On Religion

I only packed one book for this trip. Mostly, I didn’t want to have to lug around a bunch of books (as I am want to do) the whole trip, especially ones that I would like to keep permanently. Thus, my book of choice was an archeological fiction piece that I plan to leave behind for whoever else would like a book.

The only real problem being that the book barely lasted me through week one (lots of time on airplanes makes for short reads). A few days ago I managed to stumble into a bookstore as I was out ‘n about for a bit. Mostly I was excited to get some good maps of the area in anticipation of the touristy stuff to come when I leave. That said, I of course spent a few hours browsing and ended up with an English translation of Mahatma Gandhi’s Autobiography. Best part yet is that it cost 30 Rupees or 75 cents. Perfect.
Below is an excerpt from the book that is an interesting perspective about turn of the century Christianity here in India. Unfortunately, it appears that such an impression was not an isolated incident in India’s past with concern for Christians proselytizing in India...

“I developed a sort of dislike for [Christianity]. And for a reason. In those days Christian missionaries used to stand in a corner near the high school and hold forth, pouring abuse on Hindus and their gods. I could not endure this. I must have stood there to hera them once only, but that was enough to dissuade me from repeating the experiment. About that time, I heard of a well-known Hindu having been converted to Christianity. It was the talk of the town that, when he was baptized, he had to eat beef and drink liquor, that he also had to change his clothes, and thenceforth he began to go about in European costume including a hat. These things got on my nerves. Surely, thought I, a religion that compelled one to eat beef, drink liquor, and change one’s own clothes did not deserve such the name. I also heard that the new convert had already begun abusing the religion of his ancestors, their customs and their country. All these things created in me a dislike for Christianity.”

India is incredibly amazing when it comes to religions. While most of the population is Hindi, there is a general understanding of other religions and an openness to allowing others to worship as they desire. We could learn a lot about what it means to be hospitable towards others of different faiths and open to dialoguing along such lines. There is still a common understanding that for Christianity it is necessary to adopt a certain culture (read British Imperial Christianity from the turn of the century), but even with that backdrop, I have been warmly welcomed and people are genuinely interested in talking about faith and religion.