is a thin line between propagation of once faith and conversion. If state gives absolute freedom to those who have sole motive of conversion then it is the duty of the state to intervene in the matter. This becomes all the more important considering wherever conversion has taken place in large number social tension has increased.
This year Vatican had convened a meeting of various heads of faiths in Assisi of Italy on October 27. In this meeting Indian representation had tried to attract the attention of Vatican towards conversion. As a matter of fact if Vatican really wants amicable solution to various problems faced by Christianity then it is the church that will have to play larger role in the process.
Development of converted Christians should be goal of church
Your Holiness,
Theoretically in Christianity advocates for equality but in practice reality is starkly different. Discriminatory caste policies of Catholic Church fail the basic motive of Christianity. In reality, condition of converted Christians worsens after conversion. Church should bring a White Paper on the matter that how much church has progressed after independence and how much progress converted Christians have made during the same period.
Church receives huge donation in the name of social service and development of disciples of the faith but hardly anything has changed on the ground. This is certainly a food for thought that where this money goes?
Poor Christian Liberation Movement (PCLM) an umbrella organization of Dalit Christians is of the view that church officials don’t want to leave any benefit currently enjoyed by them at any cost. They are not at all concerned with the betterment of converted Christians. This is why there is no hint of betterment of the status of this community even in distant future. The current system harbours inequality. That is why it will be wrong to expect that things will change in near future.
Converted Christians are looking towards you with lot of hope and we request you to take concrete step for the change in fundamental structure of church.
Yours in Christ
R L Francis
President
Poor Christian Liberation Movement (PCLM)
http://www.dalitchristian.com
Copy to:
H.E. Archbishop Salvatore Pennacchio
Titular Archbishop of Montemarano
Apostolic Nuncio
50-C, Niti Marg, Chanakyapuri
New Delhi – 110 021
Cardinal Oswald Gracias
President
Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India (CBCI)
C.B.C.I centre
1, Ashok Place
Near Gole Dakkhana
New Delhi – 110 001, India.