wfn.org | WCC FEATURE: World's churches wrestle with caste-based discrimination

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World Council of Churches - Feature

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>For immediate release - 25/03/2009 09:24:20

WORLD'S CHURCHES WRESTLE WITH THE ANCIENT SYSTEM OF CASTE-BASED

>DISCRIMINATION

>By Maurice Malanes (*)

Recounting stories such as the alleged forced poisoning of a
young couple, speakers at the Global Ecumenical Conference on
Justice for Dalits which opened in Bangkok, Thailand, on 21 March
gave a face to the 3,500-year-old system of caste-based
discrimination, detailing practices many would consider
unthinkable in the 21st century.

Shortly after their wedding on 5 May 2003, S. Murugesan (25),
and D. Kannagi (22), both college graduates from
Puthukkooraippetti village in the southern Indian state of Tamil
Nadu, were allegedly forced to drink poisonous liquid in the
presence of scores of people, who witnessed the couple's agony.
The bodies were burnt, leaving no evidence of the gruesome
incident.

This real-life Romeo and Juliet story happened because Murugesan
was a Dalit while Kannagi was a Vanniyar with low caste status. 

Under Hindu doctrine, Dalits are considered "polluted" and
"polluting" and hence, "untouchable." Not even included in the
bottom tier of the caste system, they cannot intermarry, even
with those from the lowest caste. 

In another case, the five-year-old girl D. Dhanam lost her
vision in one eye after being beaten by a school teacher in
Kattinaicken village in Tamil Nadu's Salem district. Her mistake:
she had taken water from a tumbler kept exclusively for
upper-caste children.

These were two of many examples Bishop Dr Vedanayagam
Devasahayam of the Church of South India, Madras Diocese, cited
from detailed accounts of "systemic violence" against Dalits
compiled by Indian journalist Soumya Viswanathan.

The stories helped to give "theological and missiological bases"
upon which 95 representatives and leaders of various churches and
organizations worldwide could affirm their solidarity with the
Dalits during the 21-24 March conference.

Organized by the World Council of Churches (WCC) and the
Lutheran World Federation (LWF) in partnership with the Christian
Conference of Asia, the conference aims to reiterate the
solidarity of the global ecumenical movement with the national
and international movements and initiatives for the Dalits'
cause.

>International solidarity

Rev. Dr Ishmael Noko, LWF general secretary, expressed his
empathy with the long suffering of the Dalits, recalling how the
majority of people in his own region of southern Africa had
suffered institutionalized discrimination. 
"I can imagine a little of how it is to be born a Dalit and to
be the subject of entrenched discrimination based on descent and
traditional occupation," Noko wrote in a statement read out on
his behalf at the conference. "As a Zimbabwean, I also know what
it is like for promises and hopes of justice and a better life to
be unfulfilled or betrayed."

Noting how Dalit communities continue to suffer "despite many
noble words in constitutional guarantees and legislative
provisions," Noko strongly criticized perpetrators and
accomplices of discrimination.

"Governments that exclude a whole section of [their] own
citizens – or allow them to be so treated – are incompetent to
govern," he said. "And members of the international community
that know but ignore the issue are accomplices to the systemic
violations of human rights resulting from this unjust system." 

The Indian Constitution bans "discrimination by caste" and the
practice of "untouchability." Two special laws seek to punish
perpetrators of caste discrimination, while others prohibit
forced labour, manual scavenging and Jogni (ritual prostitution).
More than 22 national development schemes seek to improve the
economic lot of Dalits.

Much remains to be desired, however, from these constitutional
guarantees and legislations, said Rev. Vincent Manoharan of the
National Campaign for Dalit Rights, an independent human rights
watchdog. 

Noting how the international community abandoned the plea of the
Dalits for recognition of their human rights during the 2001 UN
World Conference against Racism in Durban, South Africa, Noko
stressed that the churches of the world must not turn a blind eye
to the Dalits' suffering. 

"As churches, we confess that we are all members of the one body
of Christ, the whole body sharing in the pain of just one of its
members," he added. "Can any part of the body of Christ be
considered 'untouchable'? Everyone is 'touchable' by God. No one
can be excluded from the means of grace."

The church in India, Noko said, has "a Dalit face." He explained
that members of Lutheran churches in India are predominantly from
Dalit and tribal communities. Of the 25 million Christians in
India, approximately 20 million are Dalits.

"As long as Dalits are not treated with dignity and justice,
then all human dignity is at risk," Noko stressed.

>Tasks ahead for the church and the state

Responding to the question of the Dalits' hopes, Bishop
Devasahayam, a Dalit himself, said: "We want the Indian
government to acknowledge the existence of caste-based
discrimination and the practice of untouchability."

He also urged the Indian government to study how state machinery
functions, particularly its "failure to render justice for the
Dalits through the police, the executive and the judiciary."

Devasahayam also took the Indian church to task. "We want the
Indian church to acknowledge and confess the sin of harbouring
the caste system within its ranks and programmes."

At the Bangkok conference, non-Indian participants learned that
some Indian churches also practice exclusion, with some even
having separate entrances for Dalits. Leadership positions in the
church, they heard, were dominated by non-Dalit men.

"We want the Indian church to declare its identity as the church
of and for the Dalits, in order to work towards their
liberation," said Devasahayam. "We also want the Indian church to
encourage the expression of the Dalits' culture in church life,
worship and theology."

Rev. Dr Park Seong-Won of Youngnam Theological University and
Seminary, South Korea, spoke for many church leaders around the
world, embracing the Dalits' cause during the first morning
worship service: "The Dalit issue is also our issue. Until the
Dalits are totally liberated, are we ready to say: 'I am Dalit,
too'?" 

>[949 words]

(*) Maurice Malanes is a freelance journalist from the
Philippines. Currently a correspondent for Ecumenical News
International (ENI), he also writes for the Manila-based
Philippine Daily Inquirer, and the Bangkok-based Union of
Catholic Asian News (UCAN).

Additional information about the conference:

http://www.oikoumene.org/en/news/news-management/eng/a/article/1722/historic-ecumenical-confe.html

Read more about WCC work in solidarity with Dalits:
http://www.oikoumene.org/?id=3249

>Lutheran World Federation:
>http://www.lutheranworld.org

Opinions expressed in WCC Features do not necessarily reflect
WCC policy. This material may be reprinted freely, providing
credit is given to the author. 

Additional information:Juan Michel,+41 22 791 6153 +41 79 507
6363 media@wcc-coe.org

The World Council of Churches promotes Christian unity in faith,
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Church. The WCC general secretary is Rev. Dr Samuel Kobia, from
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