wfn.org | EKD speaks out on religious tensions in India

[FRANK_IMHOFF.parti@ecunet.org (FRANK IMHOFF)]

Church projects target the poor, illiterate

NEW DELHI, India/GENEVA, 25 February 1999 (lwi)  The Evangelical Church
in Germany (EKD) has urged Christians in India to disassociate
themselves from religious activities organized from the outside as well
as their use of questionable methods.

The appeal was among remarks made by the first-ever official EKD Council
delegation  to India. The 2 16 February visit was planned before the
much publicized January 23 burning to death of Australian missionary,
Graham Stewart, and his two sons, an incident that was largely seen as
an attack on Christians by radical Hindus.

However, discussions on such incidences featured during the EKD
delegation's tour of projects and talks with church and state
representatives.

Led by Council Chairperson Prases Manfred Kock, the group held
discussions with the Indian state president, Kocheril Raman Narayanan,
who gave the assurance that the government would do everything possible
to identify the perpetrators of acts such as the one involving the
Stewart family. But according to the EKD, it appeared that local
authorities did not show the necessary determination to clear up the
criminal offences committed against Christians.

India's 25 million Christians are a minority,  representing about 2.5
percent of the population.  During the encounters with the EKD
delegation, representatives of other religions, for example the Hindu
leader Swami Agnivesh, who is involved in international interfaith
dialogue, explicitly expressed their sympathy with the Christians.

EKD projects in India, the main beneficiaries of which are disadvantaged
groups such as the dalits (untouchables) and the adivasi (indigenous),
are intended to help people become self-reliant.

The delegation also met with representatives of unions, the dalits and
adivasi, entrepreneurs and adherents of other religious communities. The
delegation members were impressed by the way the "confessions pulled
together in view of the recent attacks."

According to the EKD bishop in charge of foreign relations, Rolf Koppe,
there are some 250 partnerships between congregations in Germany and
India. Through these partnerships and aid agencies, the EKD spends about
80 to 100 million DMark  (US $ 47 to 59 million) every year for projects
that mainly benefit the dalits and the adivasi. "The number of poor has
not decreased but increased," he said, as he affirmed the German
churches' continued support for the education and poverty alleviation
programs. He added that "even under pressure, the Indian churches are
not withdrawing from society but regard the sharp contrasts between the
affluent and the poor as a challenge."

On the situation of Christian churches after the wave of violent acts on
the part of extremist Hindus in the last few months, Koppe said
Christians are concerned but "do not wish to dramatize the situation."
He added that there was no "systematic persecution", but violent acts
that seemed to be politically supported by the most extreme wing of
India's governing Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

The EKD comprises most of the German Protestant churches, among them
Lutherans, Reformed and United Reformed.

Meanwhile, a report by the National Council of Churches in India (NCCI)
underscores that the local community in Baripada, among whom Graham
Stewart Staines lived and worked, introducing new concepts of
rehabilitating leprosy patients, did not complain about evangelism or
any other proselytizing activity by the Australian missionary for the
more than 30 years that he spent there.

The report by Chandran Paul Martin, the NCCI executive secretary,
communications, gives witnesses' accounts of events leading to the
burning to death of the 58-year-old missionary and his two young sons
Philip and Timothy in their jeep after attending an annual meeting of
their church in the eastern state of Orissa.

Martin cites a colleague and good friend of the late Australian
missionary who "categorically stated Mr. Graham and his family never
baptized anyone ever since he came and made Baripada his home."

The NCCI report asks whether there are political options for the church
in India and other minorities to safeguard themselves against further
atrocities.

"Do we have rights as minorities which can be protected? There seems to
be a pattern emerging nationally of Christians and their work being
targeted and, without much doubt it can be inferred that the committed
workers and people involved in empowering the poor and the voiceless
have become targets of attacks," concludes the report.

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Lutheran World Information
Assistant Editor, English: Pauline Mumia
E-mail: pmu@lutheranworld.org
http://www.lutheranworld.org/