India: Church run schools in Assam told to remove christian symbols and dress etc

 https://www.ucanews.com/news/church-run-schools-in-india-told-to-remove-christian-symbols/104106

India: Church vandalised, senior cop attacked by tribal mob in Chhattisgarh’s Narayanpur

 Church vandalised, senior cop attacked by tribal mob in Chhattisgarh’s Narayanpur 

https://www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/church-vandalised-senior-cop-attacked-by-tribal-mob-in-chhattisgarh-s-narayanpur-101672667879881-amp.html

India: Insecure of BJP efforts, churches in Meghalaya are getting into electoral politics

From traditionally exercising informal influence aimed at favouring particular individuals, the Church appears to be moving towards a more concerted effort to stop the BJP.

(Jan 11, 2018)

Prashant Jha
Hindustan Times, Tura/Shillong

http://www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/insecure-of-bjp-efforts-churches-in-meghalaya-are-getting-into-electoral-politics/story-Akk3ahE9YRU9IqitcRspNI.html

India: A mob of 80 attacks school and hostels run by Baptist Church situated in front of Lt. Governor’s house in Delhi

via Sabrang India

Mob attacks Christian school and girls hostel situated in front of Lt. Governor’s house in Delhi

Written by Two Circles | Published on: August 31, 2017

In yet another case of an attack on minorities, a mob of more than 80 people attacked a school and hostels run by Baptist Church Trust Association in Delhi. The mob broke the doors, overpowered the guards at gun point, locked them and even tried to enter the girl’s hostel. Police reached the point and arrested few people who were later released and a FIR was lodged only on the next day. All this happened at a stone throw distance from LG house. The motive seems to be illegally acquiring the 28 acres of land owned by the trust.



Around 80-90 people including 40-45 women barged into our premises No. 21 Raj Niwas Marg, Delhi i.e the office of Baptist Church Trust Association (BCTA) and thereafter they proceeded towards Stephen Thomas Girls Hostel, owned and managed by the BCTA and they unscrewed open the doors of the office. They over powered the security guards at gunpoint and locked them in a room threatening them to kill in case they raised any alarm.





Speaking about the incident, Mr Sumeet Nath, Secretary-Treasurer BCTA said, “The incident happened on the morning of August 17 around 7 AM and police reached the spot around 7:45 and arrested 15-20 people. We have been informed that police has verified the accused and released them same night and registered and FIR No: 229/2017 under Sections 448/453/34 the next day i.e. 18.08.2017.” The investigation has reportedly been handed over to the DIU.




The mob was led by one Rajinder Singh having the ulterior motives to grab the property. BCTA is in possession and control of the said property and around more than 200 staff members are working in BCTA and its provincial body by the name of Ms Baptist Union of North India Registered (BUNI Regd.) and the reason they chose the early hours of the morning to forcibly enter and grab the property and to steal the valuable documents and articles as at that time only security guards are present. They overpowered the security guards, broke the door locks and also tried to damage the CCTV cameras and they also pulled off the cord of the CCTV. All their acts have been fully captured and stand recorded in our CCTV footage. At that time our guards namely Sunil Jhakad, Vikas Chikara, Chhangaram, Satish Kumar, Parvinder and Lokesh and our gardener Shri Sat Narain were present, who is an eyewitness to the said incidents.




“We fear that there are many powerful people and a very big criminal conspiracy behind such a daring act, just opposite the LG house where Quick reaction teams of the police are always present round the clock due to security reasons.” Pastor. Solomon David, Secretary Treasurer, Baptist Union of North India (Regd.), further added.

Around 20-25 people from the mob forcibly entered the girl’s hostel situated at property No. 19 Raj Niwas Marg and snatched the register from the office and tore it off. When the staff members tried to resist their illegal acts, the accused persons also threatened to pull out the girls from their rooms. They also damaged the almirah in attempt to grab valuables and important documents. Few important documents were reported to be missing from the premises post incident.

Courtesy: Two Circles

India: Crosses have been desecrated, hate speeches made by Hindutva fundamentalist groups in Goa

Hindustan Times

Hate speeches made by Hindu groups, crosses desecrated: Goa on fanaticism alert

Crosses have been desecrated, hate speeches made. Fanaticism is trying to break in. There is apprehension. But Goans are determined to defeat attempts to polarise the state

Updated: Aug 06, 2017 13:23 IST

Poulomi Banerjee
Hindustan Times

Last month Goa was jolted by a spate of desecration of crosses, causing grief and alarm to the Catholic community in the state. ‘The method of destruction was the same everywhere – the base of the cross was broken by hitting it with some heavy implement,’says Father Savio Fernandes, executive secretary of the Council for Social Justice and Peace, which has been engaged in fact-finding studies into the desecrations. (Ajay Aggarwal/HT PHOTO)

It was a Saturday morning in July. Agnelo Fernandes, a retired seaman and resident of Goa’s Curchorem village was dressed to go out, but decided to call a staff member of the local church before doing so, to check with him the schedule for a Mass to celebrate the local MLA’s birthday. The committee member told him about desecrations at the church cemetery. Fernandes rushed to the cemetery – one of his daughters is buried there. “When I reached, I found bones lying near the entrance. Some crosses had been broken and niches damaged. I made my way to my daughter’s grave and the niche we had made in her memory. The granite stone covering the niche was broken. Still it didn’t strike me. Then I saw the satin bag on which I had written her name, her date of birth and the date of her death, before putting her bones in it to preserve her memory, lying on the ground. It was then that I realised that the bones lying near the entrance were my daughter’s,” he says, with barely concealed pain.
Last month Goa was jolted by a spate of desecration of crosses, causing grief and alarm to Catholics inthe state. There were also reports of a temple being vandalised. “The method of destruction was the same everywhere – the base of the cross was broken by hitting it with some heavy implement. More than 40 structures were damaged,” says Father Savio Fernandes, executive secretary of the Council for Social Justice and Peace, which has been engaged in fact-finding studies into the desecrations. In some places the headstones on the graves and niches – where families preserve the mortal remains of a departed member – were broken. Goa Police has arrested Francis Pereira, a resident of Curchorem for the desecrations and claimed that he has confessed to the crime. But more desecrations were reported after Pereira’s arrest.

