On this blessed day of the advent of the Prince of Peace let the Church declare that it will never again convert any to the Christian fold. That would be peaceful, indeed, for conversion is veritable violence against the soul of man and we all know what methods have been historically adopted to proselytise among the so-called heathens.
Christ was a supremely peaceful personality, so it seems from chronicled accounts and from his self-sacrifice at the Cross for whatever expiation of collective karma of humanity it may have been for. We, of the Indian dharma traditions, do not subscribe to such fantastic notions as Original Sin and the Redemption at the Cross thereof, but Christians believe in it by doctrinaire compulsion of faith. And herein lies the contradiction between the Messiah and his missionaries. While the former suffers to, so to say, 'redeem' humanity, the latter makes humanity suffer thereon -- after themselves suffering Roman persecution for the first three centuries post the Crucifixion -- in their bid to force-spread the message of the Master, much distorted to suit political ends.
Thus began Christian proselytising among heathen nations, using, more often than not, violent methods and causing untold misery on the force-converted. Civilisations were wiped out, genocides perpetrated and bloody battles fought for centuries by a political Church that had little to do with the message of the Master other than to frighten whole populations into spiritual subservience by preaching irrational principles of earth and heaven and hell in his name that ushered in the Dark Ages in Europe.
The progress of Greco-Roman scientific civilisation was brought to a grinding halt as men crouched under the dead weight of the Holy Book, sectionally interpreted to suit political ends. The Reformation and the Renaissance came much later and they also came to pass amidst terrible bloodshed as the Church let loose its medieval might to contain the march of the times.
The question arises -- why has the Catholic Church in especial been so plunged in historical violence? Well, few care to go to roots. The answer lies in the fundamental irrational assumptions of doctrinaire Christianity, its conception of Original Sin, of the fall of Adam and Eve from Paradise, courtesy, the consumption of the forbidden fruit of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, the transmission of the supposed sin through generations thereon and the eventual redemption from it through the sacrifice of the only-begotten Son of God at the Cross. When deeply contemplated, these irrational assumptions, coupled with the gaining of a heavenly residence or a hellish eternal damnation in fire, and the impulsion to multiply in numbers that will adhere to the only true faith that leads to Salvation, all these, compounded with medieval ignorance and a savage urge for terrestrial dominance, made the Catholic Church the most violent institution of religious persecution in the name of the Prince of Peace.
Today, we are in the 21st century and Europe has seen the Renaissance and the Enlightenment in the centuries gone by so much so that the Christian Churches have been much debilitated in their hold on their flock. Of the 1.4 billion registered atheists in the world many are erstwhile Christians, disillusioned with their irrational faith. They have taken to reason as the sovereign principle in their lives and have forsaken their Sunday attendance at Church. Christianity in Europe is on the backfoot thus and is attempting inroads into Asia and Africa, and with not insignificant success. And herein lies the recurrence of its medieval violence as it uproots local faiths and their entwined cultures, especially those of the innocent tribals who know not the wiles of these proselytising missionaries of the Master in whose name they destroy the age-old brewing civilisation of these simple people. And this is violence !
When city-bred people spend the night out partying in the name of the one who hath not where to lay his head on, even when foxes have holes and birds have nests, they ought not to foolishly feed this Christian narrative of peace in the name of the Nazarene nor subscribe to it but ought to guard themselves and their poor brethren everywhere who are daily deluded by proselytising missionaries into converting to their Christian fold at the terrible cost of loss of roots in culture, faith and civilisation.
Therefore, I say, O Pope, time it is to practise what you so eloquently preach -- peace and all that it entails -- and declare before the world this Christmas day that you will no more proselytise, no more practise the sophisticated art of consummate conversion of human beings from their native fold nor the masked methods of a like violence in the name of the Prince of Peace. That, indeed, would be charity, for the first time practised in real earnest in the history of Christianity that would be untainted by aught of gregarious compulsions of a violent order. You know what I mean -- conversion.
To do a Vivekananda again, let me reiterate the Swami's words : Return to Christ !
Written by Sugata Bose
Photo : The Oriental Christ (courtesy, यतिराज पुरी)
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