A HISTORY OF CHRISTIAN LOVE IN
INDIA
By S.P. Attri (USA)
October 25, 1999
1. Christianity calls itself the religion of
Peace And Brotherhood. However, given its strong predilections of
Exclusivity and Proselytism, it is not cut out to play either
role, either as a religion of peace or as a religion of
brotherhood and miserably fails all tests of peace or brotherhood.
To qualify as a religion of peace/brotherhood, it becomes
mandatory for all Christians to tolerate and respect all
non-Christian religons, however strong and reasonable their
reasons might be for disagreeing with them and for not liking
them. But because of in-built edicts and system limitations,
Christianity cannot treat other (non-Christian religions)
religions equal to Christianity and because of these system
limitations, it stubbornly refuses to co-exist with them.
Christians boast that their religion is a religion of brotherhood,
mercy, and piety. Yes, Christianity is but this Christian mercy
and piety extends only to those who profess their religion of
Christianity. It does not extend to those who are not members of
their Christian fraternity. What kind of mercy and piety is that
which extends only to one's only family (own fraternity)? Even
thieves extend this kind of courtesy to members of their own
family. We can choose to ignore these issues or shut our eyes to
them but these differences and issues will not disappear by
shutting our eyes.
2. The leader of Christianity, Jesus Christ, erroneously referred
to as the Prince Of Peace by the Christian Clergy, had the
following words to say about peace:
I came to set the earth on fire...Do you suppose that I came
to bring peace to the world? No, not peace but division. From now
on a family of five willbe divided, three against two and two
against three. Fathers will be against their sons and sons against
their Fathers; Mothers will be against their Daughters and
Daughters against their Mothers; Mothers-in-law will be against
their Daughters-in-law and Daughters-in-law against their
Mothers-in-law (New Testament, Luke 12, 49-52).
The Prince Of Peace further advises his followers:
Sell your coat and buy a sword (New Testament, Luke 22.36)
3. After reading the above and other edicts of the Bible, it
becomes easier for men of moral sense and objective reason to
understand why Christianity is the way it is. It becomes
transparent why it is completely logical for Christians to hate
everyone who does not believe in the revelations of Jehova, as per
the Bible, and completely natural for them to create wars in the
world and to blockade the freedom of thought and belief, in order
to advance their Biblical Agenda, which they are strongly urged to
obey and carry out according to the edicts of the Bible.
Christianity can neither tolerate nor extend respect to other
religions of the world because Christianity (like Islam) did not
come to extend respect to other religions but to decimate them and
degrade and destroy all their examplars. Christianity regards
these non-Christian religions as the works of the Devil and their
followers headed for Hell and considers it obligatory upon
Christians to convert them to Christianity or eliminate them, to
save them from going to Hell. This has been the standard fare of
Christianity in all continents for centuries of Christian Crusade.
If Christianity accepted other religions and extended respect to
them, then there is no reasons for the existence of Christianity
in the world. Christianity then would simply close shop and
disappear from the world. Therefore, for Christianity to survive,
it must continue to preach and propagate its doctrine of
exclusivity and monopoly of truth. Because the Christians regard
the Bible as the word of God, no Christian has the authority to
remove or modify these edicts of Christian Barbarism., which are
the concepts of Exclusivity and the Monopoly On Truth.
4. Historically, the Christians have ruled and oppressed the
non-Christians in every continent and spread their Christian faith
with Bible in one hand and sword in the other, abducted
non-Christian women, destroyed their temples, and polluted their
sacred places. Why should they have been any different in India?
The record of their exploits in Goa and other places of India is a
living testimony to the remarkable similarity of Christianity's
operations elsewhere in the world and absolutely establishes that
the commands of the holy Book of the Christians, the Bible, to
convert the Heathen Hindus or to slay them were followed with
professional Christian thoroughness in India as well. Because of
the edicts of Christianity, Christians have a vicious hatred of
and a prejudice against everything that is not Christian. It needs
to be understood clearly that this prejudice is not fabricated by
Christians, but comes galloping straight out of Christianity and
its Exclusivity Edicts. The underlying reason for this savage
consequence is the nature of Christianity itself which like Islam,
is a gospel of hate in the disguise of a Religion Of Peace And
Brotherhood. Period!
