Christians should not malign other’s faith

"In Jesus Me Can’t Die" is a DVD song in chutney style routinely heard on several of the nation’s television stations including the state-owned NCN. The singer, a certain Mr. Anil Azeez, glorifies Jesus Christ as saviour, which is standard christian belief. Clearly, the singer is entitled to his religious beliefs and has the right to practise and propagate them even if it may be on public funds. But what must be unequivocally and vigorously condemned is the provocative attack on Hindus, Buddhists and Muslims in the same song which goes on to say: "allah, krishna, buddha can’t set me free."

In a multi-cultural context and in the present environment of heightened religious sensitivities worldwide as we propagate our  deologies and beliefs we have to ensure that it is done in a way not to cause hurt to others, especially when we speak of them. Our  country is blessed with a remarkable religious and cultural diversity in which, significantly enough, Hindus and Muslims, the communities vilified in the song, together make up close to 50% of the total population. Is it not sheer reckless arrogance on the part of the singer that while proclaiming his faith he deliberately chooses to offend such a large segment of the population?

Lets we think that this is an isolated indiscretion, Mr. Azeez’s performance reveals a phenomenon quite common to world religions where the proclamation of one’s faith is concomitant with the denigration of the faith of others. As a matter of fact this tendency was
already quite entrenched among the newer religions that arose in the Middle East which seemed destined to devalue and, wherever possible, decimate, mostly by foul and violent means, earlier religious beliefs and practices.

Look, for example, at the genesis of Christianity. While many of the world’s most renowned biblical scholars are of the opinion Jesus did not say, and indeed could not have said, several of the statements attributed to him in the four gospels, the Gospel of John succeeded in making Jesus himself a Jew-hater by imputing to him some of the earliest and unambiguous anti-semitic sentiments found anywhere in Christianity.

It is also known that these Middle Eastern faiths possess three salient characteristics. According to Aravind Sharma, professor of Religious Studies, McGill University, the religions of the Middle East are conclusive, that is each will argue that it is the one
and only true religion. They are also exclusionary, that it those who do not subscribe to them are excluded from salvation, and finally they are separatist, that is, to belong to any one of them, one must not belong to another. Consequently, any attempt to present and propagate these faiths inexorably leads to confrontation with others. But confrontation is not necessary. If these Christians who denounce other faiths to promote their creed knew the history of the origins of Christianity they would realize that much of what passes for Christianity today was already prefigured in the pagan Mystery religions of the Hellenistic world. In fact once their minds are open they would come to realize that the historical thread of Christianity goes back to a much earlier time.

One recalls Sigmund Freud’s scathing iconoclastic dictum that the Bible is a ‘total plagiarism’ of Sumerian and Egyptian mythologies. In examining this connection it will be seen that the most important Christian symbol, the cross, is derived from the Hindu swastika and that every fundamental Christian dogma, from the virgin birth to the crucifixion and resurrection, owes its origins to the pre-Christian religions of India, Greece, Iran and most of all Egypt.

One of the most charming features of Christianity is the picture of Mary and baby Jesus. Yet historians tell us that Egypt and its peoples had knelt at the shrine of the Madonna and Child Isis and Horus for many long centuries before, as Tom Harpur, former Anglican priest and Professor of Greek and New Testament, University of Toronto puts it, "any allegedly historical Mary lifted a supposedly historical Jesus in her arms." Harpur further tells us that far from being an original contribution to the world of religions, Christianity was turned in the early centuries into a literalist copy of a resplendent spiritual forerunner.

He goes on to say, "there is nothing the Jesus of the Gospels said or did, from the Sermon on the Mount to the miracles, from his flight as an infant from Herod to the Resurrec-tion itself, that cannot be shown to have originated thousands of years before, in Egyptian Mystery rites and other sacred liturgies such as the Egyptian Book of the Dead."

Two British scholars, Timothy Freke and Peter Gandy, in examining the close parallels between the Greco-Roman Mystery Religions and early Christianity in the case of the beliefs, doctrines, rituals and rites based upon the Osiris/Dionysus story, the hero
is the saviour of mankind, God Incarnate, born of a virgin in a cave on December 25; he has a star appear at his birth, is visited by magi from the East, and turns water into wine at a wedding; he heals the sick, casts out demons and performs miracles; he is transfigured before his disciples, rides on a donkey into a special city, is betrayed for thirty pieces of silver, and celebrates a communal meal with bread and wine; he is put to death on a cross, descends into hell, and is resurrected on the third day; he dies to redeem the world’s sin; he ascends into heaven and is seated beside God as a divine judge. Coincidence? Clearly, the parallels are too strong to ignore! Hopefully knowledge will temper arrogance making room for humility to find a place in the heart.
 
Going back to the saviour theme, the singer’s effrontery is matched only by his ignorance, willful or otherwise, of Hinduism when he declares, " Krishna" can’t set me free." Among the contemporary, living religions of the world with an ancient root nowhere is the saviour theme more copiously depicted than in the religion of Krishna. This is precisely what Blessed Lord says in the Bhagavad Gita: I will liberate you, free you, and break the shackles of your bondage. Don’t you worry (18:66). Krishna in the Gita says, "I am the way and the destination, the goal, the supporter, the lord, the witness, the abode, the refuge, and most importantly the mother and the father" (9:17-18) and "I rescue those drowning in the ocean of birth and death" (12:7). So all that Mr. Azeez needs to do is to open his heart and even he will find redemption in the saving grace and mercy of the Lord of the Gita.

Some will argue that Mr. Azeez is expressing his freedom of speech, freedom of artistic expression. But should there be any limitation on a person’s freedom of speech, especially in a case like this? Should artistic freedom give a person the licence to inflict hurt on others? What should be the role of the TV stations, the Broad-casting Commission? And, clearly the most important question: Can Christians and others too, teach, promote, and practise their faith without directly or indirectly, implicitly or explicitly seeking to malign others? If the answer to this question is yes, then there is hope that we may still be able to live in harmony. Contemplating the consequences of the alternative is unthinkable.

Source: http://www.stabroeknews.com/index.pl/article?id=56521424

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