The rise of Christian
persecution in India has spiked so sharply that even mainstream Western media
outlets are being forced to take notice.
Of course US allied
nations like Saudi Arabia who are among the worst and most intolerant of
regimes... they get a free pass.
The Indian story is
undoubtedly more compelling due to the size of its population and the
complexity of its culture. It is a corrupt society (as is our own in the United
States) but on a different level. The corruption functions differently and is
in many ways more brazen.
And yet for all that
the country is committed (at least outwardly) to Democracy and the Free Market.
Hence the confusion
and contradiction. You can't have a democratic society without protected
minorities, free speech, a free press and the right to assembly and petition.
And yet those are the
very things an Authoritarian society seeks to eliminate. A Sacralist model like
the Hindutva of Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party
(BJP) cannot tolerate any challenge to its power let alone the ideas and
narrative that support it.
India is a potential
battlefield in what is coming to be known as Cold War II. If the Donald Trump
faction of the Establishment has their way then the focus will turn from Russia
to an intensification of the challenge and militaristic posture toward China.
India already a
committed player and longtime foe of Beijing will become polarised and
nationalism will take on a fanatical hue. The Western alliance may aid in
taking pressure off Christians but at the same time they could also become
scapegoats. If so, they are sure to face the wrath of the Rashtriya
Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) paramilitaries who even now harass and torment
believers.
There is the
additional factor of the Christians in China who are perceived by Beijing as a
potential Fifth Column. This is particularly true with regard to the
Underground Church.
Either way and from
almost every angle the Christians of Asia are sure to be caught in the middle
of the growing geopolitical struggle.
And for the Christians
living in the remainder of the Indian Subcontinent, in places like Bangladesh
and Pakistan the threat of radical Islam only grows worse each day.
It must be an ominous
time for believers in South and East Asia. The stakes are very high. Already
under pressure they face even greater hardship. I fear Western Christian
politicking and involvement will only aggravate the situation.
This is in response to you recent 2 parter on the other site:
ReplyDeleteI was talking to a friend the other day, and he was struggling with the question of 'now what?', as in what does a Christian do in life, make sense of it, etc etc. He had been a Christian for a long time, but in retirement he has been put face to face with it. How do my deeds, my thoughts and actions, do anything?
I think this is a crucial question when it comes to the masses of people that sign up for Dominionism and Culture Wars. Not only is it a lowest-common-denominator, it gives a sense of meaning and purpose. In perhaps the worst ways, it eternalizies This Age, but in a political and cultural sort of way. It's this Swedenborgian, quasi-Pagan, notion that "Heaven" is just here but better.
And in a psychological sense, it makes sense that the Graham people would turn this way. The watered-down mass-media, and then sales pitch, approach only sticks so long. Ok, I prayed the prayer, I had my conversion, now what? I'm not sure if it's common, but when I converted, within months, I had a kind of angst set in: what do I do now? My local Baptist Church seemed to basically be saying that what we had to do now was to evangelize others. I had a fire for a little while, but I ran out of steam. I started thinking, what are people joining? Evangelicalism many times end up sounding like some Mainliners who only want people to get baptized and join because the Church is inclusive. Inclusive of what? We have no idea, it's pure abstraction, and people yawn and walk away. It sounds good in our age of liberal sentiment, but it's all shallow. When money, livelihood, pleasure etc. are threatened, the doors close.
I think the 'now what' is crucial, and I don't think many people answer that question well. If we're to communicate the Gospel, it has to possess a vision of Human life and telos. Only then will the absolutism of culture-wars and Americana might dim before people's eyes as they see the incomparable radiance of Christ. I still struggle with this, but, thank God, I'm starting to see something after sometime stumbling about.
Another tragedy related to Modi's thugs the RSS
ReplyDeletehttp://evangelicalfocus.com/world/2734/Pastor_in_Punjab_State_shot_dead