What Would You Do?

NPR's Morning Edition had a sobering story today about the persecution of Christians in Iraq. You can listen to it here, or you can read a CNN article about the same subject here.

It's not just Iraq where Christians are having a hard time, of course. Most incidents never reach the press and we never hear about them.

Nevertheless, the NY Times, that bastion of liberalism, ran a story yesterday about the persecution of Christians in India. (Last November, I blogged about the hard time Dalits have in India; the NYT story isn't about Dalits, though.) As I read the stories, I found myself wondering what I would do if faced with these situations. What would you do? It's easy to show up at church in America and sing about our loyalty to Jesus and how wonderful it is to be a Christian. The worst opposition we face is usually our own sin and self-preoccupied narcissism. But what if we faced what these Indians face? What would we do? Check these excerpted vignettes, or read the entire story here:

The family of Solomon Digal was summoned by neighbors to what serves as a public square in front of the village tea shop.

They were ordered to get on their knees and bow before the portrait of a Hindu preacher. They were told to turn over their Bibles, hymnals and the two brightly colored calendar images of Christ that hung on their wall. Then, Mr. Digal, 45, a Christian since childhood, was forced to watch his Hindu neighbors set the items on fire.

“ ‘Embrace Hinduism, and your house will not be demolished,’ ” Mr. Digal recalled being told on that Wednesday afternoon in September. “ ‘Otherwise, you will be killed, or you will be thrown out of the village.’ ”

...

Here in Kandhamal, the district that has seen the greatest violence, more than 30 people have been killed, 3,000 homes burned and over 130 churches destroyed, including the tin-roofed Baptist prayer hall where the Digals worshiped. Today it is a heap of rubble on an empty field, where cows blithely graze.

Across this ghastly terrain lie the singed remains of mud-and-thatch homes. Christian-owned businesses have been systematically attacked. Orange flags (orange is the sacred color of Hinduism) flutter triumphantly above the rooftops of houses and storefronts.

...

[A] Hindu mob in the village of Nuagaon dragged a Catholic priest and a nun from their residence, tore off much of their clothing and paraded them through the streets.

The nun told the police that she had been raped by four men, a charge the police say was borne out by a medical examination. Yet no one was arrested in the case until five weeks later, after a storm of media coverage.

...

A few steps from where the nun had been attacked in Nuagaon, five men, their heads freshly shorn, emerged from a soggy tent in a relief camp for Christians fleeing their homes.

The men had also been summoned to a village meeting in late August, where hundreds of their neighbors stood with machetes in hand and issued a firm order: Get your heads shaved and bow down before our gods, or leave this place.

Trembling with fear, Daud Nayak, 56, submitted to a shaving, a Hindu sign of sacrifice. He drank, as instructed, a tumbler of diluted cow dung, considered to be purifying.

In the eyes of his neighbors, he reckoned, he became a Hindu.

In his heart, he said, he could not bear it.

All five men said they fled the next day with their families. They refuse to return.

What would you do?

News You May Have Missed: A Joint Episcopal-Hindu "Worship" Service

If you want to know why congregations are leaving the Episcopal church, here's an article from the LA Times that should make it abundantly clear. Put simply, the Episcopal church isn't a church any more. It's an assemblage of politically correct relativists who've become untethered from the orthodox tenets of faith. Its shepherds are wolves wrapped in sheepskins.

Service Celebrates 2 Beliefs

Episcopalians hold an Indian Rite Mass with Hindus and apologize for past religious discrimination.

By K. Connie Kang, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer January 20, 2008

Hindu nun Pravrajika Saradeshaprana, dressed in a saffron robe, blew into a conch shell three times, calling to worship Hindu and Episcopal religious leaders who joined Saturday to celebrate an Indian Rite Mass at St. John's Cathedral near downtown.

The rare joint service included chants from the Temple Bhajan Band of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness and a moving rendition of "Bless the Lord, O My Soul" sung by the St. John's choir.

"This was a once-in-a-lifetime experience in worship service," said Bob Bland, a member of St. Patrick's Episcopal Church of Thousand Oaks, who was among the 260 attendees. "There was something so holy -- so much symbolism and so many opportunities for meditation.

"During the service, the Rt. Rev. J. Jon Bruno, bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Los Angeles, issued a statement of apology to the Hindu religious community for centuries-old acts of religious discrimination by Christians, including attempts to convert them.

"I believe that the world cannot afford for us to repeat the errors of our past, in which we sought to dominate rather than to serve," Bruno said in a statement read by the Rt. Rev. Chester Talton. "In this spirit, and in order to take another step in building trust between our two great religious traditions, I offer a sincere apology to the Hindu religious community.

"The bishop also said he was committed to renouncing "proselytizing" of Hindus. Bruno had been scheduled to read the statement himself, but a death of a close family friend prevented him from attending the service.

Swami Sarvadevananda, of Vedanta Society of Southern California, was among about a dozen Hindu leaders honored during the service. He called Bruno's stance "a great and courageous step" that binds the two communities.

