God Inc. Do not fear the spiritually bankrupt.

[SethDrebitko]

I see a great deal of Hindus worrying that Christianity is rapidly growing and expanding, and (not to offend) but it makes me laugh. Christianity is on an overall decline, do not fear this starving beast. The aggressive hungry expansion of Christianity into economically poor countries are its death-throws.

I rejoice that protestant christians have lost over 10% of their followers in the US alone since the 90's. The catholics are taking it harder; the only thing that kept their drop at 6% was the millions of Latino catholics flooding into the country. Over 16% decline in christianity in the US, churches are closing all the time! I hope you take this as good news, and encouragement that you have a fighting chance.

The two drives of christian growth are:

1. Poverty
2. Uneducated masses

Speaking as an outsider looking in; there are many uneducated people in India who are treaded on by higher castes, and christianity prides itself on reaching out to the downtrodden. By reaching out more to those below your cast, and encouraging and uplifting them both socially and economically when possible.

If you want to fight off christians you need only empower and educate your nations. I don't mean any offense; I just see so many worried people in India over christianity, and I wanted to give encouragement from a western perspective.

[sanjaya]

Hi Seth. Thanks for the encouragement. I think you're definitely right about at least one thing: this business of mistreatment of low castes has to be stopped. Perhaps caste itself is a bit of an outdated concept that should be discarded altogether (granted the Gita states that God created the four castes, but fortunately Hindus aren't enslaved to Scriptures). Or perhaps caste has simply been perverted from its original intent. Nonetheless you're right in that Christians prey on the less fortunate by offering them false promises of a better lot either in this life or the next, and we shouldn't feed this. Not to mention that equal treatment of all people is funamentally right at a moral level.

As for the drop in Christian church attendance, I would like to interpret this overall drop as a dying of Christianity. However keep in mind that most of America has historically belonged to the mainline churches. These churches are dwindling as evangelical churches gain membership. Mostly this is because the mainline churches have become so secularized that they are irrelevant, whereas evangelicalism offers people escape from what they see as an evil world. Granted, I read somewhere that ~35% of Americans are evangelical, which would be betrayed by the behavior I see from Americans. I'm really not sure how to interpret all of this.

[Sahasranama]

People in India are being cheated. Missionaries make promises and then abuse the Indian people. They do not offer a solution. It's criminal behavior. I couldn't care less about the decline of Christianity in the USA.

The aggressive hungry expansion of Christianity into economically poor countries are its death-throws.

That's not a justification to abuse Indians.

[SethDrebitko]

I am not justifying it, or trying to make light of your situation; I am just trying to let you know that there is hope by giving an example. Aside from that Hinduism has great potential to spread outside of India, there are some truly amazing temples being built in the states serving healthy diverse communities, who could be tapped to support India.

I for one would readily support an organization with money that was designed to educate, and improve the condition of impoverished places in India to create buffer zones against the christians. What needs to happen is a global initiative to bring together not just specific denominations of the faith but its unified strength to combat these issues.

I think it should be important though that the organization remain as neutral as possible. I briefly skimmed over this article this morning and will read it fully later but it looks pretty good. This organization from what I know of them at this time seems like they might be worth looking into.

Again I am sorry if I cam across offensively dismissing your issues, I was only attempting to show my support for your cause. I want to see Hinduism not only survive but flourish throughout the globe, for all its beauty.

[BryonMorrigan]

I've said it before, and I'll say it again: Christianity can only become powerful through coercion. Historically, the only ways that it has ever become the majority in a country was through fear, intimidation, propaganda, and totalitarianism.

With the rise of the Internet, this coercion has become much more difficult. This is another reason that they choose to promote their religion to poor people in areas where they are "cut off" from much of the information available. They will use any excuse, and any tactic to spread their intolerance. Just look at their recent behavior in Haiti.

I believe the two best ways to deal with them are:

1. Information - Many of the people being targeted by them are uneducated, poor, and have little understanding of the concepts at war here. When an apparently smart and wealthy Westerner tells someone that their traditional religion is "primitive," or "wrong," how are we to expect that person to respond if they are not presented with an alternative?

2. Reframing the Debate - Christians like to frame this debate as "Noble Missionaries Saving the World Through Charity." I know, I have argued with many of them, including those who go to India. We have to make the world see them for what they really are. They are the voices of Intolerance. They are the New Imperialists. "Charity" with conditions is no charity at all. And yes, much of this battle has to be fought in the USA. Many of the missionaries trying to destroy the cultures of India, Haiti, South America, Africa, etc., come from the USA. They recruit here. They fundraise here. No tolerance for the intolerant.

[Sahasranama]

[Indian Accent]You know, problem is different.

You laugh at Indian. But Indian does not care about Christian.

Indian only care about Indian. [/Indian Accent]

[SethDrebitko]

I would like to interpret this overall drop as a dying of Christianity. However keep in mind that most of America has historically belonged to the mainline churches. These churches are dwindling as evangelical churches gain membership. Mostly this is because the mainline churches have become so secularized that they are irrelevant, whereas evangelicalism offers people escape from what they see as an evil world. Granted, I read somewhere that ~35% of Americans are evangelical, which would be betrayed by the behavior I see from Americans. I'm really not sure how to interpret all of this.

Actually a study from the American Research Association showed that :
"95 percent of 20 to 29 year old evangelicals attended church regularly during their elementary and middle school years. However, only 55 percent of them attended church regularly during high school, and only 11 percent of them were still regularly attending church when in college."

The next generation of evangelic children are most commonly leaving the religion.

You laugh at Indian.

I don't laugh at Indians or their plight but at the irony. Because people in the west general are seeing a decline in christianity.

[sanjaya]

Actually a study from the American Research Association showed that :
"95 percent of 20 to 29 year old evangelicals attended church regularly during their elementary and middle school years. However, only 55 percent of them attended church regularly during high school, and only 11 percent of them were still regularly attending church when in college."

The next generation of evangelic children are most commonly leaving the religion.

Very interesting. That's good to know, actually. It would seem that evangelicalism is becoming much like the mainline. In the past, rebellious children would reject the irrelevance of the mainline and become evangelicals. But as evangelicalism becomes the status quo, rebellious children will start to leave it as well.

I don't laugh at Indians or their plight but at the irony. Because people in the west general are seeing a decline in christianity.

While Sahasranama is of course entitled to his own belief, I will have to disagree with him on a couple of points. First, I don't think your comments come across as ridicule of Indians or the threat that Christianity poses us. Your friendly intent came across quite clearly in your first post.

Secondly, I'll have to say explicitly that I don't share the "Indian only care about Indian" view (though again, he's free to hold that view himself). Yes, I would like to see a halt to Christianity's encroachment in India. But this religion is bad for the West as well, and its death would be positive for Westerners too. Perhaps being an Indian American is what gives me concern for both cultures. Or it may just be that as a Indian American, I don't speak with the greatly endearing Indian accent that we've all come to know and love.

One thing puzzles me. The accent I understand, but why the broken English? English is an official language in India, so I've never known Indians to speak English with the fluency of a Russian.

[Sahasranama]

My second post was a joke, sorry for that.

[sanjaya]

Not a problem. At least a portion of my last post was equally jocular.