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February 11, 2012

Home > 2008 > November (Web-only)Christianity Today, November (Web-only), 2008
How to Be Un-Born Again
India's biggest radical Hindu group aims to wipe out Christianity through reconversions and violence.




Laba Digal, 50, sits mending flat tires of bicycles and two-wheelers near the thoroughfare in Kasinipada, a village in the district of India that saw the most anti-Christian violence this fall. Digal says he was a Christian until September, when a local head of the radical Hindu group Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) came to him twice.

"He told me to become a Hindu. He said if I did not, I would lose my home. He said I couldn't live in the village as a Christian. I did not want problems. So I accepted," Digal says.

Now a Hindu, Digal says he will get a government certificate stating that he is a Dalit. Such a certificate will make Digal eligible for other affirmative action benefits, such as government jobs reserved for Dalits.

The RSS has been reconverting people like Digal to Hinduism — usually from Christianity — for over a decade. Their reconversion campaign is called "homecoming." It is well organized and has cadres assigned to it almost across the whole of India.

The RSS has groups that use propaganda and groups that use violence. The groups entrusted with the task of getting the message out in words conduct meetings where they denounce the church as evil. They follow that up with warnings that Christians must reconvert to Hinduism or die. The RSS arm entrusted with enforcement follows with attacks.

A 1967 law in Orissa bars religious conversion by use of force and by means of inducement or allurement. The law says that the head of the district administration must permit every conversion. The RSS says that despite the law, few converts to Christianity in Orissa have obtained legal sanction, though the number of Christians in the state is rising fast.

On September 25, 2008 Vidyaram Pandey, the head of an RSS branch in Uttar Pradesh, made the claim that the RSS had reconverted 50,000 Christians so far in the state, India's largest. He added that the RSS would drive all pastors out of Uttar Pradesh in five years.

Pandey's statement offers insight into the timeframe that the RSS has set for its drive against Christians in India. The organization was founded in 1925 and now has about 30 different branches, including the Bharatiya Janata Party, India's principal right-wing political party.

Organizations like the Vishwa Hindu Parishad and the Bajrang Dal, a collection of young, armed radical Hindus, have targeted Christians in the states of Orissa, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Delhi, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, and Rajasthan. The Bajrang Dal rarely targets the rich converts. The poorer Christians are warned to reconvert or lose lives and property. To survive, they reconvert.

The RSS may host a reconversion ceremony up to every fortnight. A typical reconversion ceremony would take about an hour or so. Christians are asked to burn their Bibles first in a bonfire. They then sit in a circle, light incense sticks, and tie red threads to their wrists. The person in charge of the reconversion ceremony, usually a Brahmin, says a short Hindu prayer.

Then, the Christians rise by turn and take a pledge that they have become Hindu, and that their dynasties will perish if they become Christian again. Each of the Christians-turned-Hindus breaks a coconut, and Hindus apply vermilion to the reconverts' foreheads.

The leader chants Hindu mantras and the participants repeat. In the end, they all kneel and place their foreheads on the ground. Weeks later, the reconverts will attend a yagya, a Hindu ritual where they will wear saffron clothes and a sacred thread on their torsos. They will get their heads shaved, and drink cow urine and the water of tulsi (holy basil).





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Displaying 1–5 of 21 comments

TIME

November 21, 2008  2:47pm

The time is growing closer every day, these fanatics are driven by satan and will face their judgement soon! How can any lucid person believe that conversion by threats or death is good? I can't wait for Jesus to set the world straight!

Anonymous

November 21, 2008  2:00pm

Do those Hindu extremists really think their forced re-conversions are truly lasting? This situation reminds me of the parable of the mustard seed. Once planted, mustard plants rapidly spread and are almost impossible to uproot from an area. I Pray for the Indian martyrs

jars

November 18, 2008  4:21am

The whole issue has many sides to it. Although India is a secular democratic country in papers, in practice there is variance. Constitution has provision for any individual to practice or profess his her own faith. But the issue is insecurity among both sides. Christians trying out number games to gain popularity or at times prosperity… a curse. This comes as a reprimand to those who have ‘comodified’ evangelism. Serious issue is caste system for selfishness. What are we praying for or working on? Can we genuinely seek Him for answer than all our small wisdom put together? Let us unite in prayer that those who are worried with the projected religious demography will realize the need for the Savior and not statistics. Similarly, those serving in the name of JC will also do so only for His glory. It is exciting to know that the 'BODY' is shaken. Let us not be weary in doing good even at this time of uncertainty. Appreciate CT for expressing concern & providing space for dialogue

Clinton

November 17, 2008  3:56pm

Alice, it is very easy to say they were not born again unless you were in their position. These people have had their homes burned, their relatives killed, and seen all kinds of atrocities in their lives. The violence and persecution in India is so intense right now that its not even a joke...and the mainstream media does not even care. Plus the US continues to support India and overlook this crime. As an Indian, I am ashamed of what is going on, and my friends tell me the persecution is bad indeed. So I can't see how you can say many of them were not born-again in the first place. Yes, perhaps many feared the sword and have caved in or have departed from the faith. We need to pray for them, for the Lord to strengthen them and help them, to protect them and encourage them and give them courage to stand in the day of trouble. I am pretty sure, you and me would also be tempted to succumb. Only Christ and the Spirit can give us strength. God Bless my Indian brothers & sisters.

Paul Sureshkumar

November 13, 2008  4:29am

The Hindu friends should know that mere conversion is not at all easy. If a person really accept by heart Jesus as their Saviour, then the person's life will be bloom. Hence, God loves every one of us and let us not worry about mere conversion. Let me tell you one secret, almost one or two persons in a family of Hindus are real Christians and one or two persons in Christian families are non-Christians. That is those who are accepted Jesus as their Saviour and leads their life for others are called CHRISTIANS. Partiality should not be there in front of Jesus. There is no caste, creed, colour, sex,....before Christ. Jesus loves you too.

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