"By declaring that there will be no more proselytizing, the bishop has opened a new door of understanding," Sarvadevananda said. "The modern religious man must expand his understanding and love of religions and their practices."

All were invited to Holy Communion, after the Episcopal celebrant elevated a tray of consecrated Indian bread, and deacons raised wine-filled chalices.

In respect to Hindu tradition, a tray of flowers was also presented. Christians and Hindus lined up for communion, but since Orthodox Hindus shun alcohol, they consumed only the bread.

During the service, the two faiths also blended practices during the handling of an icon of Jesus.

The Rev. Karen MacQueen, an associate priest at St. Paul's Episcopal Church in Pomona, who was the celebrant, carried the icon, a large painted image, during the procession. She placed it before the altar.

Then, as she and the others knelt before the icon, a second Hindu band, Adoration Chant Band, sang a hymn while the icon was anointed with sandalwood paste by the Episcopal celebrant. A flowered garland was placed on it and a lamp was lighted, a sign of Christ, the light in the darkness.

Both Hindu and Christian texts were read.

In her homily, "A Vision for Inter-Religious Dialogue," MacQueen said in both Hinduism and Christianity devotees believe that "the Divine Presence" illuminates the whole world.

MacQueen, who spent two years studying Hinduism in India, said both faiths revere "great figures who embody the divine light, who teach the divine truth."

For Christians, Jesus preeminently embodies the divine light, she said. For Hindus, she said a number of figures embody the divine light and teach the divine truth.

"To my knowledge this is an unprecedented event in L.A., California and the U.S.," said the Rev. Gwynne Guibord, head of the ecumenical and inter-religious affairs for the diocese, which initiated Saturday's project.

"My personal, prayerful hope is that it will serve as a 'model' of good will toward building up of a 'beloved community,' " she said.

There's so much that could be said in response to this article. But for now, let's stick to the issue of proselytization - also known as "evangelism" where I come from - and let's take an inventory.

Would Jesus apologize for proselytizing? ("I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me." John 14.6)

Would the Apostle Paul apologize? ("In the past God has overlooked such ignorance, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent." Acts 17.30)

Would the Apostle Peter? ("We did not follow cleverly invented stories when we told you about the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty." 2 Peter 1.16)

Jude? ("Be merciful to those who doubt; snatch others from the fire and save them; to others show mercy, mixed with fear." Jude 22-23)

Unenlightened proselytizers, all of them.

O Come, O Come Emmanu-WHO?

There are times I really love my church.

Sunday morning we saw a video about one of our members who felt led by the Lord to start an annual toy drive for a town in Kentucky that was devastated by the closure of its coal(?) mine. She's quite a dynamo, and it's amazing how much she collects from her neighborhood and beyond - it looked like at least 3 big U-Haul trucks' worth. There are ladies in the Kentucky town who were praying for help, and they never imagined it would come from a rich Atlanta suburb they probably never had even heard of. And many in the town have now been touched by the love of Christ that compelled this housewife to do something she would never have dreamed of, either.

As I watched this video, I thought how wonderful it is that I go to a church where people take the initiative to meet needs and don't just sit back and wait for the paid professionals to do something. And I also love how the church was willing to praise this venture to the congregation, even though this wasn't a "church-sponsored" outreach. That's a sign of being more concerned about spreading the kingdom of God than the kingdom of Perimeter Church, and that's a good thing.

And then, Sunday evening, I was back at church, sitting next to a new Christian during our Christmas program. This guy grew up Hindu but came to faith in Christ while working on a graduate degree here in the U.S. He moved to Atlanta recently to take a job and somehow ended up going to our church. As the program went on, we listened to songs and monologues and watched some ballet. Toward the end, he turned to me and asked, "What is 'Emmanuel'?"

What, indeed? Emmanu-El, "With us is God," "God with us." Since childhood, I've sung the song. "Emmanuel" is part of my culture, but a new term to this new believer. Shortly after his question, a singer sang about how children see Jesus as white, Asian, or black, according to what they are. And the dancers were white, Asian, and black children. I love how the Gospel is not a "Western" thing or an "American" thing, but a "World" thing. And I love how we have a number of people from around the world in our congregation. And I love how some of them have only recently met Jesus. And I love how new believers remind us of the wonder of the faith, when we "old hands" take so many things for granted. May their number increase among us.

"The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel" - which means, "God with us." -- Matthew 1.23

Dalit Defections

The Dalits of India have been receiving a fair amount of press in the last couple years. Some Christians have taken them up as a cause.

Dalits are not an ethnic group; rather, they are a sociological group (caste/class) that used to be generally referred to as the "untouchables." There are about 130 million of them in India.

Some of those 130 million are converts to Christianity. But their conversions lead to a form of persecution, and many are consequently hiding their faith. Here are some excerpts from a September 19 Wall Street Journal article describing the situation. I've cut out a lot of the article in order to keep the focus on the point that stood out to me:

MEDIPALLY, India - Every Sunday, women and children gather to pray in a tiny, whitewashed church on the edge of this southern Indian village, sitting cross-legged on blue plastic sheets as they sing Christian hymns.

