John Dayal, General Secretary of All India Christian Council(AICC), frequently does propaganda to create panic among foreign missionaries. His articles frequently appear on ucanews.com, which calls itself 'Asia's most trusted Catholic independent new source'. He is frequently quoted in missionary outlets like Christianity Today, Asinews.it. AICC receives foreign funding via FCRA. There are other organizations with which John Dayal is involved which receive foreign funding. Please read this post to see the foreign funding of these organizations.
This is not the first time John Dayal is lying. Let us examine his latest lies. On October 16, 2014, ucanews published an article by John Dayal.
Foreign Missionaries
At the outset itself, John Dayal says this
A recent outpouring of support for Prime Minister Narendra Modi's development agenda by several Catholic and Protestant leaders is not likely to reduce the deep and seemingly abiding distrust the Indian political and social system holds toward what are popularly known as the "missionaries".
"Popularly known as"? See the quotes around the word missionaries. If they are not missionaries, what are they? Christian missionaries themselves use the word. I am not sure what John Dayal is trying to say.
Next he gives some numbers about foreign missionaries
In 1993, India had 1,923 registered foreign missionaries. By 2001, the number was 1,100. No official data exists for 2013-14, but estimates vary from 200 to 500. Most have lived in India for periods ranging from 20 years to 60 years.
This is far removed from the image that the Sangh Parivar and the government paints of a land teeming with Western missionaries. But since the 1960s, it has been impossible for any priest or nun to obtain a religious visa to India, and many who come on tourist visas have to sign papers at Indian consulates that they will not indulge in religious activity.
He is trying to mislead. He is giving number of foreigners living permanently in India. Who is talking about them? Has anyone seen any govt report talking of a"a land teeming with Western missionaries"? Thousands of foreigners "visit" India each year. They call it by different names like mission trips, outreach programs, pastor conferences etc., As you are reading this, there must be foreigners in India on these mission trips. Just do a search on social media with these words "mission trip India".
The second thing he is trying to mislead is on visas. India gives missionary visas and tourist visas. Most missionaries come on tourist visas. Missionaries have figured out how to lie in visa applications. In fact, I asked some missionaries on twitter on what visas they are visiting India. Most never respond. One guy confirmed he is traveling on a tourist visa but when I asked whether he knew it was illegal to do missionary activity on a tourist visa. He did not respond. To see how many missionaries coming to India, check the albums here, check here, check here. These missionaries include pastors, church planters, Bible college students etc., If foreigners are not getting visas, how are they "visiting" India and doing all the missionary stuff including miracles?
Ban on freedom of faith
John Dayal says
The absolute ban on freedom of faith of these people, who constitute 16 to 20 percent of the population, was ostensibly to prevent conversion to Christianity or Islam.
What is he talking about? Reservations for Christians/Muslims. How does not giving reservations to Christians is an "absolute ban on freedom of faith."?
Love Jihad - Christians?
On Love Jihad, John Dayal says
This[Love Jihad] is a campaign to evoke the fear in highly patriarchal feudal societies in rural India that young Muslim and Christian men are threatening the security and sexual purity of their women.
Whether Love Jihad is real or not, political or not, let us assume, for the sake of discussion, it is a campaign against a certain section of people. But who is accusing Christians of Love Jihad? This is John Dayal's routine missionary trick. Take some issue and just slip in Christians as victims. Check this piece from FirstPost.
Kerala Catholic Bishops Council (KCBC) said 2600 Christian girls also had been converted since 2006, making it a appear like a challenge faced by both Christians and Hindus.
The Global Council of Indian Christians charged that it was part of a “global Islamisation project”, and wanted Christians to be cautious.
Christians - Kerala Catholic Bishop Council, no less - complained that Christian girls were being converted to Islam.
In fact, Christian news outlet Christian Post also reported on Christians complaining about Christian girls being lured and converted to Islam.
So why is John Dayal lying? For more foreign funds?
Why do Indians have to care?
You might ask how it matters if a foreign-funded Indian missionary publishes some lies in a news outlet intended for foreign audience. The intended audience does not or does not want to check facts. It matters because John Dayal is not a fringe guy. He testified before US Congress. Read his full statement. The usual missionary stuff. His designation is shown as Member, National Integration Council, Govt. of India. India must be the only country in the world which allows someone representing the govt to slander its own country at the hearing of a foreign legislative body. That is a well-known story.
The thing about the latest lies is a Jesuit priest and member of USCIRF tweeted John Dayal's story. When I asked the priest why he is retweeting the lies of John Dayal (I provided a storify link with links to stories which tell you about John Daya's lies with just a glance.) The priest never responded. At the risk of boring the readers of this blog, I repeat: honesty is not a priority for missionaries. He is a member of USCIRF. This is a US govt agency which produces reports on International Religious Freedom. In reality, it is a Christian missionary propaganda agency, albeit funded by American taxpayers' money. See its missionary connections. Also Katrina Lantos Swett, who testified along with John Dayal against India, is the current chair of USCIRF. Read this blog how USCIRF deliberately lied about India in its annual reports. Where do foreign govt agencies get their reports on persecution in India? You know who. The lies are slowly picked up by other agencies and become mainstream.
Bogus Persecution Narrative
Building persecution narrative is a key activity in the Christian conversion industry. The standard narrative is Christians are being persecuted for their faith. In the case of India, people like John Dayal build narratives that Hindus are persecuting Christians for their faith and get foreign funds via FCRA. Christian missionaries openly insult and denounce Hindus/Hinduism. Watch this video for an example. Or see how this foreign missionary, who preyed on kids, cried victim-hood because people asked him questions on twitter. Read these two posts about language used by missionaries for Hindus. They insult, denounce Hindus/Hinduism and spread hatred and in turn cry persecution!
