American MSM should ask American evangelicals why they are funding hate in India

New York Times and Washington Post published some pieces on conversions recently. If you did not look at the URLs, you would think these are from missionary propaganda sites like ucanews, persecution.com. Compare the pieces from a missionary propaganda website and Washington Post. See how amazingly similar the reporting is. Or New York Times report by Gardiner Harris. Or this New York Times editorial.

Lies and missionary propaganda

At the outset itself, Annie Gowen writes about the Asroi incident:

The trouble started a few months ago, when Hindu nationalists swept into a small village where several families had converted to Christianity more than a decade earlier. They held a fire purification ceremony with the villagers, tore a cross off the local church and put up a poster of the god Shiva. The space was now a temple, they declared.

The Adventist church itself published a report saying the re-conversions were not forced. Maybe Annie should go and see how her fellow Americans picture and publish proudly "crushing and burning of the false gods of Hinduism."

Annie Gowen writes:

Then right-wing Hindu groups announced a Christmas Day ceremony where they planned to welcome hundreds of Christians and Muslims into Hinduism.

Annie seems to be not aware of what Christian missionaries do during Christmas season. Christian missionaries convert others during Christmas season. In fact, Christmas season is huge for fund-raising and conversions. The evangelist Ravi Zacharias says "Christmas season presents tremendous opportunity for evangelistic outreach in India." You can see some more examples in this post and you can see how Christian missionaries hate even Hindus celebrating Hindu festivals!

Gardiner Harris in New York Times reports:

Visas for religious professionals are strictly limited

American missionaries lie and "visit" India on tourist visas. Thousands of American missionaries "visit" India every year. Read the section "foreign missionaries" in this post. Gardiner Harris is just peddling nonsense like John Dayal does. Annie Gowen quotes John Dayal in her piece. Why does John Dayal figure in so many places? Because that's his job. Organizations with which John Dayal is involved get money from foreign missionary organizations like Voice of Martyrs, Christian Solidarity Worldwide etc., Peddling bogus missionary persecution is his job.

Both Washington Post and New York Times piece quote the Delhi church incident. They do not provide any evidence. Who did it? So if something happens to a Hindu temple, should Hindus accuse Christian organizations without providing any evidence?

NYT editorial says Dalits convert to Christianity and Islam to escape caste oppression. "Dalit" Christians are petitioning Vatican that  they are being discriminated.

Gardiner Harris uses the phrase "en masse" for Gharwapsi of 200 people. What phrase has to be used for numbers like this or this*? There are thousands of evangelical organizations like these in India.

NYT and WaPo are reporting like missionary propaganda sites do. Contrary to what missionaries(or NYT and WaPo in this case) would like you to believe, Christians get preferential treatment in India.

 

Christians and Muslims get preferential treatment in India but not in USA

USA is a truly secular country. Christians in USA often fight for rights to discriminate others but are rightly denied by courts. But Christians (and other minorities) in India get special treatment because  of how Article 29 and 30 of Indian Constitution are interpreted. Let us take the public-funded St.Stephens College reserving seats for Christians. Such a provision is not there for Hindus. Or take the Right to Education law. Christian and other minority-run schools get exemptions from this law but not Hindu-run schools. Government controls Hindu temples but Churches and Mosques function autonomously. Such preferential treatment to Christians or any other group is unimaginable in USA.

 

Funding  of hate by American evangelicals

Annie Gowen writes about how a Hindu group wants to re-convert Christians and Muslims.

He said his group’s ultimate aim is to ensure that Islam and Christianity “cease to exist” in India.