The cemetry in Curchorem village, where crosses were desecrated and niches and graves broken. (Ajay Aggarwal/HT PHOTO)

The mood in Goa is one of apprehension. The breaking of the crosses is being viewed as only a manifestation of the actual danger, the danger of an attempt being made to divide Goan society on the basis of religion, the danger of the shrill communal rhetoric being projected across the nation disturbing the peace also in Goa. . “Fanatical elements are getting emboldened and empowered,” says Prabhakar Timble, former president of the Goa Forward party. Timble resigned from the party when party MLAs decided to align with the BJP after the 2017 elections.
Goa, says writer Brian Mendonca, means a “certain acceptance, a certain kind of flexibility to be able to look at life wholistically and to be able to accommodate various cultures and views.” But now “I think the Hindutva people are desperately trying to find a toehold in Goa,” he says.
In June, Goans say, inflammatory speeches were made against minorities at the All India Hindu Convention organised by the Hindu Janajagruti Samiti, allied to the Goa-based Sanatan Sanstha. Sadhvi Saraswati had reportedly made a statement that she would request the central government to publicly hang people who eat beef as a mark of social status.
In Ponda, where the Sanstha has its ashram, locals say that they know little about the workings of the organisation. “Most of their members are from outside, not Goans,” says a shopkeeper near the ashram. Another asks, “Are you a cop? The police come often to the ashram. These people are involved in many anti-social activities.” Members of the organisation have been accused in the murders of rationalists outside the state. Sanatan members had also been accused in a 2009 bombing in Goa, but were acquitted.

A Disturbing Silence

“The state government should have taken note of the Sadhvi’s speech, it should have filed a police complaint against someone who makes such inflammatory comments to disturb the peace of Goa. But it did nothing,” rues Jovito Lopes, vice president of the Catholic Association of Goa. The national mood of terror and mob-lynchings fuelled by anti-cow slaughter and anti-minority sentiments adds to the mood of apprehension in the state. Goa has had a BJP government since 2012. Most Goans admit that the government has not made any anti-minority comments: “Due to the substantial numbers ( translated as votes) of minorities, it looks like the BJP has played its political cards well in Goa and successfully steered clear of national controversies created by its national leaders,” says A Freddie Fernandes, a political scientist. But he adds, “Since the BJP has been in power in the state in 2000 and now since 2012, attempts to divide the people and break the communal harmony have been visible.”
BJP MLA and deputy speaker of the Goa legislative assembly Michael Lobo admits that even he is “hurt” by the state’s inaction against the Sadhvi’s comments. “This type of thing should not be tolerated. FIRs should be filed automatically from the police side because this can create communal tension,” he says.

A resident of Goa’s Marcaim village holds up one of the crosses in hte local cemetry that was broken. (Ajay Aggarwal/HT PHOTO)

The government’s silence has added to the commonly-held perception that the BJP is a majoritarian party.In Curchorem, a young Catholic woman who doesn’t want to be named says that when she first heard of the desecrations she felt that the BJP or a fanatic Hindu group would be behind the damage. “When the party was in power between 2000 to 2005, they had made attempts to sanitise school textbooks,” says Freddie Fernandes. Favita Dias remembers how the BJP government had in the past attempted to cancel the holiday on the Feast of St Francis Xavier. “Communalisation takes place in many ways,” says writer Amita Kanekar, “both direct like the new beef bans outside Goa (which resulted in a severe shortfall in beef supply in Goan markets), and indirect, like the false portrayal of Goan culture and history as Hindu and Brahminical. Catholic culture is portrayed as foreign, while Muslim culture (including Goa’s own Islamic past and culture) is ignored.” According to the 2011 Census, Christians constitute 25.1 per cent of the population in Goa. Muslims account for eight per cent and Hindus comprise 66.08 per cent of the population.

United Colours of Goa

Goa has a history of religion-based politics. “After Goa’s liberation from Portuguese rule in 1961 we had the United Goans Party (UGP) which mostly enjoyed support of the Catholics and Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party (MGP) which was a Hindu-majority party. While the UGP wanted Goa to be a separate state, MGP wanted it to be merged with Maharashtra. But one’s political views never influenced social relations between the communities,” says writer Damodar Mauzo. The writer remembers how he was once breast-fed by the late Goan musician Anthony Gonsalves’ mother because his own was too ill to feed him. “That was the kind of relationship the communities shared. Anthony’s sisters used to call me doodh bhau (milk brother) because I had shared their mother’s milk,” he says.

