CHRISTIAN NEWS MAGAZINE FOR KERALA MALAYALEE CHRISTIANS FROM INDIA AROUND THE WORLD
APRIL 2008 WORLD NEWS & EVENTS
VOL:07 ISSUE:04

POPE BENEDICT EXPRESSES 'PAIN AND SADNESS' ABOUT EVENTS IN TIBET


ENI-08-0237

By Luigi Sandri

Rome, 19 March (ENI)--Pope Benedict XVI has appealed for "dialogue and tolerance" in Tibet, warning that violence will exacerbate problems, in his first comments about the situation there since the outbreak of unrest in mid-March. "I follow with great anxiety the news, coming these days from Tibet. My fatherly heart feels pain and sadness in the face of the suffering of so many people," Pope Benedict said on 19 March at the end of his weekly audience at the Vatican. "Violence does not solve problems but will only exacerbate them."

He prayed, "We ask Almighty God, the source of light, to illuminate the minds of all and to give everyone the courage to choose the path of dialogue and tolerance." Italian media had been speculating about why the pontiff had not mentioned Tibet during his weekly prayers on 16 March. Unofficial Vatican sources said it was difficult for the Holy See to say anything because neither in Beijing nor in Tibet's main city, Lhasa, are there papal nuncios representing the Vatican who could provide information.

The Vatican in recent years has been concerned about improving relations with Beijing, and Pope Benedict, since his election as pontiff in 2005, has tried to promote the situation of Catholics in China.

On 18 March, at the end of the funeral of Chiara Lubich, the founder of the Focolare spiritual movement, the former Vatican secretary of state, Cardinal Angelo Sodano, told journalists, "We are close to all, to Tibetan people as well to Chinese people. The Church will always keep the flag of human rights flying. Nevertheless, there are times to be silent, and times to speak." [288 words]

[COURTESY TO ENI AS SOURCE]

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TWO KILLED IN CLASH BETWEEN INDIAN UPPER-CASTE AND DALIT CATHOLICS


ENI-08-0219
By Anto Akkara

Thrissur, India, 13 March (ENI)--A deep-rooted caste divide among Christians in India's southern Tamil Nadu state has come to the fore after two Roman Catholics were killed at Eraiyur in the Pondicherry archdiocese due to police firing during a clash between upper-caste and Dalit church members. Marie John, a coordinator of the National Council of Dalit Christians, told Ecumenical News International that police on 9 March opened fire on the upper-caste Catholics from the Vanniar community when the group stoned police who had rushed to Eraiyur after Dalit protesters were beaten up and their houses damaged by members of upper castes.

John said the upper castes felt insulted when the Dalit Catholics began a hunger strike at Eraiyur on 7 March demanding recognition of a church they had built as an independent parish following tensions with the majority upper castes in the parish. The trouble in the parish dates back to 1999 after a disagreement in the church between upper-caste parishioners and Dalits during a funeral procession for the mother of a Dalit priest at the church.

Upper castes insisted that low-caste Dalits (who were once treated as untouchables before caste discrimination was made unconstitutional) could bring their dead to the church only through the side door of the building. "The development in Eraiyur shows that upper castes are not yet prepared to respect the rights of the Dalits and treat them as equals," John stated.

According to Hindu tradition, Dalits are subservient and carry out menial jobs for the upper castes and live segregated from them. Echoing Hindu caste practices, some Christian parishes in Tamil Nadu have separate cemeteries for Dalits and upper castes, while Dalits have to remain spectators at church activities. Dalits can be prevented from having funeral and marriage processions along main streets, an upper-caste preserve.

"This is really sad. A situation like this should have never happened in the church," the Rev. Cosmon Arokiaraj, executive secretary of the Dalit Commission of the Catholic Bishops Conference of India, told ENI. "This is a counter witness to our unity and common faith," said Archbishop Antony Anandarayar of Pondicherry and Cuddalore. "We are initiating steps to bring both parties to dialogue. Hopefully, we should be able to have common witness and unity soon," Anandarayar noted. "What happened in Eraiyur shows how deep is the caste prejudice here."

