IS PROSELYTIZING NECESSARY BY RELIGIONS?

 The aspect of conversions by various religions has always been controversial in the world. Hatred between certain societies in the world has been the outcome of this phenomenon. Inspite of modernity and dawn of scientific age and growth of scientific education in all corners of the world, the desire to spread the religions across various societies has not been eliminated and is being pursued with vigor too. Out of the important religions that are being practiced in the world today, Christianity and Islam are the active religious groups that proselyte and are trying to expand their faith. Christianity from the beginning was a missionary religion and Islam did not lag behind either. Buddhism too is a missionary religion while Hinduism and Sikhism did not pursue this policy in vigor and remained passive. In fact Sikhism did not take up missionary activities. Most of the scholars claim that Hinduism has no missionary zeal although in ancient times Hindu princes invaded Malayan peninsula and established Hindu kingdoms.

Proselytizing by religions can be basically due to the provisions in the scriptures that command and prescribe that the message of revelations from God should be spread around. In all these statements if made in any scripture, the intentions were reasonably good and made with aim of guiding the human beings on the right path. It should not be seen in negative perspective of forcing some one into submission in to some thing he might not believe or subscribe. It had to be voluntary. But mostly the provisions were misused. All the prophets (Peace be upon them) who came on earth were God men and brought message of love, peace, compassion, truth and harmony among the humanity. There should not be any doubt regarding this aspect in any quarter of the mankind. However in practice, the messages were not fully understood or wrongly interpreted by the followers of the religions and various sections of society suffered at different points of time in the world at the hands of others and in fact the world sadly continues to suffer even today. Who is to be blamed? Is it the fault of scriptures or men following them? The answer invariably has to be “It is definitely the fault of men who are following these religions and not the fault of the scriptures alone” (1).
Coming to Christianity on the aspect of subject of discussion, a reference can be quoted from the New Testament. Jesus after resurrection has said,