Goans of all communities are peaceful in nature. Outside forces are trying to disrupt the peace,” says Michael Lobo, deputy speaker of the Goa assembly

Goans, Hindus and Catholics, repeatedly talk of this bond, of a shared living and role in each other’s lives. But now, says Timble, the situation is not as comfortable as before. “There is a feeling among a few in the majority community that they are tolerating the minorities. If earlier only five per cent of Goans were fanatics, now the number has gone up to 15 per cent.” The emergence of competition over religious display means both crosses and gumtis are increasingly being erected along the roads, says Freddie Fernandes. “There are many crosses across Goa where even Hindus pray. Now tulsi manches have come up alongside some of them,” says Timble. And an effort has begun to institutionalise Hindu practices. “The Sanstha people tell us to worship together, rather than do our individual pujas at home. At any village fair now, you will find their stalls,” says a Goan. Dadu Mandrekar, a Dalit writer and activist, rues the RSS’s growing influence in the Bahujan community. The underlying tensions sometimes spill out in social media, where a local says, “Goan Catholics are sometimes being portrayed as anti-national and pro-Portuguese”.

On July 29, the Catholic Association of Goa and the All India Catholic Union held a meeting to discuss the Sadhvi’s speech. All-religion peace meets have been organised to dispel tensions, if any. Father Savio and Shaikh Basheer Ahmed, president of the Association of All Goa Muslim Jamaats also issued a joint statement last month against the targeting of minorities. “It is important to have these meeting now, before anything happens, rather than after. Afterwards it becomes just a post mortem of events,” says businessman Ralph De Sousa.
All this is new for Goa. “I don’t think the community feels threatened but a certain element of trust, that prevailed has been lost,” says writer Maria Aurora Couto.
Most Goans feel that the Goan tradition of peace and communal harmony will win the day, that there is little divide between people in the state. “Goans of all communities are peaceful by nature and even those who have come and settled here get moulded in its culture. It’s the outside forces who are trying to disrupt the peace. Not just the minorities, even the majority is disturbed by this. But these forces won’t be able to disrupt the harmony here,” says Lobo. His conviction does not seem misplaced as one watches a group of young Goans play football under a grim monsoon sky at the beach in Siridao. Two of the players sport saffron jerseys. “It’s the team colour of Netherlands, my favourite football-playing nation,” says one with a grin. It is the same disregard for communal politics that one finds at Da Silva’s – Panjim’s favourite cutlet joint. A woman in a salwar kameez and mangalsutra comes for a snack with a young girl in jeans. She orders a chicken cutlet for herself, but nods encouragingly at her young companion who orders a beef cutlet. Da Silva does brisk business in both.

India: Graves in the Rajapur cemetery in Allahabad found vandalised

The Quint - 25 March 2017

Christian Cemetery in Allahabad Vandalised, Crosses Destroyed

Akriti Paracer

In Allahabad, graves in the Rajapur cemetery were found vandalised, upsetting the Christian community of the city.
Community members have alleged that delinquents often trespassed the cemetery to drink, gamble and indulge in immoral activities, as Hindustan Times reported.

People have shared photos and videos of the desecrated graves on social media and the Allahabad Heritage Society has appealed to people to come forward to help restore the graves.
FULL TEXT AT: https://www.thequint.com/india/2017/03/25/uttar-pradesh-rajapur-cemetery-vandalised

India: A Kerala Roman catholic churchman at his reactionary best says Women wearing jeans, T-shirts should be drowned

India Today Television - February 28, 2017

http://indiatoday.intoday.in/video/kerala-priest-sharlo-women-wearing-jeans-t-shirts-should-be-drowned/1/893304.html

A video posted on Facebook by user Jasmine PK shows a Kerala priest identified as Sharlo, in an address, saying that women who arouse men by wearing exposing clothes should be drowned in the sea with rocks tied to their bodies.
"When I go for prayer meetings in some churches, especially during the Holy Mass, I feel like leaving because of some women who I see in front of me. I feel it's better to kick them out of the church premises," he says.

India: Right-wing group stops marriage in Church in Madhya Pradesh

newsbits.in

Right-wing group stops marriage in Church, forces couple to postpone event

Correspondent
NewsBits.in

BHOPAL: Members of a right-wing group barged into a Church and stopped a marriage in Shivpuri district in Madhya Pradesh.
As the ceremony was disrupted, the police also reached the Church.
But the marriage could not be solemnised due to the hooliganism.
The couple later agreed to postpone the marriage. Now, the wedding would be as per Arya Samaj rituals and would be solemnised in Indore. This incident occurred in a church in Shivpuri.
Avnish who belongs to Ujjain was marrying the girl who hails from Shivpuri. As Avnish's family was not happy with the wedding, he decided to come to Shivpuri for marriage at the girl's place.
The girl is Christian. As a right-wing group got wind of the inter-religious marriage, they entered the Church and forced the couple to postpone the event. The bride pleaded but it was of no use.
The police had reached the spot but took no action. Instead groom had to explain why his family members were not present. The couple later said that they would marry as per Arya Samaj rituals. The marriage would now be solemnised in Indore. 

28 February, 2017

India: Divorce granted by church run courts not legal, says Supreme Court

The Times of India

Divorce granted by church court not legal, says Supreme Court
Dhananjay Mahapatra | TNN | Updated: Jan 20, 2017, 03.29 AM IST

Highlights

- SC said that divorces granted by the church courts are not valid.
- Remarrying after such a divorce decree would be committing the offence of bigamy.