There is not even one verse or one line of sentence any where in
the Bible which says that all religions are good or that all gods
are the same or that it is immaterial which god one worships or
that all faiths lead to God or that Christianity is not the one
and the only true faith. The concept of Exclusivity is, therefore,
engraved in concrete inside the doctrine and dogma of
Christianity.The sad part of this tale is that neither the
intellectuals nor the social commentators have the guts to publish
these distinctive attributes of Christianity (as well as of Islam)
and to spell out the truth that Christianity preaches hatred of
everything that is not Christian and that this hatred is inherent
in Christianity.
5. The objective of conversion and numerical Christian strength
has always been the top priority of the Christian Crusaders and
Christian Missions everywhere, India included. The Santhome
Cathedral of Madras (Cathedral of St.Thomas) sits on the site of a
former Hindu temple known as the Kapaleeshwara Temple. The temple
was destroyed by the Portuguese in the sixteenth century. The
Christians dragged out the Hindu priests from this temple and
murdered them openly in public as a lesson to the Heathen Hindus
of the area. They did not accept the notion that everyone has a
right to believe and practice whatever and however one wishes.
They regarded Hinduism as the work of the Devil, tainted with
Devilish beliefs, erroneous tendencies, and foolish rituals that
need liberation from all these through the message of Risen
Christ. Therefore, all examplars of Hinduism need to be erased and
decimated from the Indian land under Christian control.
The Portuguese employed a large number of Missionaries, who
prostituted their talents to repeatedly mouth their mindless
slogans to Heathen Hindus of Goa, telling them to:
a. Admit that you are a sinner
b. Ask for forgiveness for your sins
c. Acknowledge that God sent Jesus Christ from Heaven to save
sinners (Hindus like you people)
d. Accept Jesus Christ as you savior; this includes accepting that
he died on the cross to save us and that He rose from the dead
three days later
6. There is a Jesuit Maxim which reads " The Great Commision
(Matt. 28:10) commands you that all people of the world be
discipled i.e. enrolled in Christ's Army or incorporated into his
body ( which is the Church)." Because these commands are
absolute and uncompromising, the Church takes upon itself to
interpret that ends justify the means that Church may employ to
satisfy these Great Commands. Accordingly, the Portuguese Church,
that was bitten by these commands, had no desire, whatsoever at
all, to live at peace with their Hindu Breathren and Sisters in
Goa but wanted to conquer them, and went to town, relentlessly
pursuing their Christianisation Crusade, to completely destroy the
Hindu Faith in Goa.
Soon after the Portuguese soldiers conquered Goa, came the
priests. First the Franciscans came, then the Jesuits, then the
Dominicans, and lastly the Augustinians. It made the blood of
these Priestly Groups boil to see the Heathen Hindus practising
their idolatrous, polytheistic rituals. Because of these Heathen
Hindu practices, the Christian Clergy with fire in their eyes, set
about clearing this "Jungle Of Unbelief" with all the
ardor of a Christian Crusader. Just like the Mullahs of Islam,
this Catholic Clergy from Portugal, was prepared to go to any
length to spread their faith. They force-fed Goan converts beef
and pork and declared that the converts could never return to
Hinduism. They also forced converts to change their
lifestyles.They pestered the Portuguese King for specials powers
and then approached the Pope to pester the Portuguese King on
their behalf. As a result of these persistent pesterings, special
powers were granted to them in 1540 and the Portuguese Viceroy in
Goa was empowered to "destroy all Hindu Temples, leaving not
a single one of them in any of the islands of Goa, and to
confiscate the estates of all these temples for the maintenance of
the churches which are to be erected in place of these hateful
temples."
7. After five years of enforcement of Special Rules, during which
timethousands of Hindu temples had been demolished, Father Nicolau
Lancilotto reported about one island named Teeswadi, that not a
single temple was to be seen now on this island. The islands of
Bardez and Salcete were conquered next by the Portuguese and the
Frenciscans and Jesuits staked out their separate claims on these
territories, the Franciscans set to clear the "jungle of
unbelief" from Bardez and Jesuits set to work on Salcete. The
great profusion of churches standing in these two islands is
evidence of the professional thoroughness with which the Christian
Crusaders did their job. Thousands of Hindu families fled from
these islands, across the river, in fear and settled in nearby
territories ruled by Moghul Functionaries. To these frightened
Hindus, the harsh treatment of the Moslem Mullahs was far
preferable to the maniacal fanaticism of the Papal Priests, who
were foaming at their mouths. An expression in Konkani (the Goan
language) still says, to this day, "I am leaving for
the other bank." Its subtle/implied meaning to this day is
" I am rejecting Christianity."