“Go to the peoples of all nations and make them my disciples. Baptize them in the name of the father, the son and the Holy Spirit and teach them to do every thing I have told you. I will be with you always even until the end of the world.”(Matthew 28:18- 20 CEV, Mark 16:14-18 CEV. Luke 24: 36-49 CEV, John 20: 19-23 CEV, Acts 1:6-8 CEV).
It is very difficult to say whether Lord Jesus really said these words or these were added at a later date. But benefit of doubt must go to the prophet or son of the God. He however did not say that the people of other nations should be converted by force or compulsion to his faith and his intentions were that his message (that was the message from the God) should be given to the people at different places and it is up to them to accept or not to accept. The Gospels give the account of spreading of message of Jesus by his Apostles (Paul and Peter were most important who played crucial role in spreading message of Jesus) and there is no account of any force or violence during their course of preaching message of Jesus. In fact, they suffered greatly at the hands of the prevalent intolerant society and administration. There are many instances at which the authorities had no moral courage to punish the Apostles who were spreading the message of Love and peace. They only threatened the Apostles and let them go (Act 4:13-15 CEV). Thus Christianity took up the spread of message from Jesus immediately after his resurrection and had to undergo great difficulties in their efforts. However Christianity was soon got involved with State and the ruling class patronized and supported it. With this, repression too came on the scene. Authorities who were once responsible in crucifying Jesus made Christianity the accepted religion in the Roman Empire.
Under Emperor Constantine, the official state religion was pagan sun worship until his personal conversion to Christianity and subsequent edict establishing Christianity as the acceptable religion. In the 4th century around 312, Constantine I adopted Christianity as his imperial cult after the Battle of Milvian Bridge. His army that was victorious, fought under the "labarum", a standard with the first two Greek letters of Christ's name. In 313 the Edict of Milan legitimized Christianity alongside other religions practiced in the Roman Empire. The First Council of Nicaea held in 325 signaled consolidation of Christianity under an orthodoxy endorsed by Emperor Constantine I though this did not make other Christian groups outside his definition illegal. In 380 Emperor Theodosius I made Christianity the Roman Empire's official religion and did enforce the edict in 392 and he passed legislation prohibiting all pagan cultic worship. Without Constantine, the Christian Church might have had a rough time getting accepted (2).
Although Christians suffered at the hands of others mostly Muslims, they have also been perpetrators of persecution and violence against other religions and other Christians (different sects or divisions within Christianity). Christian mobs, sometimes with government support, destroyed pagan temples and oppressed followers of paganism. The philosopher Hypatia of Alexandria, was murdered by a Christian mob. Jewish communities have periodically suffered violence at Christian hands. Jews suffered immensely at the hands of Adolph Hitler during World War II. Christian governments have suppressed or persecuted groups seen as heretical, later in cooperation with the Inquisition. Denominational strife escalated into religious wars. Witch hunts, carried out by secular authorities or popular mobs, were a frequent phenomenon in parts of early modern Europe and, to a lesser degree, North America. During the Migration Period of Late Antiquity, various people from Germany adopted Christianity. Meanwhile, at the fall of western political unity, the linguistic divide of the Empire between Latin-speaking West and the Greek-speaking East intensified. By the Middle Ages, distinct forms of Latin and Greek Christianity increasingly separated until cultural differences and disciplinary disputes finally resulted in the Great Schism (conventionally dated to 1054), which formally divided Christendom into the Catholic west and the Orthodox east. Western Christianity in the middle Ages was characterized by cooperation and conflict between the secular rulers and the Church under the Pope, and by the development of scholastic theology and philosophy (3).
Islam began a long series of military conquests of Christian areas, beginning in the 7th century, and it quickly conquered areas of the Byzantine Empire, Asia Minor, Palestine, Syria, Egypt, North Africa, and even southern Spain. This resulted in numerous military struggles that followed including the Crusades, the Spanish Re-conquest, the fall of Constantinople and the aggression of the Turks. The struggle between the Muslim world and Christianity thus commenced without end and the hatred towards Wes that is Christian dominated has engulfed entire Middle East and a portion of Africa.
