Views of Dalit Christians on the Rich Christian missions

Evangelism programme should be suspended for 100 years
and funds thus saved be utilised for development and
welfare of Dalits
PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS OF MR. R.L. FRANCIS ON THE
OCCASION OF NATIONAL ASSEMBLY OF DALIT CHRISTIANS ON
AT THE SPEAKER HALL, CONSTITUTION CLUB, VITTHALBHAI
PATEL HOUSE, RAFI MARG, NEW DELHI

Church leadership has been running more than 40,000
health, educational and other social organisations in
the country. After Government of India, Church has the
largest proportion of land in the country. The Church
has some of the best educational institutions in its
control, which cater to the needs of affluent and
elite sections at the cost of Dalit Christians and
poorer sections. Even in Delhi the Capital of India,
the number of Dalit Christian children in Church-run
schools is negligible. Till today, Church has not been
able to establish or form any Educational Council for
Dalit Christians in the country. In other words, the
entire wealth of the Church is being controlled and
only by high class Christians. Christian money, their
real estate and all other means are being utilised for
the benefit of others by neglecting Dalit Christians
or poorer sections.

Church leadership opposes the policy of reservations
for Dalit Christians in missionary schools and
organisations while they have been demanding the same
from the Government at the Centre. Bishops
monopolising the Church estates are treating it as
their own property and are indulging in its
sale-purchase as per their own sweet will even without
the consent of the community. Church leadership does
not give Dalit Christians equal treatment. The amount
of funds received by the Church for the development of
Dalit Christians is never disclosed to the community
nor do they give any indication as to how this amount
has been utilised. Church Diocese or the local priests
never disclose the actual number or socio-economic
condition of Dalit Christians in their respective
areas.

However, the Church leadership has spent a lot on
Evangelism and continues to do so even now. Church
leadership ignores the welfare of Converted Christians
and adopts new measures and experiments for wooing
Dalit sections for their vested interests. At the
Durban Conference of the United Nations in 2001, the
Church of India shed crocodile tears for crores and
crores of Dalits in India. But in reality, Church was
indulging in grave injustice to their own Dalit
Christian brethren numbering over two crores.

Christian missionaries are vying with each other to
promote blind faith among Dalit Christians. Huge
gatherings of people are arranged in the name of
Evangelism and religious congregations, in which
claims are openly made that blind will see, dumb will
speak and disabled will run, just to promote blind
faith among the poor Christians. Even if one person
gets cured of his illness caused by his own mental
pressure, the incident is publicised to such an extent
that Dalit Christians fall in the deep well of blind
faith and get trapped in the vicious cycle of
exploitation of the priests. In these Evangelical
gatherings, the priest referring to the name of Christ
orders the ghost of sickness to leave the person. In
these circumstances, it becomes difficult for anyone
to distinguish between a priest and a tantrik.
RESOLUTIONS PASSED UNANIMOUSLY AT THE 4TH NATIONAL
ASSEMBLY OF DALIT CHRISTIANS ORGANISED BY POOR
CHRISTIAN LIBERATION MOVEMENT ON 6 AUGUST 2003 IN THE
SPEAKERS HALL, CONSTITUTION CLUB, V.P. HOUSE, RAFI
MARG, NEW DELHI:

I Resolution:
Demands of Dalit Christians as contained in the New
Delhi Declaration released by the Movement on 19 June
2002 should be adopted and conceded by the Catholic
Bishop Conference of India (CBCI), the National
Council for Churches in India (NCCI) and other Church
bodies immediately.
II Resolution:
This Assembly unanimously believes that Evangelism
cannot be a measurement of a societys socio-economic
development. Therefore, Evangelism programme should be
suspended for 100 years and funds thus saved be
utilised for development and welfare of Dalits and
deprived sections and creating awareness amongst them.
III Resolution:
In Church-run schools, colleges, technical
institutions and other vocational organisations,
Reservation of seats for Dalit Christians as well as
other
Dalits should be provided immediately. A time-bound
programme of action should be chalked out to implement
a meaningful education plan.

IV Resolution:
Both Protestant and Catholic Church leadership should
issue a White Paperon i) Participation of Dalit
Christians in the present Church
structure; and ii) Socio-economic condition of Dalit
Chrisitans in respective Dioceses of the country.
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