| Church-bombing and Secularity |
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Sympathy for the Assumption Church and the innocent victims poured in from all over the world. PM Madhav Kumar Nepal visited the church the next day (May 24). Later, about 2000, including UML’s KP Oli, United Maoist’s Pampa Bhusal, and human rights’ activists, gathered. The Nepali Congress, the CPN (ML), and editorials condemned the attack. The killing had shocked Nepalis of all religions, no matter where they lived. However, some letters to editors showed the you-deserved-it attitude. Rastriya Prajatantra Party (Shamsher and Thapa) said a referendum should decide on Nepal’s secularity. Others spoke louder through silence. In reality, these collectively proclaimed, "Christians have converted people. Secularity was forced on us." Thus, it’s high time that we overthrow some myths about conversion and recommit ourselves to secularity. Myth 1. Conversion takes place only in religion. No, conversion starts after birth when a religiously "neutral" child comes to the world. (Contrary to the claim of one religion, no one belongs to any faith when born.) Parents attempt to bring up the child according to their culture and belief. At school, conversion takes place each year when the child passes; and steps into a higher standard. We admire good teachers who through their examples converted us to loftier ideals. Adolescents may ape either the actor Rajesh Hamal or the pop singer Nalina Chitrakar, thus "converting" themselves. Myth 2. Only some religions convert people. No, all religions, including atheism, and their founders convert; otherwise they wouldn’t have a following. Many times conversion takes place through the literature they produce. Perhaps, no other Indian religious teacher resisted conversion more than Narendranath Dutta, born in Calcutta on January 12, 1863. When he was 15, he joined the Brahma Samaj led by Keshab Chandra Sen. The next year, 1879, Narendra challenged Christian missionaries who were preaching in the market. His stand that day united Hindus against missionaries. (Later on, he inspired many including Dr Radhakrishnan, Mahatma Gandhi, and Indira Gandhi.) While Narendra was studying in the Scottish Church College, the principal mentioned the mystic Ramakrishna Paramahamsa, whom he accepted as his guru. Paramahamsa chose Dutta as his successor; and died on August 16, 1886. Next January, Narendra took a vow of celibacy, poverty; and adopted the name of Swami Vivekananda. His friends collected money and sent him to Chicago’s World’s Parliament of Religions, taking place on September 11, 1893. As the most eloquent speaker there, he became popular. He gave lectures in America, England, Germany, and France. He had both American and European disciples. Here comes the irony. Although Vivekananda protested when missionaries "converted" easterners to Christianity, he readily accepted western disciples to his brand of religious monism. Thus Dr C.V. Mathew claims (in Dharma Deepika, Vol. 1, No. 1, June 1995) that Vivekananda himself didn’t practise what he preached. He too converted people, as all religions and their founders do. Myth 3. Conversion is inherently bad. (Mahatma Gandhi’s opinion.) Not necessarily. We’ve seen that it takes place from birth. It’s surely uncomfortable, and thus many prefer to stick to their inherited set of values. Besides, conversion to Jesus Christ in Nepal during 1960-1990 meant one to six years in jail. Scores of Christians and at least two Muslims ended in prison during the Panchayat times. While they ruled Nepal for 104 years, the Ranas exiled Christians and suppressed Buddhists. Chandra Shamsher sent back some Kalimpong-Christians who wanted to start a school in Kathmandu. Our culture has both good and bad practices. Honouring the elderly, taking care of aged parents, and receiving guests are certainly ethics we should keep. But, one can hardly defend child marriages, polygamy, and the caste system. When reform is impossible, conversion to better values recommends itself. Sita Thapa Shrestha vows to become a suicide bomber if necessary. Since her murderous act, Kathmandu-landlords have begun to ask churches to move out from rented premises. The chief of the Nepal Defence Army (NDA) RP Mainali has threatened, through phone calls, to plant more bombs and drive out Christians from the country. He should know that no government (Roman, Soviet, Chinese, Islamic) or fanatic group (RSS, BJP) has succeeded in wiping away devoted followers of Jesus. In fact, China saw the most church-growth during and after Mao Tse-tung’s terror. When King Birendra asked Indira Gandhi what he should do about Nepali Christians, her advice was, "Leave them alone. The more you persecute them, the more they prosper!" Prithivi Narayan Shah succeeded expelling Christians in 1769 because then the church (consisting of 60, mostly-Newar converts) was quite small. However, Shah banished modern education and medicine as well. From the early 1700s and with the permission of the wiser Malla kings, the Capuchin Fathers had opened schools and clinics. Had Shah allowed them to remain, perhaps Nepal could have overtaken India in both fields. His son Pratap Singh tried in vain to bring the missionaries back, and died of a sickness they could have easily cured. (Modern education and medicine in India started only after the advent of the British missionary William Carey in 1792. Both progressed when Queen Victoria openly encouraged mission-work. In Shree Rampur, outside Calcutta where the East India Company wouldn’t allow him, Carey started the first Asian school for girls.) Shah’s expulsion of Christians certainly boosted the Nepali nationalistic ego, but hampered our country’s development. The church-bombers teach us that we can’t presume our present secularity. (In fact, the NDA shouldn’t target anyone. Didn’t the atheistic/religiously liberal political leaders, the Janajatis, Buddhists, Jains, and Sikhs demand secularity as well?) Only secularity ensures that adherents of all religions get equal treatment from the government, and church-bombers don’t like that. They want their particular religion to dominate others. King Mahendra made Nepal a Hindu state in 1960 without holding a referendum. At least our present secularity comes from the 2006-revived parliament. If the majority of the present CA members propose to hold a referendum on it, excellent. However, bombing churches and killing worshippers will turn people away from the very religion Mainali, Shrestha and others so fanatically advocate. Published in Republica on June 21 Newer...
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| Last Updated ( Monday, 22 June 2009 ) | |||
Families of the Assumption Church’s three dead and thirteen wounded will have to forgive Sita Thapa Shrestha, the bomb-planter, and Ram Prasad Mainali, her mentor. Easier said than done but still possible by God’s grace. Pope John Paul II pardoned Mehmet Ali Agca, who almost killed him (on May 13, 1981), and sent gifts to Agca’s family while the failed assassin languished in a Turkish jail. Similarly, Balan Joseph, who lost both his wife and daughter at the Assumption Church, showed (during a prayer meeting on June 7) that he had indeed forgiven the killer. Christians should continue to visit Sita, as they are doing. Only forgiveness can heal. 
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