When Christian nations colonized other nations, missionaries always spread in such countries and carried out their work. Christian missionary in Goa, during the reign of Akbar the great in 16 Th century were very hopeful that the emperor would finally convert to Christianity. Akbar was a tolerant ruler and paid special attention to the discourses from various priests belonging to different religions. At Agra fort, he built a special palace called Ibabadat Khana (House of worship) where he held discussions with clergy from various religions. Christian missionaries of Goa tried their best to impress the emperor and harbored great hopes of baptizing him. Similarly scholars from other religions too thought. But it did not come through (4). However these discourses made impact on Akbar who promulgated a new religion Din Elahi that had all the good tenets of all the religions. Effect of Jesus Christ was predominant in the new religion. Sadly the new faith had no takers and died with the emperor.
During the rule of Englishmen, Christian missions spread in India and held strong bases and many people from scheduled castes and tribes got converted to Christianity to escape the social stigma in the Hindu society. Scheduled castes and tribes in India are now called Dalits instead of using the word Harijan (God’s man) coined by Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, the father of Indian nation. Scores of Churches and some magnificent too have been built in India. Lot of Christian literature is published in India in regional languages and distributed at times free of cost. The discrimination in the society and un- touch ability was one of the strong reasons for these conversions. Of late, there is a strong allegation in India that Christian missionaries are luring the poor Indians into Christianity by showing various benefits. Although lower castes are converted into Christianity they are no way better from what they were. Discrimination is still there. This is typical of Indian Christianity. From the web site of Dalitchristian it is seen that, "Though Christianity also does not recognize caste system, there are upper and lower caste among Christians. In Goa, for example, there are upper caste Catholic Brahmins who do not marry Christians belonging to the lower castes. In many churches, the low caste Christians have to sit apart from the high caste Christians. In Andhra Pradesh, there are Christian Dalit, Christian Malas, Christian Reddys, Christian Kammas, etc. In Tamil Nadu, converts to Christianity form Scheduled Castes - Latin Catholics, Christian Shanars, and Christian Gramani are in the list of Scheduled Castes. Such instances are many and vary from region to region (5). Thus it is found that such conversions no way reduced the social discrimination of convertees in India. They suffered discrimination in the new found set up where discrimination on any account was not permitted. After conversions they are no way better. They are discriminated in the new setup too. They do not mix up, do not intermarry and do not socially mix up.They also run for reservations given by the government.
The North Eastern States of India such as Nagaland, Meghalaya, Tripura, Mizoram, and Arunachal Pradesh are the most affected States where Christian missionaries are blamed for conversions. Political parties such as Bajrangdal, Bharateeya Janata Party (BJP), and Vishwa Hindu Parishad have taken strong exception to these missionary activities in these States and also in Orissa State that witnessed the murder of Australian Missionary Staines along with his children by burning in his van some years ago.
It is alleged that Christian Missionaries in India are guilty of using objectionable tactics like bribery and withholding of medical care in order to coerce people into changing their religion. If there was some sort of ban on this type of practice, and a less aggressive, almost colonialist stance taken by the Christian groups, then striking down the law would make more sense. The problem is not the case of educated Americans choosing their faith at their will with great freedom of choice. In India the problem is different. It’s about protecting the poor and illiterate masses from being exploited to swell the ranks of churches. It's a two-way street; . The Hindu tirade against these conversions has the support of some democratically elected State governments in India. The people have spoken in those states against the conversions. There is widespread support for those measures banning aggressive conversion tactics. It is for the people to choose how secular they want their society to be, just like in the United States (6). In the Wall Street Journal David Aikman, mentions, “Under the sheltering wing of the First Amendment and a core civic belief that religious faith is a private matter and a private choice, religious Americans have overwhelmingly made the selection of their private faith as normal as choosing a breakfast cereal.” In fact some times conversions take place when some one wants to marry crossing the barriers of faith. In certain religions even this is not allowed. In societies where State law is supreme over religion some freedom to choose religion of choice exists such as in America. In most of the other countries, persecution is the order of the day on religious grounds. In Islam it is claimed that convertees from Islam are required to be slain and it actually happens. What happened in Pakistan recently is clear proof for this. Islam prohibits giving daughters to non believers. The groom has to be converted to Islam if the girls is to be given. If a non believer girls is to be married Muslim she is required to embrace Islam. Scores of examples can be given.