Christian missionaries - both foreign and Indian - say they want to see India as a Christian nation. They want to bring "light" to the "darkness" of India. The Great Commission. Massive profiling of  "unreached" "people groups" has been done by Americans so that each "people group" can be targeted easily. Even their terminology is of colonial conquerors. USA is the largest contributor to evangelical NGOs in India according to FCRA returns. There are a lot of organizations which send millions of dollars each year. They do massive conversions. They are creating Hindu-hating people in India. Watch a couple of videos in this channel. Indian converts are addressing their American sponsors as "brothers in Christ" but call neighbor Hindus as heathens with devil mentality. When these Indian soul vendors visit their sponsors in America, they explain how they are targeting different "people groups". Why are American evangelicals funding this hate? Because evangelicals hate Hindus and anything related to Hindus. They want to harvest every soul. From foot-soldier missionaries to CEOs of multi-billion dollar companies, American evangelicals support conversions in India.

Let us take the current Power To Change India(change here means conversion) campaign going on in Bengaluru now.It is funded by Dallas-based East West Ministries. CEO of JCPenney is on its board of directors. You can see President George Bush at a dinner event. Americans are deeply involved in conversions in India. 

Summary

Instead of spreading missionary propaganda and lecturing Indian govt, New York Times and Washington Post should ask why Americans are funding hate and conversions in India? Propaganda of WaPo and NYT don't seem to be any different from this predatory pastor from Texas.

NYT and WaPo are just echoing the sentiments of this missionary. They want to convert all for the Great Commission but cry persecution when it comes to Gharwapsi. The missionary persecution complex.

*Use an anonymizer when accessing missionary website links. Some missionary websites block Indian IPs. They work in India but don't want Indians to see their websites!

What do Christian missionaries do during Christmas season?

Currently there is a discussion going on about Gharwapsi in Aligarh being planned by Dharam Jagran Samiti. This report says Dharam Jagran Samiti is seeking donations to organize Gharwapsi of Christians and Muslims. The missionary persecution industry is swinging into full action aided by Indian MSM. The Times of India report also mentions the previous Gharwapsi done in Asroi. The Adventist church itself reported there was no force in the re-conversions. Further, the Adventist church says that church had only had a maximum number of 33 numbers while Times of India reports the number of people re-converted as 72. Of course even the church's internal report does not stop MSM or "Community leader Vincent Joel" peddling fake victim-hood. Also calling Christianity samasya is problematic but calling Hindus heathens, people with devil mentality, condemning/threatening "idol worshipers" is fine.

Let us focus on the missionary part in this post. 

Every occasion is an opportunity to spread gospel and convert

For Christian missionaries, every occasion is an opportunity to share gospel and convert. It could be a wedding. It could be father's funeral. It could be tsunami. It could even be the current horrific situation in Iraq. Festivals also present "opportunities".

Hindu festivals

Shalini Manohar, COO of RZIM India and Ruth Malhotra of RZIM feel sad because Hindus are celebrating Diwali. Ruth Malhotra even takes Christian students in USA to a Hindu temple to show  'dark' 'objects of worship'. There are websites which tell how to "pray" for Hindus during Hindu festivals. Missionaries don't want you celebrate Ganesh Chathurthi. They "pray" for some of the sacred Hindu rituals to disappear. They don't even leave Tirumala Brahmotsavam. There are lots of examples for this. Let us see what they do during Christmas season.

 

Gospel outreach during Christmas season

Veenu Sandhu, Dillip Satapathy and Krishna Das write in Business Standard:

Already apprehensive, the community has been further alarmed by recent reports that the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, or RSS, plans to convert at least 4,000 Christian families, on Christmas no less, as part of what it terms as the ghar wapsi (returning home) programme to be held in Aligarh, Uttar Pradesh.

Prashant Jha also writes in Hindustan Times focusing on why Dharam Jagran Samiti chose Christmas, an auspicious day for Christians.

They seem to be surprised that this is being planned for Christmas. They seem to be not aware (or pretending to be not aware) what Christian missionaries themselves do during Christmas season.

For missionaries, Christmas season is not just for celebration but actively preaching gospel to non-Christians and convert them. This is true for slick missionaries running multi-million dollar organizations as well as the foot soldier missionaries.