The Hindus who did not leave the islands were not exactly shouting
to get converted. Their temples had been razed, but this did not
stop them from practising their Hindu religion in secret. More
extreme legislation was, therefore, sought and was granted to
bring the Heathen Hindus into the arms of the loving embrace of
the Christian Church. Hindu festivals were forbidden, Hindu
Priests were prevented from entering Goa, makers of Hindu idols
were severely punished and public jobs were given only to the
Christians. When these Draconian measures did not stop the Goan
Hindus from practising their Hindu religion in secret, more
extreme legislation was sought and was granted. It now became a
crime for Hindus to practise their religion at all, even in
secret, in the privacy of their homes. The penalty for violation
of this rule was the confiscation of all their property. Those who
informed on the Hindus, who violated these rules, were awarded
half the confiscated property. According to another rule, Hindus
dying without a male heir, could pass their estates only to a
relative who had embraced Christianity. The Papal Priests had a
special hatred for the Brahmins. In 1560, all the Brahmins who
were left in the islands were simply kicked out of there.
8. The Papal Clergy, who were trying to straighten out (civilize)
the Heathen Hindus and clear the "Jungle Of Unbelief,"
had no concept of the flexibility and resourcefulness of the
Hindu. It was the same Hindu who had earlier facedthe sword of
Islam and was now prepared to face the sword of Cross. Althoughall
the temples had been razed from the islands, Hindus had saved the
idols and hauled them to the dense jungles of Bicholim and Potida,
beyond the borders of Goa, and were installed in new temples over
there. Quickly, the Portuguese issued orders forbidding all Goan
Hindus from visiting these temples. Hindus, however, continued to
visit these temples secretly, beyond the eyes of the Portuguese
border Police and continued to slip through to these forest
temples to perform their sacred wedding ceremonies and their
sacred thread rites.
Angered by the Hindu by-passing of these strict Portuguese laws,
another law was passed which made it a "serious offense to
fashion or privately retain any Hindu religious object."
Hindu houses were frequently searched, without warning, to check
compliance of these laws. However, this did not reduce Hindu
resistance, creativity, and resourceful. Hindus started making
paper cutouts of their gods and these were speedily destroyed when
the need for it arose during a surprise house search by the
Portuguese Police. Even to this day, one group of the Hindus in
Panjim employ paper cutouts of the elephant god Ganesh during the
great Ganesh festival.
9. Hindu's death in Goa was no easier than his life. Hindu could
not even die in peace in Goa. The Portuguese passed a law which
out-lawed the cremation of the dead Hindus. Once again, the Hindus
started keeping the event of death secret, smothered the wailing
of the grief-stricken women, with Hindu families going about their
business as usual, as if nothing had happened and no death had
occurred. No suspicions could be aroused and known informers were
paid off. In the dead of night, a boat was loaded with firewood on
the river bank and the dead body was placed on it, with more wood
heaped on top to completely cover the body. The pyre was then set
alight and the boat pushed with the river's current and the
funeral party then quickly ran back and disappeared into the
shadows.
The Portuguese did not fail to notice this cremation, their
watch-tower guards noticed as the fire, whipped up by the sea
winds, developed into a blazing inferno, which was fast enough to
sink the boat before the guards could get to it and stop it. The
guards were only able to record one more illegal cremation in
their books.
The Portuguese had no idea of the depth of love and devotion that
Hindus had for their Hindu religion and its ancient customs. Even
those Hindus who converted to Christianity continued to practise
the rituals of their Hindu religion. Many chapels that are found
in Goan Christian homes today are direct derivations of earlier
Hindu shrines in Hindu homes. Goan Christians continued to
practise their old caste system. Christians who had converted from
high-caste Hindu families, rarely socialize with those who
converted from low-caste Hindus and the High-caste Christians
never intermarry with Low-caste Christians to this day. Many
High-caste Christians continue to give annual donations to Hindu
temples established beyond the Portuguese territory by the Hindus
who fled from Goa.
