Church – Reports

Church – Secularism

1. ‘We Must Arise’ Fr Cedric Prakash a Human Rights and peace activist/writer

Key Points:

1. The past couple of weeks, particularly these first days of September, have been a defining period in the history of India. It is no longer about the ‘writing is on the wall;’ it is much beyond, not any more a reality show, but reality itself! It is about THE WALL which divides, denigrates, demonizes and decimates.
2. About a regime which has become completely insensitive to the cries of millions of people, which just does not care!! In the garb of ‘democracy’, it is hard-core fascism! There is however, a silver lining with more and more coming out (at least virtually in this time of the pandemic), becoming much more visible and vocal, and saying in one loud voice, “We must arise!”
3. September 11 was a day of great significance: several anniversaries on one day! In 1893, Swami Vivekananda gave his famous speech at the World Parliament of Religions in Chicago; in 1895, Vinoba Bhave was born; in 1906, Mahatma Gandhi launched the ‘Satyagraha’ movement in South Africa; in 2001, the world witnessed the violent attacks on the US; and now in 2020, we have just learnt the news of the sad demise of Swami Agnivesh. All seemingly unrelated events, spanning 127 years; yet in every single one of them, is that defiant assertion, “We must arise!”
4. Swami Vivekananda was palpably direct when he said in Chicago, “Sectarianism, bigotry, and its horrible descendant, fanaticism, have long possessed this beautiful earth. They have filled the earth with violence, drenched it often and often with human blood, destroyed civilization and sent whole nations to despair. Had it not been for these horrible demons, human society would be far more advanced than it is now? But their time is come; and I fervently hope that the bell that tolled this morning in honor of this convention may be the death-knell of all fanaticism, of all persecutions with the sword or with the pen, and of all uncharitable feelings between persons wending their way to the same goal.”
5. Today, the bhakts of the Sangh Parivar are doing just what the Swami has condemned. Christians and Muslims are at the receiving end of an agenda of hate, fanaticism and bigotry. We have seen it happening in these past days. A Muslim barber from Panipat had his hand chopped off because he had ‘786’ tattooed on it! Four Christian organisations had their FCRA suspended because of ‘conversion’ activities! But the minorities of India are no pushovers; the sanctity and rights guaranteed in the Constitution belong to every single citizen. The minorities have literally no choice today but to say in unison, “We must arise!”

(mattersindia.com, 13 September 2020) (News Link)

• Church – Kandhamal

1. Kandhamal ‘Never Again’. ‘Never Anywhere’ Webinar by National Solidarity Forum (NSF)

Key Points:

1. Kandhamal never again, never anywhere, asserted a webinar organized by the National Solidarity Forum (NSF) amid rising hate crimes in India.
2. “For us, the diabolic attacks on Christians were much beyond a matter of shock, shame, pain and grief. Kandhamal never again, never anywhere,” said veteran journalist and human rights activist John Dayal, an NSF member who moderated the September 12 webinar.
3. More than 300 civil society groups, religious leaders, lawyers, writers, journalists including priests, nuns across India and abroad, joined the webinar on reclaiming democracy and defending diversity in India.
4. The press note quoted Amnesty International India that documented 721 incidents of hate crime between 2015 and 2018. In 2018, it tracked 218 hate crimes, 142 of them against Dalits, 50 against Muslims, 40 against women, and eight each against Christians, Adivasi and transgenders.
5. Supreme Court retired Judge Justice V Gopala Gowda, in his keynote address said, “Democracy is the basic structure of the constitution of India. The opening lines of the Preamble “We, the people of India” portrays the philosophy and significant of the democratic spirit involved in the Constitution.”
6. He added, “I am a Hindu. Many people gathered here are from different religions. I love all the people from a different religion. That is the spirit of democracy. That is the spirit of the Constitution.”
7. He further explained that there is no majority and minority religion. May be the population of a particular religion is more or less. That does not mean power is vested in a majority religion, class or ethnics, he added.
8. Every citizen of this country has equal power. Everyone should be treated equally and given the liberty of thought, expressions and beliefs.
9. T Thirumavalavan, a Member of Parliament, said the ruling party’s ‘one nation, one culture, one language, one education’ policy is against diversity and pluralism. “It is a need of the hour for all democracy citizens to come together irrespective of caste, gender, religion, ethnicity and fight against the monopoly of the present government.”
10. NSF leader Ram Puniyani stressed the need to struggle for democratic society at multiple levels. “We have to counter the violence collectively and especially build more alliances among minority leaderships and communities to jointly counter attacks on our secular democracy,” said Puniyani as a way forward for the forum.
11. More than 70 organizations, under the NSF banner, had undertaken various programs soon after the Kandhamal pogrom. A People’s Tribunal was held in Delhi in 2010, headed by A P Shah, former Chief Justice of Delhi High Court.

(mattersindia.com, 13 September 2020)  (News Link)