The recent comments made by the Archbishop of Delhi and the role of the church in previous elections in Nagaland, Goa makes us think whether the church is up to something mischievous. A comparative view of the role of the church in western countries and in countries like India, we find that there is hypocrisy and catholic church is deliberately pushing massive evangelization agenda because it is losing its ground in Europe.
A detailed analysis is given below:
Role of religion in politics and religious conflicts in the west:
Out of the 51 countries in Europe 33 countries (including turkey) are constitutionally secular and other countries which are not constitutionally secular have either an officially recognized religion (mostly Christianity) or give preferential treatment to the churches. For example, Switzerland is constitutionally secular and maintains a neutral position against all religions but most of the cantons in the Swiss confederacy expect Geneva and Neuchatel recognize official churches. In secular countries like Sweden Estonia and the Czech Republic commenting upon the decline in Christianity report in a global post published on June 3rd,2013.
“In Sweden, Estonia and the Czech Republic that number fell below 20 percent -although more said they believed in the existence of “some form of spirit or life force. “Forty percent of the French declared they believed in neither god nor spirit, along with 30 percent of the Dutch, 27 percent of Germans and a quarter of the British.
In last 20 years up to 2010, the Evangelical Church of Germany closed 340 churches and is considering giving up another 1,000, the news weekly Der Spiegel reported in February. Dutch churches are reportedly closing at a rate of two a week -around 4,000 remain from the estimated 19,000 built since the 13th century. From 1999 to 2010, the Church of Sweden says it lost 800,000 members.”
In America too, such a trend was observed by leading research center PEW where all sects of Christianity had observed a decline and there was a steep increase in a number of people who are unaffiliated.
The rise in religious conflicts and the effect in politics due to evangelization in India:
Christianity which came through the European missionaries had the highest amount of negative impact in the northeastern part of our country. This can be seen from the fact that in the recently concluded elections held in Nagaland and Meghalaya, the Baptist church was seen to be making political comments and had even asked the people to note for anti-Christian parties and in an unprecedented had its followers to choose between the Trishul and the Cross.
The Baptist church had sown the seeds for the formation of the NLFT a Christian fundamentalist organization which has been responsible for the ethnic violence and converting the local Hindus at the gunpoint in the state of Tripura. This trend can be observed when the demographics turn in the favor of the church. They decimate the local culture and animistic religion of the local tribes. Though acknowledging done by the missionaries in providing healthcare and educational facilities Hokishe Sema, former governor of Himachal Pradesh wrote about the cultural setback that Nagas had to face due to the emergence of Christianity.
“Everything done in connection with the tribal ceremonies and festivals was regarded as an act against Christianity. The house decoration with animal heads, which Nagas valued as their trophies of valor and, Mithun horns which were a symbol of prosperity and as well as objects of art were all destroyed. Even the wood carvings on the pillars of their houses were all ordered to be burnt. The weavings with conspicuous designs and colors and dying of the clothes and dresses for religious ceremonies was discouraged. The beautiful ornaments of great artistic and human values like cowries, ivory, scarlet hair and hornbills were burnt as they were ornaments for worshipping the spirits. The art of dancing and the colorful social ceremonies were all given up. The result is that all beautiful art and culture of Nagas disappeared”
(The emergence of Nagaland by Hokishe Sema- Pg no-54,55)
In the same book, Sema also laments about the fact that the Nagas were being westernized and they were neglecting their own culture and their own talent of weaving clothes. He adds the worst part of this was the loss of interest in their own way of life.
This shows that Christian missionaries do not stand with the secular principles and start converting people in the name of freedom of religion which is much more dangerous because this leads to the cultural extinction of a religion. In a country.
So, the desperation shown by the church in Nagaland elections is because it has lost its 160-year-old foothold in North-East.
In recent times too, comments of church in various elections prove that the Lakshman Rekha drawn around church has been breached and it has been done deliberately to stoke the Hindus.
Thus, it can be seen that whilst church is rapidly losing its popularity in secular European countries and it is just holding on in countries where the Christianity is a state religion, it is compensating this by fuelling proselytization and indulging in the political affairs of non-Christian with the help of money power, threatening and spreading misinformation through an organized chain of NGOs internationally.
