[Vision2020] Persecution of Christians in India, Sri Lanka, and Iraq

Wed Nov 12 12:43:58 PST 2008

Hi Nick, These are terrible examples of the polarizing effects that organized religions can have on people and we can only hope that others will come to realize and recognize the harmful effects of teaching that there can be only one religion.  I'm curious if you have the stats of exactly how many Iraqi refugees the U.S. has actually admitted to date.  Last I heard it was only about 1300 vs. the thousands that other countries have accepted.  Do you suppose it is entirely based on fear of the different culture and why is that in a country that is supposed to be about accepting others as they are?

I'm also wondering if you have any clips or transcripts of a speech the Dali Lama gave at the end of a major buddist religious festival in India where he proclaims (paraphrased) that "Hindu, Buddist, Muslim or Christian, it's all the same.  Our differences do not matter.  You're for inner-self, We're for outer-self.  It's all ok.  The goal of all the world's religions is to serve one purpose, the betterment of mankind, the spread of peace to all." 

It was something to that effect that I saw in a documentary about the festival on LinkTV and had to save to show my wife but didn't pirate to my computer, as I wish I would have.  There were many other inspiring words made from individual Buddist priests and one African with a plate in his lip that really made a profound statement that I wish I could repeat here about how to look at other cultures and religions and how they relate to eachother vs. their differences.

Keep doing what you do do!