Saint Francis Xavier, who enforced these harsh measures,
considered Hindus as Heathens/Pagans, who were lucky enough to
have received Christ's Mercy. Goan Christians need to reflect on
the persecution that Francis Xavier performed on their ancestors
in Goa, while they continue to host his remains.
10. As if enough punishment had not been inflicted on the Goan
Hindus, the authorities in Lisbon as they got going on the
Inquisition, had a special treat/treatment for the Goans. Francis
Xavier was the most important person to request Inquisition in Goa
but he was not the only one. The Holy Terror of Inquistion was
directed not against the stubborn Hindus who resisted Christianity
but against those who had accepted Christianity but were suspected
of not observing the Christian rites with appropriate enthusiasm
and rigorous thoroughness and were suspected of covertly
practising their old Hindu faith. The Dominicans were the most
keener enforcers of Inquisition than the other orders and they
tracked down "The Backsliders" or those who woshipped
their cutout idols and conducted their secret cremations. These
Backsliders were burned alive. The lofty title of Auto-da-fe was
given to this inhuman practice and the Portuguese Viceroy
personally attended these Auto-da-fe ceremonies with his entire
retinue, and with great pomp and show.
11. How was the Holy Terror (Inquisition) conducted? The
inquisition was set as a tribunal, headed by a judge, sent to Goa
from Portugal and was assisted by two judicial henchmen. The judge
was answerable to no one except to Lisbon and handed down
punishments as he saw fit. The Inquisition Laws filled 230 pages
and the palace where the Inquisition was conducted was known as
the Big House and the Inquisition proceedings were always
conducted behind closed shutters and closed doors. The screams of
agony of the culprits ( men, women, and children) could be heard
in the streets, in the stillness of the night, as they were
brutally interrogated, flogged, and slowly dismembered in front of
their relatives. Eyelids were sliced off and extremities were
amputated carefully, a person could remain conscious even though
the only thing that remained was his torso and a head. Male
genitals was removed and burned and wives were forced to watch
this. Breasts were hacked off and vaginas penetrated by swords and
husbands were forced to watch this subhuman punishment. The Big
House became a symbol of absolute fear and terror. So harsh and
notorious was the Inquisition in Goa, that word of its brutality
and horrors reached Lisbon but nothing was done to stop this
notoriety and escalating barbarity and it continued for two
hundred more years. No body knows the exact number of Goans
subjected to these diabolical tortures, but perhaps runs into
hundreds of thousands, may be even more. The abominations of
Inquistions continued until a brief respite was given in 1774 but
four years later, the Inquisition was introduced again and it
continued un-interruptly until 1812. At that point in time, in the
year of 1812, the British put pressure on the Portuguese to put an
end to the terror of Inquisition and the presence of British
troops in Goa enforced the British desire. Also the Portuguese
power at this time was declining and they could not fight the
British. The palace of the Grand Inquisitor, the Big House, was
demolished and no trace of it remains today, which might remind
someone of Inquistions and the horrors inside this Big House that
their great saint Francis Xavier had commenced.
The great glee of the Christian Butcher, known as Saint Francis
Xavier, resulting from the conduct of Inquistion, can be seen from
the following statement that he made: "When all Goans are
baptized, and when I see that all the temples of their false gods(
Hindu gods) have been destroyed and idols have been broken into
pieces, then I can give you no idea of the joy that I feel seeing
this done." Saint Francis Xavier (1506-1552).
12. What about the British approach towards Christianizing India?
Though not as head-strong as the Portuguese, the British did help
their Christian Missionaries as much as their diplomacy allowed.
Lord Palmerston, the Prime Minister, stated in the British
Parliament, that "it is in our own interest to promote the
diffusion of Christianity as far as possible throughout the length
and breadth of India. Every additional Indian Christian is an
additional bond of union and a source of strength to the British
Empire. They are worth far more to the British Empire than all
those civil servants, soldiers, judges, and governors of
India."
