No, Christians are not persecuted in India

Chaitra Shuklapaksha 2/3, Kaliyug Varsha 5117

‘India has always been a land of acceptance of diversity. But if the evangelical activities continue unabated, there is no doubt this will cause a backlash.’

‘One exclusive ideology begets another. The hit list will spread. The more strident the evangelists, the more strident the voices for Ghar Wapsi will grow,’ says Sankrant Sanu.

A highly respected retired police officer, Julio Ribeiro, recently wrote a column saying that as an Indian Christian he felt like he was on a hit list. I respect Ribeiro’s feelings, even though, as analysis has shown(external link), these are not based on reality (external link).

There is little evidence of Christians in India being on any kind of hit list.

There is a hit list, but thankfully not with Ribeiro’s name on it. Unfortunately, I am on it, as are all non-Christian communities in India and throughout the world. This hit list is very systematically organised and is backed by vast monetary and state resources. Consider this description:

Did you know that the Sonar people of Maharashtra, India, are the primary crafters of gold and silver Hindu idols? These idols are the most powerful stronghold that Satan has upon the Hindu worshipers in India and around the world. When the Sonar people embrace the gospel of Jesus Christ, the subsequent change in their livelihood could have a huge ripple effect in the world of Hinduism. As one international Christian worker said, “When we reach the Sonar with the gospel, we will see the collapse of Hinduism.” Pray that the gospel would flow through and permeate the Sonar culture like molten silver fills a mold.’

The aim is spelled out. It is the ‘collapse of Hinduism’, and every single Hindu is a target. This quote is not from some fringe group, but from the official pages of the International Mission Board, the evangelism arm of the Southern Baptist Convention.

Southern Baptist Convention, who?

The Southern Baptist Convention was formed in the United States in 1845 mainly to create mission boards. It boasts of over 16 million members and runs 48 Baptist colleges and universities. It counts several past United States presidents among its members and its revenues from member contributions top $9 billion annually.

Then US president George W Bush addressed each of the convention’s last four annual meetings. But this is not just a Republican issue. Democrats like Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton are Baptists too.

Not convinced yet? Let me introduce you to the Joshua Project (external link), the comprehensive hit list. Here is the target map (external link), in which red stands for ‘unreached people’, the biggest target on the hit list.

As you can see from that link, India is densely red.

Just wishful thinking? Hardly. This is fully operationalised, with vast resources behind it. Global Christianity is a $250 billion+ annual revenue machine with a large number of State and non-State actors. The funding for global evangelism’s hit list is nearly $50 billion annually. That is quite a supari.

You can helpfully filter as you wish. Yes, they now have 2,412 Hindu groups (up from 1,596 in the database a decade ago) on the hit list but their goals are not confined to ‘Satanic Hindoos’ alone. Do look it up. When I did a few years ago, I found this:

‘Among the targets — the small Akha group in Vietnam consisting of a mere 3,040 people following their ethnic traditions to the largest groups — the 13 million Sinhalese who follow Buddhism — only 4% of which have yet been converted according to the Joshua database. India contains the largest number of targeted groups. Sample targets — among the Buddhists — the 102,480 Bhotias in Sikkim, and the 47,030 Sherpas, the 162,210 Tibetan Buddhists and the 8,410,800 Marathi Nau Buddhists; the 3,165,200 Bania Jains; among the Muslims –the 9,796,100 Ansaris, the 6,938,600 Sayyids, the 894,690 Faqirs and the 112,420 Ganchis.’

‘The tribal religionists are, of course, the easiest targets, many of them having already been “reached” — a remaining sample include the Mongpa, all of 850 people, following Tibetan Himalayan customs. The Sikhs are another major target — further divided into 58 groups, from the 11,581,200 Jat Sikhs to the 880 Assamese Sikhs. Among the 1,596 Hindu target groups — the 3.4 million Aroras, the 53.5 million Yadavs, the 6.9 million Nairs, the Sonar community of nearly 6.5 million people to the barely 14,000 Kashmiri Hindu Zargars.’

To each of these thousands of target groups gets assigned church planting teams, missionaries, resources, funds, media support, Bibles in their language and dubbed versions of the ‘Jesus’ film (with children’s versions), now available in a staggering 877 languages. No other global corporate multinational could come close to a marketing campaign of this breadth.

Source : Rediff