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Thursday refused to give legal sanctity to divorce decrees granted by ecclesiastical tribunals, popularly known as church courts. This means anyone remarrying after such a divorce decree would be committing the offence of bigamy.

A bench of Chief Justice J S Khehar and Justice D Y Chandrachud dismissed a four-year-old petition by Bengaluru-based octogenarian Catholic advocate Clarence Pais, who had sought legal sanctity for such decrees. He had pleaded that marriage and divorce among Catholics were governed by the church and in the absence of its recognition by law, unsuspecting men were facing prosecution for bigamy.

Additional solicitor general Neeraj Kishan Kaul said the apex court ruling in the Molly Joseph vs George Sebastian case in 1996 had settled the issue on the authority of church courts.

Kaul said the SC had ruled that "unless Divorce Act recognises the jurisdiction, authority or power of ecclesiastical tribunal (sometimes known as church court), any order or decree passed by such tribunal cannot be binding on the courts which have been recognised under the provisions of the Divorce Act to exercise power in respect of granting divorce and adjudicating in respect of matrimonial matters".

The dismissal of the petition means any Catholic man who remarries after a divorce decree granted by a church court would be committing the offence of bigamy unless his divorce was sanctified by a court decree under the Christian Divorce Act, 1869.

Pais had said hundreds of applications seeking dissolution of marriage were pending before church courts. He said, "The Code of Canon Law regulates and provides for the solemnisation of marriage by the parish priest of a church, as also declaration of nullity of marriage. The Christian Marriage Act provides for the solemnisation of marriage in a Catholic church in accordance with the provisions of the canon law and declaration of its nullity is regulated by the Code of Canon Law.

"If criminal courts, while considering prosecution under IPC Section 494 (bigamy), reject the application of canon law as the personal law of the Catholics, a very serious result will follow and hundreds of spouses under the second marriage will have to face prosecution, jail and fine. Canon law is the personal law of the Catholics of India and canon law has to be applied and enforced by a criminal court while deciding a case under Section 494 of the IPC and sanction of prosecution considered for alleged bigamy of a Catholic spouse who has married after obtaining a decree for nullity of the first marriage from the ecclesiastical tribunal."

The Centre stood firm. "In view of the provisions as contained in Indian Christian Marriage Act, 1872, and the Divorce Act, 1869, it is clear that the jurisdiction of ecclesiastical courts is excluded in the matter of divorce," it said in its reply affidavit filed through advocate R Balasubramanian.

India: Madhya Pradesh Police, Bajrang Dal stop church wedding in Satna

The Indian Express

Madhya Pradesh Police, Bajrang Dal stop church wedding in Satna
Accompanied by Bajrang Dal activists, a Kolgawan police team entered the Church of God in India and arrested 10 people, including pastor Sam Samuel and the groom’s parents.

Written by Milind Ghatwai | Bhopal | Updated: April 28, 2016

satna_map_759 A map showing Satna in Madhya Pradesh where a wedding at a church was stopped by the Madhya Pradesh police on the complaint of the Bajrang Dal (Courtesy: Google Maps)

The Madhya Pradesh Police Wednesday entered a church in Satna and stopped a wedding ceremony following a complaint by the Bajrang Dal that the bride and the groom had been unlawfully converted to Christianity.

Accompanied by Bajrang Dal activists, a Kolgawan police team entered the Church of God in India and arrested 10 people, including pastor Sam Samuel and the groom’s parents.

CSP (Satna) Sitaram Yadav said the bride was a minor as she was 10 days short of turning 18. He said the couple had converted to Christianity four years ago, but district authorities were not informed, which is a crime under the state’s anti-conversion legislation. Satna SP Mithilesh Shukla also claimed that the girl is “a Hindu and a minor”.

“Bajrang Dal informed police that members of the Kushwaha community were being converted to Christianity at the church. We registered an FIR on a complaint by the bride’s uncle,” Yadav said, adding that her father is not mentally sound. The groom, Ajay Kushwaha, 24, works with a private firm.

Besides Sections 3 and 4 of the Madhya Pradesh Freedom of Religion Act, police have invoked IPC Section 295 (A) (deliberate and malicious act intended to outrage religious feelings) and Section 14 of the Prohibition of Child Marriage Act.

Church spokesman Mariyosh Joseph called the charges false and said the bride and groom were Christians. He said the Bajrang Dal and the RSS were behind the complaint.

India: Right-wing activists attack and vandalize Raipur church in in Chhattisgarh

The Times of India

Raipur church vandalised during Sunday service
Ishita Mishra | TNN | Mar 7, 2016

RAIPUIR: Claiming it to be a function for religious conversion, alleged right-wing activists attacked and vandalized a Church in Chhattisgarh during Sunday prayer, injuring five people including two women.

Situated in Kachana colony of the state capital, a group of youth stormed the prayer hall, raising "Jai Sriram" slogans, and began attacking the worshippers. An FIR has been lodged against unidentified persons under serious sections.

According to eye witnesses, around 15 people on 8-9 bikes arrived at the spot while the Sunday prayer was going-on in the church, a red-coloured small room situated at the end of the road which further had just barren fields.

Chanting the name of Lord Ram (Jai Shree Ram), the men entered inside the church, attacked women, ripped their clothes off and also thrashed infants. Furniture and fans were also vandalized by the miscreants who warned the people who were taking part in the prayer to become Hindu.

"They began alleging that people were being converted here. They fled before police could reach at the spot. However the cops could recover three of the bikes. They desecrated the Bible and some of the pictures that were hung on the wall," informed Chhattisgarh Christian Forum President Arun Pannalal.

