Venu Gopal said...
9:56 PM 25/Feb/07
The problem with conversions to Christianity and Islam is that both religions believe that their religion is the only true religion and therefore conversion to either of the religions also means discarding their former religion. If conversions mean accepting a new religion or religions, there can be no harm in it. There have been thousands of Christians in Europe and America who have been converted to Hinduism but none of the Christians would have discarded Christianity. In fact, most would have become more Christ-like, though they may have abandoned the Church. Thus, conversions are pernicious. We need the culture of acceptance of all religions as paths to divinity rather than conversions that shut one''s mind to the expressions of divinity elsewhere.
15:25 26/Dec/2006 26 Comment(s)
Chrsitian Conversions
This blog is in response to blogs by our fellow blogger 'hindu icon'. He discusses the all-sensitive topic of conversion. I think there are a lot of misconceptions concerning converting to christianity.What is converting to christianity? Is it catching someone by the collar and asking him to change his religion. Or is it offering 'bribes'? As far as I understand the Bible, there is NO provision for forceful conversions. The consent of the person converting is very important. Converting to christianity involves a couple of steps. One step is obtaining the verbal consent of the person Once we obtain his consent, we proceed to the next step. Now in forceful conversion, where is the consent ? As for 'bribing' people for conversions, its as one sees it. Imagine a forsaken tribal, dying of hunger with no support from anywhere. If he is given something to eat, sometimes on a regular basis, is that wrong? And then if he chooses to come and pray along with you (you can't blame him. Out of hunger people would do anything to stay alive)should we stop him. I don't think so. Why don' t we see the positive side of things? Atleast the tribals needs are being met.Foreign missionaries have played a major role in the development of the North-Eastern part of India. These states feels completely alienated from the rest of the country. Sad but true. While everyone pays attention to Kashmir and its borders (which isn't wrong), the North East lies largely ignored. A couple of days back, a reader wrote in one of the newspapers here that snowfall in Kashmir is much talked about in the national media, but no one talks about the snowfall in Arunachal Pradesh. No one promotes tourism there.I do not support forceful conversion. However if someone wants to change his religion for reasons best known to him, who are we to stop? This could be true for any religion, not just christianity.
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