Friday 26 September 2008

The Mystery of the BBC's choosing to ignore India's religious persecution of Christians

Have been reading the latest horrifying details about more attacks against Christians,most of them apparently Catholics, by Hindu fanatics. I am churning with frustration because I learned about the attacks from Catholic internet sources and the Catholic Herald - not from the British Media such as the BBC and ITV or Channel Four. Why is this? The attacks are premeditated and are breaking out over the whole Indian continent. Extremist Hindus are whipping up ignorant mobs so they attack people, their houses, their churches, their hospitals and clinics. The figures are terrible: hundreds of churches now desecrated and/or burned to the ground, 50 thousand in one district alone in Orissa are refugees struggling in the jungle or receiving very basic protection and care in 14 Govt. camps. And that is just one district in one state. But there are similar figures coming out of Kerala, Tamil Nadu, and many many other places. The attacks started seriously four years ago when some nuns of the Sisters of Charity were attacked, I think in Orissa or was it Uttar Pradesh? Now, with the death of a Hindu leader of the extremists who was killed by Maoists some weeks ago, the incidents have spread like wildfire. Despite the Maoists claiming responsibility for the killing! It is too tragic, too wicked. Many millions of Indians, especially the Dalits (the poorest of the poor) have had education and healthcare given to them by Catholic institutions in places where the Indian Government had nothing at all to offer the people. What base ingratitude by their fellow Indians who have been spared the cost of educating and taking care of the Dalits even though the Indian Constitution says there is equality for everyone in India. Besides the Dalits, millions of good upper class families have chosen to attend Catholic and other Christian schools because of the high quality of education offered, and the moral ethos of the schools. How can all those who have benefitted from the Christian institutions in their areas not rush in to protest, and to offer sanctuary, and funds to rebuild these shattered communities? Shame, shame, on this meanness of spirit towards their fellow Indians! I find it, and the British TV's silence, incomprehensible. Imagine the fallout if Christians were acting this way.........In Britain, a country with a majority of Christians, Hindus are not only tolerated but actively encouraged to preserve their cultural and religious identity. Well, Jesus Christ suffered and He was God, come into the world to teach men how to serve one another, and how to love God, and what was the nature of God. Men hated Jesus,(because He showed them up in their spiritual smallness)so they will hate his followers. I am so proud of being a Catholic, so proud! So proud of the work of our missionaries in lands like India. So proud of simple every day Catholics. So proud of our wonderful Faith, that preaches respect to all. God is just, so those rabid bullies will have to answer Him one day. What a terrible eternal life awaits them if they do not repent AND make reparation for the harm they have done.