In India more than 65 per cent of all Christians are believed to be Dalits. Christians account for only 2.3 per cent of Indian's 1.1 billion people. [431 words]

[COURTESY TO ENI AS SOURCE]

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ORISSA RELIGIOUS VIOLENCE SPOTLIGHTS CASTE TENSION AND EVANGELISTS


ENI-08-0203

By Kristine Greenaway

New Delhi, 7 March (ENI)--Recent religious conflict in the Indian state of Orissa has been aided by the aggressive evangelising of missionaries from outside the region, says an official with the largest traditional Protestant denomination in northern India. The roots of the tension lie in concerns about the conversion of Hindus to Christianity and in a long-simmering dispute about the rights and benefits granted to Christian converts under India's caste system, the Rev. Enos das Pradhan, general secretary of the Church of North India, said in a recent interview with Ecumenical News International. An upsurge in evangelisation by missionaries from overseas and from southern India has further inflamed tensions in the area, said Pradhan.

In December 2007, a violent confrontation in Orissa's Kandhamal district, between Christians and members of a Hindu group, opposed to conversion, set off a wave of retaliation that resulted in extensive damage to the property of Christians at a time they were celebrating the holy feast of Christmas.

Concerns about Christian evangelisation in Orissa date back to the 1970s when anti-conversion legislation was passed by the state. Under the law, people wishing to convert to Christianity must apply to district authorities for approval to be baptised or face a fine or imprisonment. Since then seven other states have passed similar legislation. The laws in each state seek to set conditions for conversion, but penalties imposed in the form of the loss of economic and education rights following conversion vary.

Indians of lower castes, now known as Dalits, were reported to have been the targets of much of the violence in Orissa. India has affirmative action legislation which reserves access to some government jobs and education opportunities for people from economically or socially marginalised castes. Christian Dalits have, however, historically been denied these "reservation" rights on the basis that as Christians they are free from discrimination based on the Hindu caste system.

India's 160 million Dalits represent one seventh of the country's population. Fears that proposals to extend affirmative action benefits to Dalit Christians would make it more attractive to convert have led Hindus to resist proposals to extend "Reservation" rights to Dalit converts. Further complicating the situation, people known as Tribals in Orissa who convert to Christianity are allowed to retain their affirmative action "reservation" rights. Dalits and Tribals account for nearly 75 per cent of all converted Christians in India.

Indian-born communication rights specialist Pradip Thomas, a professor at the University of Queensland in Australia, said the presence of external evangelists has contributed to the rise in militant anti-conversion efforts by Hindu organisations such as the Vishva Hindu Parishad and the Bajrang Dal.

"Missionaries from South India are involved in 'spiritual warfare' using the media and Christian networks," Thomas said. With the rise in religious intolerance fuelled by Hindu extremists and Christian evangelists, there are also fears that freedom of religion in India is under attack. In a statement released in December 2007, Human Rights Watch urged both Hindu and Christian leaders to work toward peaceful reconciliation, warning that India's secular identity is at risk. "The challenge facing the Christian Church in India today is to learn how to live as strong Christians in a pluralistic society," Pradhan says. "Sixty years after Indian independence, the future of secularism is at stake."

:: Christianity, with about 26 million adherents, accounts for about 2.3 percent of India's 1.1 billion people. It is the country's third-largest religion, following Hinduism and Islam. Judaism arrived in India about 2500 years ago.

[COURTESY TO ENI AS SOURCE]

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WAIVER OF LOANS THAT SPARKED SUICIDES HAILED BY INDIAN CHURCHES


ENI-08-0197
By Anto Akkara

Bangalore, India, 5 March (ENI)--Farmers and churches have welcomed a decision by India's federal government to waive debts of US$15 billion in unpaid loans from 40 million farmers, a plight that was viewed as sparking increasing suicides among them. "This is a very bold move," Bishop Dinesh Kumar Sahu, general secretary of the National Council of Churches in India, told Ecumenical News International.