While the people who were observing the prayer left the spot after police's interrogation, the locals of the area seemed irritated with rounds of questions put-up by cops and media.

"Humko kuch nahi pata. Hum ghar p nahi the," rued a woman who was living in the house neighbouring the church and left inside.

There were few pair of slippers which could be seen scattered outside the single roomed-church which the locals claimed didn't belonged to either Protestant or Catholic Christians. The view of the room from the broken window pane was enough to prove that the disturbing elements were in large numbers.

The locals however praised the role of police in the incident as the cops who reached at the spot immediately after attack asked the churchgoers to continue their prayers before interrogating them.

Claiming it to be an attack on their religion, Pannalal said that it was a matter of shame for the government that minorities were being constantly attacked in Chhattisgarh. The attacks are almost half of a dozen in numbers in past two months.

"This is the sixth attack on churchgoers in Chhattisgarh in the past six weeks. We are trying to get a first information report filed," Pannalal said.

Talking to city superintendent of police Neeraj Chandrakar informed that police is trying to get the addresses of the bike owners to trace them.

"An FIR has been lodged against unidentified men under section 147 (disturbing law and order), 452 (House-trespass after preparation for hurt, assault or wrongful restraint), 295 (injuring or defiling place of worship with intent to insult the religion of any class) and 323 (voluntarily causes hurt). Medical has been conducted of those who are hurt," added the cop.

Some policemen who were guarding the locality claimed that the matter is actually of land dispute. "The church was built in an encroached land," said a policeman who refused to be quoted.

India: Opposition by the Church to adoption by single parents represents a reactionary vision of the world

Catholic church in India opposes adoption guidelines
Himanshi Dhawan, TNN | Oct 16, 2015

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Catholic-church-in-India-opposes-adoption-guidelines/articleshow/49416972.cms

Jesus is beyond insults, the faith of his followers can survive a mere play (John Dayal)

catchnews.com - 5 October 2015

Jesus is beyond insults, the faith of his followers can survive a mere play
John Dayal

The row

Catholics Bishops Conference of India has demanded a ban on the play Agnes of God

It claims the play is insulting towards nuns

John Dayal says that Christian faith has survived many schisms, it can't be shaken by a play

The culture of offence

Voicing outrage citing hurt religious sentiments and demanding bans has become common

Rather than asking for a ban, the church should have educated people about the issue

Such matters are best left to the government and bodies like the Censor Board

More in the story

The demand for a ban on Agnes of God has been slammed by Christians themselves

What happened when the government considered banning The Da Vinci Code?

In January this year, in the wake of the horrendous massacre of the editors of the French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo, Pope Francis called freedom of expression a basic human right. According to the Associated Press news agency, he implored people to speak their minds for the common good.

"I think freedom of religion and freedom of expression are both fundamental human rights," he was quoted by Reuters as saying. "Everyone has not only the freedom and the right but the obligation to say what he thinks for the common good . we have the right to have this freedom openly [but] without offending." The massacre was said to be an Islamic fundamentalist group's retaliation to sustained ridicule of the religion by the cartoonists and caricaturists of the magazine.
The limits of provocation

The Pontiff who is revolutionising the Catholic faith with his words and his actions, which include sacking the top brass of the Vatican Bank and Cardinals suspected of sheltering pedophiles, did not issue a list of what he considered "offending'.

He did say many people speak ill faith and "make a game out of the religions of others." It is this, he said, that is problematic. "They are provocateurs. There is a limit." He ruled out retaliatory violence in any form. But, again, he did not define the limit.

Come to think of it, neither does the Indian Penal Code, which has several sections on libel, hurting religious sentiments, and seeking to create discord between communities. If there were such a definitive list and if the law was implemented strictly, all too many people, including much of the membership of the current Union Council of Ministers and Parliament and the legislatures of the country, would be in jail.

Questioning dogma and the conduct of religious personnel is the very essence of reforms in any faith

By the way, some of these Sections of the Penal code, which was enacted during the British Raj, are known in Pakistan as the Blasphemy Laws. A few Christians, including the poor woman Asia Bibi, are on death row on the mere suspicion of having committed the crime.

Suspicion is a terrible thing. A Muslim artisan in Dadri, near the national capital of New Delhi, was lynched by a mob egged on by local political activists. This father of a member of the Indian Air Force lost his life because he was "suspected" to have stored beef in his refrigerator. His other son is fighting for his own life in the intensive care unit of a hospital.
Christianity has survived

It is all to the good that some terms are not defined, including ephemeral ones on dogma and doctrine, for that would foreclose all chances of evolution and reform even within religions. Reformists would be lynched. The questioning of dogma, doctrines and the conduct of religious personnel is the very essence of reforms, while leaving the kernel of faith intact.

Christianity, and the persona and teachings of Jesus Christ have survived two millennia of very close scrutiny. The Bible has undergone the processes of exegeses and hermeneutics, each sentence has been parsed, contradictions recorded. Reform movements have ripped apart old dogmas. Schisms have arisen, and died. The faith has survived.

This ability to critique and analyse religions is also important to create the democratic space where discourse becomes possible, for finding common grounds for co-existence, mistakenly called "tolerance". This also gives the opportunity to people of all faiths to weigh their options and make decisions if they want to remain in the religion they were born in, or make an adult, informed choice of the faith they want to follow.
Agnes of God

Like most, if not almost all, Christians in India, I have not yet read Agnes of God. I have also not seen the play, or the film based on it. It was shown to critical acclaim several years ago in Europe and the Americas, which can be deemed to be "Christian" countries despite the decline in the numbers of the churchgoers.

