The issue of religious identity in India has always been complex. When the colonial powers entered India it didn’t take long before “Christianization” tactics became common (most notably under British rule, where they manipulated education, conversions, and the caste system to effect “de-Indianization”).

“It is my own belief that if our plans of education are followed up, there will not be a single idolater among the respectable classes in Bengal thirty years hence.” – Major B.D.Basu, “Rise of Christian Power in India”

The after-effects of these anti-Hindu policies would help foster a Hindu nationalist (or Hindutva “Hinduness”) movement that sought to reverse the cultural damage done by Christian colonialism. After India won independence, political parties sympathetic to Hindutva like Bharatiya Janata Party slowly came to prominence thanks to polarizing events like the mis-use of social service funds by Christian groups for proslytization efforts, and governmental corruption and authoritarianism during the mid-1970s.

Once in power* Hindu nationalists helped to pass anti-conversion laws, and in some cases made “reconversion” efforts. This in turn has caused many Christians and Christian organizations to say they are being routinely persecuted by the Indian government (though there are differing opinions on this point). In recent years news stories of mass conversions, claims and counter-claims over forced conversions (and reconversions) and the ongoing missional commitments by Christian groups to “evangelize” India have only heightened a deepening religiously-based mistrust.

Now Jesuit sociologist Rudolf C. Heredia, in a new book entitled “Changing Gods: Rethinking Conversion in India”, is calling for a “religious disarmament” regarding conversions in India.

“In today’s pluri-religious society, change of faith can precipitate religious antagonism – or it can facilitate social diversity and tolerance. While religious commitment is essentially a matter of personal conscience and choice, it inevitably impacts other levels of individual and social life … Challenging the traditional orthodoxies which promote or oppose religious conversions, the author sees no religious merit in political posturing or conversion for socio-economic gain. Instead, to defuse tensions, he advocates rethinking religious conversion in India with a determined religious disarmament, discarding aggression.”

In the book Heredia, who studies marginalized peoples in India, claims that conversion efforts by Christians in India often backfire and help fuel further violence and mistrust.

“In most cases, he says, conversion fails to alter their devotion to the pagan gods and goddesses but involves them instead in the ‘politics of hate’.”

Heredia seems to be calling for a withdrawal from typical conversion efforts and towards a new dialog based within mutual respect. That such a move is the only way to diffuse religious enmity and mistrust between Hindus and Christians. But it remains to be seen how successful such a effort can be when evangelical culture seems obsessed with pushing forward missions in India. So any religious cease-fire may be long in coming, or it may never come if some analysts are correct.

“Keeping in view the confrontational stand of the Hindu Nationalists and Christian management discussed above, the possibility of a resolution of the on going Hindu- Christian confrontation for the last 500 years is very remote.”

This is an issue that modern Pagans should be kept aware of. Hinduism has long fascinated modern Pagans in the West (just look at the popularity of some Hindu deities and practices amongst some modern Pagan practitioners), and could be a natural ally in religious struggles both abroad and at home. The seeds of this have already been planted in legal cases involving Pagans were Hindu groups have filed amicus curiae in support, and amongst Pagan and Hindu commentators who have worked to foster closer relations between the two religious groupings. Some Wiccans have even headed to India in an effort to curb witchcraft slayings. A logical next step is to become more educated in Christian evangelistic efforts to places like India where pre-Christian tradition remains healthy and vital.

* While a center-left coalition has recently regained national power in India, Hindu nationalism is still a dominant force through many parts of India, and the BJP remains the dominant opposition party.

Tags: Christianity, conversions, Hinduism, India, Paganism