Illegal Conversions
After the Second World War, Western-based Christian evangelists developed a world conversion agenda, as an organised political response to Communism. India has long been a target.
A well circulated document entitled, AD 2000 plan for Orissa, by Reverend Pariccha, caused consternation amongst Oriyas. The document gave a detailed breakdown of Orissa’s villages, districts, towns, cities, police stations, including a list of village police stations with Christian officers, in order to “identity the least evangelized areas.” The AD 2000 Plan for Orissa openly states it’s “purpose is to survey and research to find out the exact population of the Unreached People groups - to make available all statistics from all possible sources that are required for strategic planning to reach the unreached.”s
Its goals are listed as:
- That Orissa may be won for Christ.
- To reach every major people group
- To reach every village and plant churches.
- To send missionaries to every unreached Pin Code area.
The comprehensive and strategic methodologies revealed are an assault on the very cultural fabric and identity of Orissa. The stated goals say, “Orissa’s non-Christians are in darkness and that their religion, culture and tradition are of little or no value and need to be replaced.” Christians have not come to add to the native spirituality of Orissa, but to replace it; they are engaged in aggressive hostility.
As far back as 1955, the Centrally-appointed Christian Missionary Activities Enquiry Committee of Nagpur, Madhya Pradesh, headed by Justice M.B. Niyogi, found that “As conversion muddles the convert’s sense of unity and solidarity with his society, there is danger of his loyalty to his country and State being undermined. A vile propaganda against the religion of the majority community is being systematically and deliberately carried on so as to create on apprehension of breach of public peace.” The Niyogi Commission expressed serious concerns regarding the negative methods and impact of missionaries in India and made several recommendations to curb their activities.
In Kandhamal and elsewhere in Orissa, missionaries are indulging in illegal conversions without fear of government reprisals. In 1961, the total Kandha population in Kandhamal was 19028. In 2001, the Christian population was 117,954 – a six-fold increase! Though the population has risen by over 98,000 persons, only two persons have submitted declarations for conversion. This is surely the most eloquent indicator of the illegal conversion industry in Kandhamal.
The author is an Orissa tribal activist and secretary of the Kandhamal Justice Forum
Sourced from http://www.vijayvaani.com:80/FrmPublicDisplayArticle.aspx?id=1385
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