I know there have been many research papers on the subject of the religious commitment as well as the human nature of religious persons, priests and nuns or Women Religious, as we Catholics call them. I have read reviews of at least one doctoral thesis on the depiction of nuns in popular Hollywood and European cinema, covering Agnes as well as films about heroic and popular religious women.

Some argue that Europe today is permissive and does not care. But the Synod of the Family shows that it is church-going devout Catholics who are seeking, demanding, some revolutionary changes in the church.

I have the humility to know that I am not here to defend Jesus Christ. It is Christ who defends me

The president of the Catholic Bishops Conference of India, Cardinal Cleemis, has written to Union Home minister. Rajnath Singh, seeking reconsideration of government permissions to the producers to stage the play in Mumbai and elsewhere.

He has argued his case well, saying that the church is against any form of art and media that target the clergy and religious men and women of any religion, "as we believe that Indian culture respects all faith and religions". Allowing the play "will be an encouragement for such vicious minds to come out with similar plays, based on other religions, and the reaction need not be always peaceful and tolerant, leading to destroying religious harmony".

There have, of course, been many plays and films, which have portrayed the human dilemmas, including sexuality, of clergy of other faiths, especially Hinduism. Samsakara, the Kannada masterpiece, comes to mind, for one. There are others, interesting counterpoints to pious mythological film and plays. It is also true that rationalists and reformers have been murdered, and the life and liberty of others has been threatened.
The play

The Cardinal's letter has provoked an open letter from Catholic priest Fr. Jacob Peenikaparambil of the Carmelites order. Fr. Jacob writes "By staging the play Agnes of God at a few places, I don't think that people all over India are going to believe that the thousands of clergy, who are committed to a life celibacy, are fraud.

A film or a play could be a criticism of an evil, weakness or aberration in society and the intent of the author or producer could be dissuading people from committing evil. Instead of demanding a ban on the play, the Church could have used the occasion to educate the people about the issue through social media and the print and electronic media.

In fact we Christians should oppose the culture of banning books, films and plays on flimsy grounds. Our faith is not so weak that a book or play can destroy it. On the contrary such controversies can further strengthen the faith, if the leaders are able to give proper guidance to the people."

I share Fr. Jacob's point view. Personally, I too think the Christian faith I chose to follow by a conscious decision a few decades ago - though I was born in a Christian family - is strong enough to survive critique and criticism. As a Christian of the Catholic variety, I believe in miracles as promised in the Bible, and the healing ministry.

But as a student of science, I also appreciate rational inquiry. I know that while I cannot explain what was there before God, rationalists cannot explain what was there before the Big Bang. I have very high opinion of Women Religious. Not just because of Mother Teresa, but also because of Sister Valsa John, the many who have been raped in Gajraula, Kandhamal, West Bengal, Chhattisgarh and the priests murdered in Odisha and elsewhere. Their lives, their sacrifices and their martyrdom have strengthened my resolve.
Leave it to the Censor Board

In the past, particularly when there was a controversy about Dan Brown's book and the film based on it, I had to tell the UPA government that the Central Board of Film Certification should take a call on what to do. It could not call on the Christian community to make a demand for a ban. It could not use our shoulders to ban it, putting the blame on the community, pointing to the Christians as an intolerant, over reacting, fundamentalist, lot.

In the end, the film was shown with the addition of a disclaimer that was a work of fiction, which of course it was. The film went away in the blink or en eye, so to say. No one remembers it. Christianity did not suffer one whit. Agnes will not make a difference. If the director and actors have erred and have not been professionally competent, they will be booed out. And forgotten. The controversy is currently keeping the spotlight on them.

The real threat is from the Hindutva Parivar. They poison minds using criminal manipulation

The government's certification agencies and control systems will have to be transparent, fair and equitable in their decision making with standards that are uniform and do not favour one group, usually the majority one, over another. Unfortunately, more than religious groups or creative artistes and performers, it is the government that is found wanting.

I have the humility to also know that I am not here to defend Jesus Christ. I am a Christian in my belief that Christ defends me, promises me salvation. That was my view after I read Sita Ram Goel and his ilk, and that remained my view after going through Arun Shourie's fulminations in his turgid and massive volume. I, of course, do not believe in violence of any sort. That is why I oppose capital punishment; and am worried about stem cell and human genetic engineering experiments.
The Hindutva threat

The danger to Christianity, and to Islam, Sikhism, Buddhism, Jainism and other religious minorities - and perhaps mainstream Hinduism - is from religious nationalism. Especially the violent and intolerant brand practiced and preached by what is popularly called the Sangh Parivar or the Hindutva Parivar, their allies and their camp followers.

They pervert philosophy and poison minds by criminal manipulation. They emulate people from the history of Christianity and Islam, as well as from their own, to foment xenophobia. Their quest for political power demands polarisation of people and the pitting of communities against each other.

These religio-political elements pose a challenge to the Idea of India founded on secularism, democracy and republicanism. Much blood has been shed. Fear stalks many swathes of our land. The sense of impunity, the patent complicity of those in power and the instruments of the state such as the police, aggravate the situation.

We struggle against these forces. If they succeed, we will be able to survive only as an underground church, as in some other countries where political holds sway. But we have never called for a ban on the Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh or any of its progeny groups.

