It is not only politics that takes advantage of the poor, religion does that a lot, too. There are Christian missionaries who come to India, travel through villages and convert poor people to Christianity. They go especially into small villages and offer them food, clothing, education and often even money and jobs. They provide this all but with the condition that they get baptized and become Christians. In this way people have a chance to survive and come out of their poverty.
Often Hindu nationalist organizations and parties like the VHP and the Bajrang Dal publicly show their anger about these missionaries. They are angry that organizations, funded by western countries, come to India and here start converting people away from Hinduism to another religion.
What they don’t see however is that these people, those who convert to Christianity, do it simply because they want something to eat. They don’t know what or even if they will get to eat during the day. For them it does not matter at all whether they are Hindus or Christians and whether they go to a temple or a church. They can pray to Christ in the same way as they pray to Rama, once their stomachs are filled. They are not unhappy with their current religion and they are not amazed and convinced by the new religion. They have a basic need, religion comes after this. They are no martyrs of strong belief who would rather starve than leave their God and pray to another one. They think practically, parents think of their children and what they will do if they cannot afford food. If they convert, they don’t only get food, they get a perspective! They get a chance to really live a proper life instead of just struggling to survive. Isn’t it obvious why they convert?
Don’t get me wrong, I don’t think it is a good idea to convert anybody to any religion. I actually think it is pretty stupid to try and make others believe what you believe. I never try to change anybody’s belief and I would never expect that someone, whom I tell what I believe in, leaves his ideas and starts following the same way that I follow. However those Hindus with their extreme views go into the same villages where the Christian missionaries went and try to convince the people there to convert back to Hinduism. They offer them food or money and of course the villagers are happy because they got help from two sides. They simply keep on changing their religion each time someone makes them an offer. If the Christians come back, they will be happy to pray to Jesus again.
Don’t these missionaries understand that religion is only secondary when someone is hungry and worries about feeding his family? Why don’t you feed people, give them a good way to live and then let them decide for themselves what they want to believe in? Don’t you degrade your own religion if you need to use such tricks to convert people? Why do you have to bribe someone to convert to your religion? If your religion is really the best, wouldn’t people decide for it out of their free will and not because they are obliged to?
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What do you really change when you convert your religion from Christian to Hindu or Hindu to Christian or anything else? You don’t really change anything! To make a proper change, shouldn’t you right away change your whole being? Change your skin colour right along with it! Westerners are crazy to get tanned and Indians all want to be fair. So why not make a proper change and change from dark brown to white and white to dark along with your religion?
I never understood missionary work as such. There are many great organisations out there, working and helping people in poor countries, building schools, making their lives better, helping them to find work but they usually are connected to a certain faith, a certain belief. They want those people whom they helped build a school come there on Sundays to have a church service! They don’t do it for free, you have to pay with your belief! It is not right in my opinion and that is why I like to support your organisation in any way I can.
Thank you Julia for your comments and your continuous support. We do not wish our children to have any prejudice for any religion and we don’t want them to believe that they get food and education because of their belief.
Much love and thank you again!
Religion IS man made …Love IS GOD sent. Feed the hungry is serving God.
That is why Jesus supposedly have said that he will appear as a loaf of bread to the hungry!