Planting the Cross
The Pope has hurt Christianity’s cause in India
India’s militant Hindus may have found an unlikely ally in their campaign against Christians: Pope John Paul II. They do not even need to rant about the dangers of “spiritual imperialism” anymore. During his recent visit to India, the pontiff has bolstered their arguments against Christianity by openly calling for the conversion of Asia to Catholicism.
Ignoring Hindu appeals for an end to proselytizing and complaints about the 16th-century Inquisition in the former Portuguese colony of Goa, John Paul hoped that the coming millennium will see “the cross firmly planted” in Asia, just as it was in Europe and the Americas in previous millennia. The continent, he said, is “thirsting for the living water that Jesus alone can give.” The exclusionary statements play right into the hands of far-right Hindus and worsen what is already a volatile situation. In the past two years, attacks on Christians have soared, with more than 150 reported church lootings, beatings, rapes and killings. The World Hindu Council responded to the Pope’s words by vowing to “intensify agitation against the activities of the missionaries.” More violence seems inevitable.
The real danger, though, is in spreading suspicions beyond the far right. The Pope’s message threatens to alienate liberal Indians who previously dismissed the warnings of Hindu chauvinists as fanatical paranoia. After all, only 2.4% of Indians are Christians. What threat could they possibly pose? But the Pope’s statements make clear the Vatican’s expansionist agenda. And they lend credence to the longstanding complaint that Christianity’s many good works in India are meant to give it a foothold on the nation’s soul. Even Mahatma Gandhi, who was greatly influenced by the Bible, said he did not want missionaries to use their humanitarian deeds for proselytizing. “Every nation considers its own faith to be as good as that of any other,” he said in 1931. “Certainly the great faiths of India are adequate for her people.”
Perhaps not to the Catholic Church. Despite a declaration by the Second Vatican Council three decades ago that all good-willed people could be “saved” regardless of their religion, the Christian notion of salvation still relies on evangelism. Such aspirations, however, are more likely to be achieved if accompanied by a sensitivity toward prevailing social and political realities. By inflaming local tensions, the Pope has done more harm than good for Christians and their cause in India.
He could have learned the lesson of the Falungong, the quasi-religious sect now banned in China. For years, the movement had been quietly massing followers. But in April, it mobilized 10,000 of them to surround Beijing’s Zhongnanhai government compound in protest against the non-dismissal of a magazine editor who had published a critical article. The crackdown that followed was clearly an overreaction, but it was hardly surprising. A more savvy Falungong leadership would have avoided such a high-profile confrontation - and the sect would still be growing today, penetrating the country’s power elites.
Religious tenets are almost always beneficent, from the perspective of believers themselves. But if a faith is to make headway among those with different creeds, its leaders must be careful with their words and deeds. Otherwise, their efforts to promote the benefits of their religion may well backfire.