Don
> From: vision2020-request at moscow.com> Subject: Vision2020 Digest, Vol 29, Issue 149> To: vision2020 at moscow.com> Date: Wed, 12 Nov 2008 11:29:52 -0800> > Send Vision2020 mailing list submissions to> vision2020 at moscow.com> > To subscribe or unsubscribe via the World Wide Web, visit> http://mailman.fsr.com/mailman/listinfo/vision2020> or, via email, send a message with subject or body 'help' to> vision2020-request at moscow.com> > You can reach the person managing the list at> vision2020-owner at moscow.com> > When replying, please edit your Subject line so it is more specific> than "Re: Contents of Vision2020 digest..."> > > Today's Topics:> > 1. Persecution of Christians in India, Sri Lanka, and Iraq> (nickgier at roadrunner.com)> > > ----------------------------------------------------------------------> > Message: 1> Date: Wed, 12 Nov 2008 14:29:45 -0500> From: <nickgier at roadrunner.com>> Subject: [Vision2020] Persecution of Christians in India, Sri Lanka,> and Iraq> To: vision2020 at moscow.com> Message-ID:> <17201407.2140271226518185822.JavaMail.root at cdptpa-web20-z01>> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8"> > Greetings:> > Some on this list and many of my Idaho State Journal readers accuse me of being anti-Christian. A close reading of my work on religion and theology (check it out at www.class.uidaho.edu/ngier/religion.htm) should dispel that myth, but my critics are not ones for close reading.> > Here is my radio commentary and column for this week, which I hope will further prevent future misunderstandings along these lines. Please note the fascinating ancient connection between Iraqi and Indian Christians. > > The attached PDF file has much more, including the fact that the Swedes have taken in 70,000 Iraqi refugees. Read about one town of 60, 000 who took in twice as many Iraqi refugees as the entire U.S. accepted in 2006.> > Nick Gier> > THE PERSECUTION OF CHRISTIANS IN INDIA, SRI LANKA, AND IRAQ> > As part of my 1992-93 sabbatical experience, I lived for three months in a small cell at a monastery in Bangalore, India. The brothers there called themselves St. Thomas Christians, because they claim that their ancestors were converted by this itinerant saint only a few decades after the death of Jesus. > > It is a wonderful story, but historical evidence places the first Christians in India no earlier than the 3rd Century A.D. The Hindus welcomed these foreigners with open arms, and gave them lands on which to settle and build their churches.> > The first persecution of these Indian Christians was in the 16th Century at the hands of fellow believers. Invading Portuguese Roman Catholics insisted, at the point of the sword, that Indian priests divorce their wives and submit to the pope in Rome. In the face of superior fire power they reluctantly became Roman Catholics.> > Today Christians make up 19 percent of the population of the southwest state of Kerala, where they still live in peace with their Hindu neighbors. Hindu-Christian relations, however, are not so good in other parts of India. The western state of Orissa has been the focus of persecution of Christians for several years. Hindu fundamentalists there objected to all missionary activity, and they were successful in passing a state law that prohibited religious conversions. > > On January 22, 1999, Australian missionary Graham Staines and his two sons were burned alive while they were sleeping in their station wagon. In August and September of this year, as many as 40 Christians were killed in riots that erupted after the assassination of a Hindu religious leader. Christians were wrongly accused of the crime.> > In nearby Sri Lanka the rise of Buddhist fundamentalism has led to attacks against both Muslims and Christians. From 2002 to 2007 there were 320 reported cases of arson against churches and homes and physical assaults on individual Christians. > > On July 6th of this year 500 Buddhists surrounded Calvary Church northeast of the capital Colombo. The Christian Post reported that ?the mob, including monks, entered the church and completely destroyed everything within, leaving only the walls standing.? > > Since the U.S. invasion of Iraq, Christians there have been under constant pressure by Islamic militants. Numbering about 800,000 before 2003, these Chaldean Christians, also called Assyrian Christians, go all the way back to the beginnings of their religion. > Before they became Roman Catholics, they shared the same Patriarch of Babylon as the early Indian Christians, who also called themselves Syrian Christians.> > In his attempts to move more Arabs into the Kurdish North Saddam Hussein did relocate many Chaldeans Christians, but there were no major persecutions. For many years Hussein's foreign minister was the Christian Tariq Aziz. > > On August 7, 2007 the Catholic News Service declared that Iraqi Christians were much safer under Hussein's dictatorship, and an editorial from the Assyrian Christian International New Agency accuses the U.S. of destroying Christianity in Iraq.> > In February of 2008 the Archbishop of Mosul was kidnapped and held for ransom. In March his body was found in a shallow grave outside of Mosul.> > There used to be 20,000 Christians living in Mosul, but 13,000 have fled the city, 3,000 alone last month. That same time seven Christians were found shot to death, and many others have been kidnapped and held for ransom. > > Gandhi and the Dalai Lama have shown that their great religions do not have to imitate many Christians and Muslims, who prefer to pit their religion against others and to fuse religious and national identities, something Asian religions did not do in pre-colonial times. > > Ironically, many American fundamentalists would not consider their Chaldean brethren real Christians, and they would want to convert them, just as evangelical missionaries try to do with Roman Catholic Indians. > > One of my Catholic friends in Bangalore complained bitterly about Pentecostals who had gone through the villages that he had converted in Northeast India re-baptizing the same people he had already baptized.> > In 1999 the Southern Baptist Convention issued a pamphlet that instructed their 14 million members to pray that Hindus "realize the darkness of their souls." Nimrod Christian, head of India's Methodists, declared that "the pamphlet's language is objectionable and unfair. One cannot preach by annoying others." > > As I have shown in this column, religious fundamentalists have gone far beyond mere annoyance, and they should stop and consider applying the Golden Rule to their outrageous and destructive behavior.> > -------------- next part --------------> A non-text attachment was scrubbed...> Name: ChristPer1278.pdf> Type: application/pdf> Size: 90282 bytes> Desc: not available> Url : http://mailman.fsr.com/pipermail/vision2020/attachments/20081112/57c172d4/attachment.pdf > > ------------------------------> > =======================================================> List services made available by First Step Internet, > serving the communities of the Palouse since 1994. > http://www.fsr.net > mailto:Vision2020 at moscow.com> =======================================================> > End of Vision2020 Digest, Vol 29, Issue 149> *******************************************
_________________________________________________________________
Windows Live Hotmail now works up to 70% faster.
http://windowslive.com/Explore/Hotmail?ocid=TXT_TAGLM_WL_hotmail_acq_faster_112008
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://mailman.fsr.com/pipermail/vision2020/attachments/20081112/aa3f8ec6/attachment.html 