Six North Indian States in India such as Chattisgarh, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan and its allies have banned religious conversion and made conversions directly and otherwise a non bailable offence. Punishments ranging from 2 to 5 years of imprisonment and fine upto Rs 50,000 have been prescribed. However certain distinguished Indian writers have a different view on the issue. It is said reacting and writing in Indian Press to the draconian bill passed banning the conversions and making it an offense punishable, “It is exactly opposite as it deprives the citizens the right to choose their faith. It is against the freedom to choose their religions enshrined in our constitution I hope if and when the matter comes up before the Supreme Court, it will be struck down.” Referring to conversion of the architect of Indian constitution Babsaheb Ambedkar to Buddhism, it said, “Did any one force him or bribe him to do so? No. He felt that upper caste Hindus had treated them like dirt for too long and it was time to breakaway. So what is this Hoo Haa about conversion now (7)?” With all respects to such distinguished gentlemen, it is stated that the problem of conversion and resistance against it has come up due to the fear that Christian strength in the electorate would go up in India. India has already immensely suffered at the hands of Muslims and the country has been partitioned in 1947 based purely on the fear of Hindu vote in a democratic country. Streams of blood have flown in India at the time of partition and the forces of Hinduism have not forgotten the past. The Muslims who stayed back in India after the partition although could migrate to Pakistan have not amalgamated in the society and a section of these Muslims are at the same old game of wrecking the country. The forces of Hinduism that were shocked at the turn of events in 1947 are highly agitated against any conversions including into Christianity and see them as attempts to improve the respective strength of electorate. It will not be out of place to mention that assassination of Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, the father of Indian nation was the result of his appeasement of policies of the Muslims and his self identification more to the Muslim cause than the welfare of the Hindus in a divided and strife torn nation in which scores were killed and women were dishonored. Their fear is justified to a great amount. India although has aped western democracy in toto has been not able to come up to their standards of judgment and maturity. It is a more cock eyed democracy exploited to catch votes at all costs.
The political process in the country where level of education is very low compared to western nations, is highly vitiated where patterns of voting in any elections are affected by caste, creed, gender, color, regional politics, sect, religion, money, Liquor, local mafia politics and influence, hero worship, family ties, language, threat, dynastic slavery and criminal intimidation. Moral fiber is at the lowest ebb in the Indian politics. It is believed that any thing can be achieved by power of money. These do not exist mostly in western democracies although American politics at some point of time were allegedly influenced by Mafia influence. The multiparty system of Indian political system has played havoc with the country where some political parties are established by Tom Dick and Harry, cheats, criminals, gangsters and the aggrieved members of some ruling dynasties, disgruntled politicians who have an axe to grind make merry in these parties. Then there are communists who deviated from Marx to fish in troubled waters and to derive some benefit. In fact it has been a crook’s galore all these years and continues to do so. Thus, the fear of Hindutva parties about conversions in India where self discipline is lacking is justified while the ruling government opposing Hindutva and its politics reject the theory while playing pseudo secular and appeasement politics and leading the country to disaster and inevitable gloom soon (8). Hindutva parties are of strong opinion that the appeasement policies and conversions would lead to major disaster to the country and would lead to further partitions of the country. Thus conversions are seen as major danger to the nation.
North Eastern States in India that have large Christian population are already up in arms to form a sovereign State demanding secession from India and militant activities are regular affair and in fact, Indian army is battling Naga rebels and guerillas since 1948. The pseudo secular policies of the ruling governments and appeasing of minorities in the country have sent wrong signals to them and they feel that they have special status and are above the law. This is the biggest factor worrying the forces of Hinduism in India. Yet, the good work done by Christian missionaries in India is recognized by people in the field of education, social programs and health care. In recent times Mother Teresa has distinguished herself in social work and although there are many doubting Thomoses who doubt her intentions to be purely missionary, her greatness in no way has been reduced.