I cannot in my faith find reason to call for a ban on a mere play.

India: Joseph Dias claims to be offended on behalf of Mumbai’s Christians ‒ but he doesn't speak for me (Lindsay Pereira for scroll.in)

scroll.in

Joseph Dias claims to be offended on behalf of Mumbai’s Christians ‒ but he doesn't speak for me
He and his organisation want a ban on a play because it is 'anti-Catholic'. This isn't the first time he is outraged on behalf of the community.

[by] Lindsay Pereira

Joseph Dias is an angry man. He has been one for a while now, possibly because upon his able shoulders lies the burden of making sure the Christian faith in India is safe from any form of attack.

These attacks can come from anywhere, apparently. In August, 2012, for instance, they came in the form of a Hindi film called Kyaa Super Kool Hain Hum which, according to the honourable Mr Dias and the organisation he represents – the Catholic Secular Forum – outraged the sentiments of the Christian community. There was no evidence of this: no windowpanes were broken, effigies burnt, or good footwear wasted by being hurled at the filmmakers. And yet, Dias insisted, the film had upset the community.

In April 2012, the Catholic Secular Forum asked Maharashtra’s chief minister to intervene after a church was not granted permission to hold a prayer meet at Mumbai’s August Kranti Maidan. Was there no other ground available? He did not say. In January that same year, there were media reports about messages allegedly emailed to the Forum’s members, urging them to guard against “fundamentalist forces which were planning to infiltrate churches… and then pass on information attained to extremist organisations”. None of this involved the community at large. In fact, it’s fairly safe to assume that a majority were unaware of these battles being fought on their behalf.

Now, Dias is angry again. Earlier this week, he was offended by a play scheduled to be staged on October 4. Titled Agnes of God, it was written by American playwright John Pielmeier in 1979 and adapted for a movie in 1985, starring Jane Fonda, Anne Bancroft and Meg Tilly. Thirty-six years after it first saw the light of day, it managed to offend Dias. It’s “anti-Catholic,” he told The Indian Express, and an attempt to “make fast buck at the cost of Catholic faith [sic]”.

Credit: YouTube.com

Apparently, parts of the play were inspired by a real-life incident in New York. It tells the story of a novice nun called Agnes who gives birth, then insists the child is the result of a virgin conception. There is a clash between a psychiatrist called Martha, the nun and her convent’s Mother Superior. Eventually, the psychiatrist discovers that, contrary to the nun’s claims, she slept with a man. The case moves to court, where Agnes is deemed to be of unsound mind.

Agnes of God has had several successful runs around the world over the past three decades. It grapples with the eternal conflict between faith and science, one that has been raging in our country more than ever over the past year. It also looks at religion’s place in society, and questions our approach to sex – both issues of enormous importance to contemporary India.

None of this matters to Dias or the Catholic Secular Forum though, worried as they are about the play disrupting “the secular fabric”. This brings me to the name of the organisation, specifically its use of the word secular. Is it a reference to the fact that the Catholic Secular Forum has nothing to do with spiritual matters? Is it meant to signify that it isn’t bound by religious rule, or is not representative of any order? If so, how can it take offence on behalf of a community that is, in effect, bound to a religious order? Its website doesn’t explain.

What I did manage to learn from it, however, is that Joseph Dias is better known as Bro Joe, a spectacular name I recommend for anyone interested in becoming India’s first Christian rapper.

Bro Joe is the founder of the Catholic Secular Forum, has been a Christian activist for 25 years and, most importantly, is a businessman who gives 10% of his income to God’s work. The site doesn’t say when he began doing this, sadly, but points out that his generosity sorted out a whole lot of other troubles he had. It lists other achievements, many of which have allegedly been covered by the national and international media. I found no trace of them, unfortunately, probably because the only tool I had at my disposal was the most powerful search engine online called Google.

Strength of your faith

Dias was asked why the Christian community needed to protest against the play. “India is not yet culturally or socially ready for such freedoms that West or Americas have [sic],” he replied. This is a convenient and fashionable excuse to throw up these days, to blame our insecurities and prejudices on foreign influences, to hide our sexual repression under the garb of cultural protectionism, to blur the lines between nationalism and jingoism on purpose. What Dias and others like him fail to understand is that this inability to accept other voices, this denial of other questions, eventually prevents us from knowing ourselves – or our faith – better.

Paul Johannes Tillich, the Christian existentialist philosopher, had an interesting thing to say to people just like Bro Joe: “Doubt isn’t the opposite of faith; it is an element of faith.”

I can’t speak for the community, of course. I can’t comment on the play in detail either because I no longer have the option of watching it. All I can say is that we are becoming a less tolerant nation instead of a mature one that encourages questions, embraces dissent and thrives on debate.

Joseph Dias believes India is not ready for anything that makes us question a 2,000-year-old faith. My question to him is, if a play threatens your beliefs, how weak is your faith?

India: Church vandalised in Agra

Indian Today

Church vandalised in Agra
IndiaToday.in Agra, April 16, 2015 | UPDATED 13:16 IST


A church in the Cantonment area here was allegedly vandalised by unknown miscreants in the wee hours on Thursday, triggering outrage among the members of the local Christian community.

According to police, alleged miscreants vandalised St Mary's Church in Agra Cantonment's Pratabpura area in what is the latest in a spate of attacks on such institutions across the country.