Sir Richard Temple, the Finance Minister and Governor of Bengal
and Bombay Presidencies, told the Baptist Missionary Society in
London in 1883 that, there is a large population of aborgines in
India, they are a people who are outside caste, who do not belong
to any old established religion, who are not under the influence
of bigoted and hereditary superstitions. These aborgines offer a
surface like a clean paper upon which the Christian Missionaries
can make a mark. As they attach to Christianity, they will form a
nucleus around which the British power can gather in India.
Was the "tribal religion" really separate from Hinduism?
Not at all. It was the mischief of the British rulers and
missionaries to label these Hindu "Vanavasis" as
animists and detach them from the Hindu Society. The 1901 census
noted in its report that "the dividing line between Hinduism
and Animism is uncertain". The 1921 census noted that it is
never possible to say where Animism begins and Hinduism ends. The
1931 census abandoned the term "Animism" and replaced it
by a new category, "tribal religions".
V.J. Middleton in his thesis for the Fuller Theological Seminary
makes a statement that Hinduism pervades practically every tribal
religion of India. Rev. Chhangte Lal Hminga himself admits that
the Mizos knew the story of Rama and Sita. At the foot of the
Lushai (Mizo) hills, rudely carved idols of a God sitting
cross-legged and a goddess standing as well as pagoda-like
buildings have been found toward the close of the 19th century.
The Mizos believed in life after death.
Inspite of these inhuman punishments, the resistance to
Christianity continued and the Goan Christians continued to
practise the ancient rituals and taboos of their old Hindu faith.
Frustrated by their inability to shove Christianity down the
throats of Goan Hindus, the Portuguese started to destroy the
Konkani (the Goan Language) language as it was suspected to
contain the percepts and doctrines of idolatry and started burning
everything written in Konkani. Concurrently, the Portuguese
started teaching Portuguese and Latin to Goans in schools. But
very few Goans attained any proficiency in these two languages to
grasp even the basics of Christianity and in fact found them
perplexing and bizarre. Fed up with the Hindu intransigence, the
Christian Clergy decided to go back to Inquisition and really
start the reign of terror to frighten the savage Hindus into
submission.
13.& nbsp; How are the Christian Missionaries operating
presently in India? A typical Christian Missionary goes to the
tribals of India and tells them they are animalists. These people
have lived for thousands of years in India and have followed their
tribalist rituals undisturbed for milleniums. Hinduism never
called them animalist. But the moment the Christian Missionary
sees them, he labels them as & quot; Animalist & quot; and
starts working for the demolition of their culture and religion.
Every single day, the Christian Missionaries are touting sermons
like the following & nbsp; all over India: & quot;These
Hindu Heathens have their idols and their superstitions, their
idol-bearing temples and shrines, where they conduct their noisy
and foolish rituals and ceremonies. They generate a lot of evil.
They are totally ignorant that Jesus Christ came to overcome
death. There is a great need to propagate the Christian Gospel
amongst them. & quot;
If Hindus get angry at these open insults, then the Christians and
their Christian press labels the Hindus as Communalists. They
never reported the murder of thousands of non-Christians by the
Christians in the states of Nagaland and Mizoram in India
(remember the Christians do not regard these non-Christian people
anything like the best people and consider that they don't even
have the right to exist). Hence the murder of these non-Christian
people did not even merit to make the news in the Western Press.
What the Christian Crusaders are doing in North-East India is a
perfect example of Cultural Genocide of the Tribal People of
India at the hands of the Christian Missionaries. The Christian
Missionaries are abolishing the music and dance of the Hindu
Tribalists and are replacing these with Western Music and Dance.
All the tribal rituals and deities have been destroyed in the
states of Nagaland and Mizoram (the tribalists there have been
told these are the works of the Devil) and replaced with Christian
Examplars. These tribalists are also people of dark skin and the
Christian Missionaries are determined to uproot their culture
(which they regard as the culture of the Devil) all the way
through. Many many more details can be cited of Christianity's
Rough and Tumble Tactics of Christian Barbarity but it is time to
sum up everything.
14. To sum up, Christianity today is just as Exclusivist as it was
in the Middle Ages. It is a traffic in barbarism, in the pursuit
of delivering souls to their Exclusive Prophet. Its barbaric
empire continues to enroll members, exactly the same way it has
been doing from Day One on of its existence. When people tell me
that Christianity will change, I tell them: Yes, it will change,
IT WILL ONLY GET WORSE.
Arise Hindus!
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