It has also been reported that Christianity is gaining ground in China where religion is suppressed being a communist State. During first half of 2 Th century western missionaries swarmed all over China and could convert fewer than million Chinese and there was no impact. Christians of late are persecuted and missionaries are not allowed in the country, but some are of the opinion that China would ultimately have more Christians than any where in the world. Police are not after all the Christians and at most of the places, they are left free. Units like Ark Church are greatly persecuted. Their members are arrested, tortured and beaten severely to renounce their faith. However Police persecutes those Christian Churches that are seen as potential trouble makers. China has official free Catholic and official non denominational Protestant Churches that are not suppressed. But the underground churches are rapidly expanding that are usually evangelical without any specific denomination. More and more Chinese are making their choice. This spurt in the activity is the outcme of spiritual yearning among the Chinese. There is a growing cultural and spiritual change in the country. Thus we also see that Christianity is active in China the largest populated country in the world (9). Thus it is seen that Missionary activities of Christianity world wide are active and these also are causing social tensions in such countries.
Islam is an active Proselyting religion and from the days of its founding it waged relentless wars on its neighbors and entire Middle East countries converted to Islam. Islam also spread rapidly into Africa and also into Spain and southern European nations by waging wars. It is claimed that Islam has permitted other faiths to live in Islamic countries and were called Dhimmis and they were governed by certain conditions. However, they had to pay some type of Tax for enjoying such provisions. Islam has caused its expansion by sword which is evident from the relentless wars it waged in Arabian Peninsula and also against Afghanistan and India and Iran. However it is strongly refuted by some scholars. It is opined that Islam has spread by virtue of Sufi influence that preached equality and compassion and love in India than coercion as claimed by many. If that was true and sword was used, probably entire India would have been Islamized because Muslims ruled India for several centuries. Invariably example of Indonesia is quoted and claimed that Muslims have not conquered it and conversions were voluntary (10). This is the common argument the scholars of Muslim sympathizers and pseudo secularists give in India refuting the theory of sword for conversion. There is no doubt that conquering Muslim armies in medieval times committed grave crimes against Hindu population and conversions were effected at the point of sword. Scores were killed who refused to convert. The ruling Muslim kings discriminated against Hindus although there were some sane rulers like Emperor Akbar and few successors to some extent who were a bit more tolerant. By and large, Hindus were discriminated and there were great restrictions against them as per the Islamic rules. These were as narrated by NVR Sastri an eminent journalist in India as under:
RESTRICTIONS ON HINDUS
a. Ban on construction of new places of worship
b. Old temples destroyed by Muslims should not be rebuilt
c. Muslim travelers should be permitted to stay in the Hindu temples
d. Hindus should permit any Muslim to stay in their house for three days if requested and in case he is sick he should be permitted for more days
e. All Muslims should be compulsorily respected
f. Muslims should be permitted in to private assemblies of Hindus
g. Hindus should not wear like Muslims
h. Hindus should wear dresses such that it signifies their lower status
i. Hindus should not bear Muslim names
j. Hindus are prohibited to ride horses with saddle and reins
k. Hindus are prohibited from bearing arms and wearing any rings on fingers
l. Hindus are prohibited from spreading their customs and traditions among Muslims
m. Hindus are prohibited from building houses in Muslim localities
n. They are prohibited from observing their rituals openly and are also restricted from crying louder when their near and dear die.
These draconian restrictions made life hell for the Hindus and the weak kneed among them submitted to Islam while majority courageously lived through the ages gone by. Hinduism has survived and Muslims could not Islamizea India (11). In the modern days too, there are strong allegations that Muslims are resorting to mass conversions in India from the lower castes and this is highly resented by the Hindu political parties.
In the Islamic worlds, the conscious choice by someone of a new religious conviction is very serious business. There are family pressures to overcome, community prejudices and, often enough, threats of violence if a conversion is actually made. In much of the Islamic world it is technically a capital offense under Shariat, or Muslim religious law, to change one’s faith. Hindu women married to Muslim youth are converted to Islam, but not vice versa. Following are relevant from the scripture (12):