The men don't dare to come. "If they are seen in the church, the officials will be informed," says Vatipally Aharon, Medipally's Baptist pastor.

Almost all the Christians here -- and the overwhelming majority across India -- hail from the so-called Dalit community, the former "untouchables" relegated to the bottom of the Hindu caste hierarchy. Under India's constitution, Dalits are entitled to affirmative-action benefits, including 15% of all federal government jobs and admissions in government-funded universities. That provides the country's most downtrodden with a way to escape their traditional occupations such as emptying village latrines, burying cow carcasses, and tanning animal hides.

But there is a catch: Any Dalit caught abandoning Hinduism for Christianity or Islam loses these privileges, and can be fired from jobs gained under the quota. The rules are enforced by vigilant local officials who keep a close eye on villagers' comings and goings.

. . .

But with India's expanding economy offering unprecedented opportunities for social and economic advancement, a great many Dalits are now turning to Christianity, attracted by benefits like education and health care that are sometimes offered by Western-funded congregations. This allows them to seek opportunities beyond the government sector, in the booming information-technology and services industries that put a premium on the Westernized outlook and English-language skills.

Much to the dismay of Hindu nationalist groups, the number of India's secret Christians has climbed in recent years to an estimated 25 million people, about the size of the officially registered Christian population.

The gains among secret Christians come despite the obvious risks: Affirmative-action benefits often mean the difference between grinding poverty and a glimmer of hope for better life.

A lanky 30-year-old with a trimmed mustache, Venkatesh Gunti was born into a Dalit household here in Medipally, a cluster of pastel-colored homes set in the rolling green hills of Andhra Pradesh state. Since his teenage years, Mr. Gunti frequently prayed in the village's Zion church, established by South African missionaries. Three years ago, he found a prized job that would have allowed him to escape the misery of rural life -- as a handyman in a government college in the town of Bhongir. Zoologist Mukesh Kumar says he was denied a job because he converted to Islam.
The job was reserved for a Dalit, and Mr. Gunti had to produce a "scheduled caste" certificate -- something he believed would be a mere formality.

But when Mr. Gunti applied for it at the local government revenue collection office, the clerk, Mr. Gunti recalls, refused to issue the document. According to reports filed by the village secretary, Mr. Gunti was a regular churchgoer and therefore no longer qualified for "scheduled caste" status. He didn't get the job and had to stay in the village, eking out a living as a manual laborer.

To gain back the affirmative-action benefits, Mr. Gunti says he had to pretend that he had reverted to Hinduism, participating in a Hindu religious festival when he knew that the village secretary was watching. Last year, the subterfuge finally worked, and Mr. Gunti was reclassified as a member of the "scheduled caste." He says he won't partake in any more Hindu rituals, but will also steer clear of the church. Mr. Gunti has yet to find a new job.

Questioned about the case, Raghu Rama Rao, Medipally's village secretary, explains that he has no choice. "This is the law -- if we'll come to know they go to church, we'll have to make an inquiry and submit a report," Mr. Rao says in his home, its outer wall sporting a poster for a Hindu nationalist organization. Mr. Rao adds that he's already showing kindness by reporting only the active churchgoers, and leaving alone those believed Christian Dalits who do not openly flaunt their faith.

Such thorough enforcement means that secret lives have to be lived throughout India's society. "If they ever find out I'm a Christian, I will lose my position, no question about it," says a Dalit schoolteacher who behaves as a Hindu when he teaches in a state school near Medipally but decorates his Hyderabad apartment with pictures of Jesus and the Virgin Mary.

"The government is forcing us to lie," echoes Prasadarao Yadavalli, a 48-year-old official in Andhra Pradesh's state bureaucracy who rose to his post thanks to Dalit quotas while hiding his Christian faith. Mr. Yadavalli says he has decided to finally come out this year, as he could no longer maintain this double life: "Whatever the consequences, God will take care of us." . . .

So, to summarize:

1. The Constitution guarantees educational and job opportunities for Dalits . . .


2. But they become ineligible if they convert to Christianity, because they lose their status as Dalits (which is a Hindu classification) . . .


3. So they pretend they're not Christians in order to remain eligible.

This bothers me. Not belonging to the Joel Osteen School of Happy Christianity, I tend to think that persecution is a natural consequence of proclaiming faith in Jesus and that steadfastness in suffering/persecution is a sign of true faith. Our American culture is an aberration, in that not many of us have to suffer for our faith in Jesus - certainly not in the way some New Testament believers did.

It's easy for me to criticize the Dalits, because I'm not in their shoes (or their bare feet). But I am sincere in my hope that if I have to choose between Jesus and a job, then I'll choose Jesus. Otherwise, my faith will be shown to have been nothing more than a faith of convenience. . . and thus, no faith at all.