wfn.org | LWI 2009-016 World's Churches Wrestle with the Ancient System of Caste Discrimination

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World's Churches Wrestle with the Ancient System of Caste Discrimination
LWF General Secretary Noko: Everyone Considered "Touchable" by God

BANGKOK/GENEVA, 26 March 2009 (LWI) - 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 Lutheran World Federation (LWF) and the World Council of  Churches (WCC) 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 discrimina tion.

"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."

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 Both Church and State

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.

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 Devasahaya m. "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'?" (985 words)

(Contribution by Ecumenical News International [ENI] correspondent Maurice  Malanes)

More information about the conference is available at http://www.lutheranwo rld.org/What_We_Do/OIahr/OIAHR-Dalit_Justice.html

World Council of Churches: http://www.oikoumene.org

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(The LWF is a global communion of Christian churches in the Lutheran  tradition. Founded in 1947 in Lund, Sweden, the LWF currently has 140  member churches in 79 countries all over the world, with a total membership  of over 68.5 million. The LWF acts on behalf of its member churches in  areas of common interest such as ecumenical and interfaith relations,  theology, humanitarian assistance, human rights, communication, and the  various aspects of mission and development work. Its secretariat is  located in Geneva, Switzerland.)

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