Tuesday, December 23, 2014

Is Christianity Foreign Born?

Traditionally it is believed that Christianity came to India in the first century. Thomas, a disciple of Jesus Christ, is believed to have arrived in Kerala in 52 AD and spread the message of Jesus Christ, resulting in certain native of Kerala and Tamil Nadu eventually becoming Christians. This makes Christianity 2,000 years old in the Indian subcontinent. Given that it is such an old religion, it is surprising that the Hindutva brigades still consider it foreign born. 

If Christianity is foreign to India, similar logic implies that Hinduism is foreign to Nepal or Sri Lanka. Buddhism has to be considered foreign because Buddha was born in Nepal; Sikhism too has to be considered foreign because Guru Nanak was born in Pakistan. But would Russian consider Hinduism or Christianity foreign because these religions were not born there? Would Americans or Australia try to wipe out Christianity because it came from Asia? Such thought would be bizarre. Sane people would not answer the questions in affirmative! The Hindutva brigades have bizarre ideas! 

But are the Hindutva brigades willing to say that Hindus in Nepal, Sri Lanka, US, UK, New Zealand etc. should leave Hinduism because Hinduism was not the religion of their ancestors and Hinduism is a foreign religion there? If they insist that ISKCON should be allowed to propagate Hinduism to these people, then they should allow Christianity to prevail here in India. To insist that Christians are second class citizens in India because Christianity is foreign born, while insisting that Hindus in the West must be accorded first class citizens though it was born elsewhere, is bigotry. 



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