An FIR has been registered at Rakabganj police station against unknown persons, they said, adding that two statues on the church premises were found damaged along with its main gate.

District and police officials reached the church in the morning to review security arrangements, police said.

Meanwhile, Christian community leaders in Agra are furious over the incident and have demanded firm action against the culprits within 24 hours.

Last month, an elderly nun was allegedly gangraped at a convent school in West Bengal by miscreants who also looted cash from its lockers. Two Bangladeshi nationals have been arrested in connection with the March 14 incident.

A cathedral premises and a missionary school where people had gathered for a religious convention were vandalised allegedly by Hindu activists in Jabalpur of Madhya Pradesh on March 20. Six persons allegedly belonging to a right-wing Hindu group were apprehended over the incident but were later let off on bail.



Read more at: http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/church-vandalised-in-agra/1/430437.html

Verdict lifting Kerala ban on 'Jesus Christ Superstar' recalls play's troubled history in India

Verdict lifting Kerala ban on 'Jesus Christ Superstar' recalls play's troubled history in India

Four decades ago, the first effort to stage the musical in India ran into a storm of protest too.
Sidharth Bhatia

The Supreme Court’s decision on Tuesday to quash a notification from 1990 preventing the rock opera Jesus Christ Superstar from being staged in Kottayam brings down the curtain on the last hold-out to a show with a troubled history in India. The court said that since Jesus Christ Superstar had already been produced all over the world and is available online, a ban, based on an order by the district collector, serves no purpose. The verdict revives memories of an earlier controversy that almost derailed India's first staging of the production four decades ago in Mumbai.

When advertising executive and theatre director Alyque Padamsee announced that he was doing a production of Andrew Lloyd Webber musical in 1974, he ran into a storm of protest. The musical had already angered religious groups in the US, who denounced some of the interpretations it contained as blasphemous, chiefly the suggestion that Jesus Christ was not the son of God but was actually nothing more than the right man at the right time. Suggestions that Judas was much misunderstood and that Mary Magdalene may have had a relationship with Jesus did not go down to well either.

As news spread of the musical being performed in Mumbai, angry letters were dashed off to the Examiner, the Catholic community newspaper. Padamsee, realising this could get out of hand, approached the head of the Church in Mumbai, Valerian Cardinal Gracias, and convinced him that he would treat Christ in “a reverential manner”.

Compromise strategies

He did that in two ways. Padamsee’s colleague in Lintas, Noel Godin wrote a special song to open the show: Mary (played by Devika Bhojwani) was to sing a tune that reiterate Christ’s divinity. (It became so popular, it is still sung in city churches.)

Padamsee also decided to change the words of a song by Judas to make it sound less critical of Jesus. In the original, Judas sang, “Listen Jesus, do you care for your race?/Don’t you see we must keep our place?” This sounded like the disciple was questioning Jesus, something that devout Catholics would have found offensive. Instead, Padamsee had Judas declare, “Listen Jesus, you do care for your race.” The Church was satisfied, since this made Judas sounded like he was completely accepting of Christ's primacy.

As an added precaution, Padamsee showed the play to a group of senior clergy and got their blessings. He needn’t have worried. When the production opened, the Examiner wrote a glowing review, even praising the interpretations: “The liberties taken could provide an intelligent Catholic of pleasant discussion. Was Magdalene in love with Christ? Did she settle for a platonic friendship? Was Judas motivated by genuine concern for the friend he adored, possibly wanted physically, but who he believed had gone too far in an ideological crusade?” wrote critic Leslie Noronha.

The shows had two front rows reserved for priests and nuns. Many of them sat with their rosaries watching the musical intently. The complaints, if any, were about the high price of the tickets (Rs 60). With rock stars like Nandu Bhende and Madhukar Dhas on stage, the musical was a grand success.

In 2014, Padamsee revived Jesus Christ Superstar with a completely new cast – barring Bhojwani, who reprised her role. This time, there was not even a whiff of controversy. Indeed, in the intervening period, several other versions of the musical had been staged (one of them featuring rocker Vishal Dadlani) without much ado. To many old timers, however, none of them ever matched up to the high standards of the 1974 original.

source: http://scroll.in/article/719157/Verdict-lifting-Kerala-ban-on-%27Jesus-Christ-Superstar%27-recalls-play%27s-troubled-history-in-India

India: Hindu fundamentalists involved in attack on Jabalpur Church (Report in Mail Today)

http://epaper.mailtoday.in/464049/mt/Mail-Today-March-23-2015#page/16/2

India: Church vandalised in Madhya Pradesh

A cathedral premises and a Catholic school where people had gathered for a religious convention were vandalised allegedly by Hindu activists at Jabalpur in Madhya Pradesh, the second incident to come to light after Saturday’s attack on a church in Maharashtra, drawing outrage from the Christian community.

No arrests have been made so far in connection with the Jabalpur incident, which took place on March 20 and the early hours of March 21, when some members of the Christian community were allegedly assaulted and threatened by members of Bajrang Dal and Dharam Sena, who attacked the school and a parsonage alleging that religious conversion had been taking place there. [. . .]

http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/other-states/church-vandalised-in-madhya-pradesh/article7020814.ece?homepage=true

India - Haryana: Church vandalised in Hissar

http://epaper.mailtoday.in/459388/mt/Mail-Today-March-16-2015#page/11/2

India: Protesting police high-handedness on peaceful demo seeking action against vandalism of Delhi churches - Press release

http://www.sacw.net/article10546.html