Presenting his budget for 2008-2009 in the Indian parliament on 29 February, the federal finance minister, P Chidambaram, declared that the government would write off 600 billion rupees (about US$15 billion) in outstanding loans owned by farmers with less than two hectares of land. The loan waiver was unprecedented in Indian history and is a "big relief for the farmers", said Bishop Sahu, who hoped the move would curb escalating farmer suicides, especially in the Vidharba region, which has Nagpur as its capital, and where the NCCI has its headquarters.

But government debts are not the only ones afflicting Indian farmers many of whom are heavily indebted to loan sharks charging exorbitant rates of interest. India's Hindustan Times newspaper reported that 30 minutes after the finance minister completed his budget speech, Durgadas Desapawar of Boriijara village in Vidharba's Yavatmal district swallowed a large dose of pesticide.

The Vidharba region in central India had become notorious in recent years with several thousand cotton farmers and others committing suicide after many of those who took their lives were unable to pay back their loans following crop failures. Local media reported that pressure by banks and money lenders who used muscle to recover money from defaulters was often the trigger for suicides by the farmers.

The 600 billion rupees account for only the loans farmers owe to government-controlled banks. Some economic experts say the marginal farmers owe considerably more to what has been called the "the money-lender Mafia" who charge exorbitant interest from the farmers. The move was widely hailed by social workers. Some economic experts, however, lambasted the government. They said the decision could have far reaching consequences on the banking system, especially on government banks which the federal government promises to compensate for writing off the loans, three years from now. The banking index on Indian stock markets fell more than 8 percent on 3 March following the loan waiver announcement.

"The so-called economic experts care only about the balance sheets of the banks. They are not the least bit least bothered about social equity and the hapless farmers committing suicide," John Dayal, general secretary of the All India Christian Council, told ENI. Despite the Indian economy booming with a growth rate of more than 9 percent, some economists say the new spurt has not had much impact on the lives of the 30 percent of India's 1.1 billion people who live in abject poverty. "Whatever the political motive behind this waiver, we cannot but welcome this move that eases the burden of the marginal farmers," said Dayal, who has visited areas where farmers had committed suicide.

Some political analysts said the loan waiver was a ploy by the ruling coalition led by the Congress party to woo the electorate during talk of an early national election which should be held by April 2009. [550 words]

[COURTESY TO ENI AS SOURCE]

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INDIAN BAPTIST GROUP ISSUES '10 COMMANDMENTS' FOR ELECTION


ENI-08-0184
By Anto Akkara

Bangalore, India, 29 February (ENI)--One of India's Baptist churches has issued 10 commandments for voters ahead of elections for the northeastern Meghalaya state legislature scheduled for 3 March. The commandments urge electors to vote for "able and dedicated" candidates of integrity and of good moral character, and caution church members against voting for self-seeking politicians who make empty promises.

Church members are also told to keep away from free dinners hosted by the candidates, and also not to accept or seek money for voting for the contenders, some of whom sponsor church members' trips to church conventions. The commandments carry a dictum in a Christian spirit requesting voters not to make "any negative comments on the candidates you are not supporting and completely avoid any verbal duel or fights" with others.

The 10 commandments have been issued by the Garo Baptist Convention. Its half million members are drawn predominantly from the Garo people, one of the two major tribes that account for vast majority of the 2.2 million people of Meghalaya state. Christians make up 64 percent of the state's 2.2 million people. "Our Garo people are simple and the politicians literally buy their votes for money and with false promises," the Rev. Krickwin Chandugong Marak, general secretary of the Garo Baptist Convention, which issued the list of directives, told Ecumenical News International on 29 February.

Marak said the Baptist convention had issues thousands of copies of the 10 commandments in advance of election day. [258 words]

[COURTESY TO ENI AS SOURCE]

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