“Marry not women who are idolaters, until they believe verily, a maid servant who believeth is better than idolatress, although she pleases you more and give not women who believe in marriage to idolaters until they believe for verily a servant who is true believer is better than idolater though he pleases you more.”

There is no such provision in Islam. The case of Lina Joy, an ethnic Malay who has not been allowed to “legally” convert and marry a Christian man, is proof yet again of the madness of governmental intervention in matters of personal belief (13).The rise of Wahaabi cult in Islam that subscribes to the belief that entire world was created by Allah and thus entire world has to follow Islam is an extreme view and even if all Muslims may not subscribe to such views, the world is witnessing dedicated and inspired Wahaabi terrorism to implement Muslim superiority in the world. Thus world has been facing fundamentalist interpretation of the Holy Scripture and humanity thus is subjected to severe violence and terror. Therefore, the concept of certain scholars stating that spread of Islam was the result of Sufi dedication of spreading peace and love is a fallacy. It is a known fact that Sufis were persecuted, tortured and even executed by the Muslim world and in some countries; the practice of Sufism was banned (14). It is a fact that Sufism has helped better understanding in the society, but no major conversions probably would have taken place under its influence.
Buddhism supported Missionary activities and renowned Buddhists and missionaries traveled to places such as Afghanistan, Tibet, Sri Lanka and China, Burma in the past and spread the message of Buddha and the local populations were converted. Emperor Asoka (277-232 BC) in India patronized Buddhism and this has given a great boost to the faith and its missionary activities. The emperor supported and funded missionary activities. He sent missionaries headed by his son Mahendra to SriLanka Devanampriya the ruler of the Island was converted to Buddhism. Missions were sent to lower Burma, Sumatra and neighboring islands.Infact the spread of Buddhism was rapid and has engulfed all Indo China countries in the past. It is also making impact on West too. However the spread was based on preaching and violence in spreading of the faith can not be attributed.
Hinduism has not sent missionaries around the world in the past with the aim of converting others. In fact, the Proselyting religions invariably take up conquests and missionaries accompany or follow them as a policy. This has been the case with Christians and Muslims. Indians have not invaded distant lands except in some remote times by South Indian valiant princes who established kingdoms in Malayan Peninsular countries. However with rise in Islam these countries slowly drifted towards Islam and Hinduism remains strong in India and Nepal only. Though it is not missionary in practice, Hinduism has witnessed some bitter struggles between Shivites and Vaishnawites in medieval periods during 11 and 12Th centuries. Saint Ramanuja who practiced Vaishnawa philosophy was severely persecuted by the south Indian King of Kanchi and he had to flee to Karnataka (Halebeed under Hoyasala King Vishnu Vardhana) to escape the wrath of the Chola king who was a Shiviite.The sectarian missionary zeal is also illuminated by the murder of King Bijjala in 12 Th century who was a Jain and ruling at Kalyani in Karnataka and was slain by the men of his Prime Minister Basaweswara who propagated militant Veera shaiva sect. This resulted in mayhem and murder in Kalyani town and entire town lay in ruins and heaps of corpses. In another example, the great Palanati Battle fought in 1081 in Andhra Pradesh in India was the result of hatred between Shivites and Vaishnawites. Scores of Buddhist and Jain facilities were also destroyed in the sectarian violence in those years. The idol in Tirupati (Tirupati is equated to Vatican) is believed to have been converted by Ramanuja into Vaishnawa deity from the original Shiviite idol of the God. Thus, within Hinduism sectarian missionary zeal was prominent in the past. Adi Sankaracharya the doyen of Adwaita philosophy traveled throughout India and defeated Buddhist scholars in religious discussions and reestablished Hindu supremacy. Although this can not be completely attributed to Missionary work, Hinduism can not escape the truth of such and similar activities. The present crusade against conversions and acts of reconversions by Hindu political parties draw severe critism from others as acts of missionary work. In the past, Swami Dayanada Saraswathi who established Arya Samaj introduced procedures for re-conversions into Hinduism for those who converted to other faiths. Thus, Hinduism too is not free of the aspect of missionary work, may be within its fold and this can be termed as sectarian missionary zeal.
Therefore, it is seen that all religions have been resorting to missionary work in some form or other and it is a human instinct to see and ensure every one is like him. The missionary efforts are the results of strong beliefs in own religion and in its scriptures. Invariably, the guiding religious leaders do not see or concede to better aspects in others religions and beliefs. This is close to religious intolerance. The extreme end of the missionary activities would be coercion of the defeated people after victories. In many instances, the rule was either to convert or perish. Many were slain who held firmly to their faith. As a policy, the temples and the places of worship of other faiths were put to fire or demolished and converted as places of their own worship. This was the first step of the missionary inspiration in case of certain religions. Sadly no religion is free of sectarian hatred and they wanted maximum number of people under their fold. Thus missionary activities and acts of conversion are rather the result of self glorification. Religion has to be personal purely and men must have option and liberty to choose the path of salvation of their choice. However in practice, such liberty does not exist in most of the societies and religion is forced on people and those born in a religion are prevented from crossing over. This can be termed as religious dictatorship in other terms. Over enthusiasm in missionary work also results in fundamentalism which has to be prevented. As long as the message of God is passed to others in peaceful way without coercion and luring and threat all missionary works are fine. If this activity results in conversions trouble is sure to brew even if some one voluntarily converts. The societies have become intolerant and politics actually govern the nations. This is possible only in true and mature democratic societies such as USA, but not in pseudo democratic, communist, Fascist and autocratic States. India is one among them which is a pseudo democracy.
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Bibliography

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2. Transhuman, www.bookclub.tpmcafe.com, February 1, 2007, 5:40:15

3. www. wikipedia.org/wiki/christainity, February 7, 10:41

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5. Art. 477, Mandal Case Judgment, Vol. 6, No:9, November 30, 1992, Judgment Today (5). Government of India

6 Gautham, www.sepiautiny.com Sept 1, 26 12:27 pm

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8. Prof Dr Colonel (Retired) K Prabhakar Rao. Pseudo secularism and derailed India, Saraswathi Printers, Hyderabad, AP, India, June 2005

9 . Nicholos D Christoff, Christianity gets a foothold in China, Deccan chronicle, Hyderabad, AP, India, Date June 26, 206, PP 6.

10. Kushwant Singh, Hoo Haa about conversion. Deccan Chronicle, Hyderabad, AP, India, Date June 4, 2006.

11. MVR Sastry. Yedi Charitra, A Reappraisal of ancient and Medieval Indian History, Ajo-K-Vibho foundation, Hyderabad, AP, India, May 23, PP PP 302.

12. Holy Quran, Translated by George Sale. Chapter II, page 31 as cited in Medieval Indian culture, AL Srivatsava, Sharilal Agarwal and Company, Educational Publishers, Agra-3, Edition II, 1971