1. Let us take the slick evangelist Ravi Zacharias who runs USA-based RZIM. RZIM is a multimillion dollar org working in many countries including India. It sends money to its Indian franchise and other missionary organizations via FCRA. Ravi Zacharias spoke on Dec 6th in Hyderabad.

The event is titled, “Christmas: Loud & Clear,” and it has been structured in way that enables Christians to bring their unbelieving friends and colleagues. “The Christmas season presents tremendous opportunities for evangelistic outreach in India,” said one of the organizers.

You see Christmas season is not just about celebrating Christmas but "evangelistic outreach".

2. Let us have a look at USA-based Gospel for Asia(GFA) (To access GFA links from Indian IP addresses, use an anonymizer.) which sends close to 300 Crores per year to India for conversions. It has a gift catalog for Christmas. See this page 'Sharing Christ at Christmas'. What did GFA missionaries do during Christmas 2012?

Each year during the weeks leading up to Christmas, missionaries, Bridge of Hope workers and office staff fan out and share the Good News about the Savior who was born in a stable. In one area, staff and missionaries visited a hospital and sang Christmas carols for the patients, doctors and nurses. This same group also sang carols and prayed for the people at a local military base, where they had sung and handed out Gospel tracts the year before.

 According to one GFA missionary:

Christmas becomes real when we are truly able to express the love of God and the Gospel of Jesus Christ with others

Yeah, it becomes real when you share the Gospel with others i.e, non-Christians. Simply celebrating with your friends and family won't cut it.

3. Let us take this outreach during Christmas of 2010

local church leaders decided to hold Christmas campaigns in three areas of the city. “First, 150 people came. [The] second day, more than 200 people came, and the third day, almost 500 people. So, we see hundreds are responding to the Gospel and giving their lives to Jesus.” - See more at: http://e3partners.org/india/2010/06/02/christmas-outreach-a-success-in-india/#sthash.zsTlz22A.dpuf

local church leaders decided to hold Christmas campaigns in three areas of the city. “First, 150 people came. [The] second day, more than 200 people came, and the third day, almost 500 people. So, we see hundreds are responding to the Gospel and giving their lives to Jesus.”

local church leaders decided to hold Christmas campaigns in three areas of the city. “First, 150 people came. [The] second day, more than 200 people came, and the third day, almost 500 people. So, we see hundreds are responding to the Gospel and giving their lives to Jesus.” - See more at: http://e3partners.org/india/2010/06/02/christmas-outreach-a-success-in-india/#sthash.zsTlz22A.dpuf

4. Let us take this outreach during Christmas season of 2012.

Just received some Photos from our ministry partner in New Delhi showing the turn out to a Christmas event they just held in hopes of evangelizing to an unsaved community.

Of course evangelizing with funds from foreign countries.

5. Let us take this year. A pastor from Jharkand wrote to his foreign clients:

I am grateful to you for your financial help and for your valuable prayers. Next month is a very important month when the whole world will celebrate Christmas. On that beautiful occasion, we call many poor people of our locality (about 250) and tell them why Christ had to come to this world, what that means to us, and then we explain to them how they can experience salvation through Christ.

These are just a few examples. Christian conversion is a multi-billion dollar industry. You can see more examples of gospel outreach during Christimas: here, here. A simple Google search will give you lots of examples. 

 

Summary

Christian missionaries feel sad when Hindus celebrate Hindu festivals and don't even leave their most sacred temples. They preach and convert during Christmas and other festivals. If one is worried about Christians coming back to Hinduism during Christmas, why is it ok for Christians to convert others during the same season (and throughout the year)? Of course, it is not about Christmas. It is Hinduphobia that makes English language media in India ignore the missionary menace. Asking for donations in India is a problem but not video messages for donations by Indian missionaries to their foreign masters? Calling Christianity 'samasya' is problematic but missionaries calling Hindus devils, heathen, condemning "idol worshipers" is fine. 

(Thanks to sighbaboo for the info on Adventist church story.)