Denigration of Hindu gods, the real reason for attacks on Mangalore Christians

B D Narayankar

Archbishop of Bangalore Bernard Moras has every right to feel wounded and criticize Karnataka Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa for the recent attacks on churches in the state.

The Archbishop was furious over Yediyurappa for his government’s failure to curb attacks on churches. In Bangalore, the St James church in Mariammanapalya near Hebbal and the Church of Holy Name of Jesus in Rajarajeshwarinagar were desecrated by miscreants. “What will you do if one of your temples is destroyed?” the Bangalore Archbishop had argued when Yediyuappa called on him.

Any peace-loving citizen of India would sympathize with Bernard Moras for the attacks on churches. But what led to the attacks, the Archbishop should mull over seriously, as no Hindu would go berserk without any reason.

The Western-bent Indian media had so far highlighted the atrocities and attacks on churches perpetrated by Hindus, but no single news channel or English daily has written a word on the high-voltage communal pamphlets "Satya Darshini" distributed by Mangalore-based missionaries of New Life, which denigrated Hindu gods in the foulest of languages. Paper cuttings of these stories are uploaded on http://greathindu.com.

Here are some of the passages -

* Urvashi, Lord Vishnu's daughter, is a prostitute. Vashistha this prostitute's son. He, in turn, married his own mother. Such a degraded person Hindu God Rama's guru. (page 48)

* When Krishna himself is wallowing in darkness of hell, how can he enlighten others? Since, Krishna himself is a shady character, there is a need for us to liberate his misled followers (page 50).

* It was Brahma himself who kidnapped Sita. Since Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva were themselves the victims of lust, it is a sin to consider them as Gods (page 39).

* When the Trinity of Hinduism (Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva) are consumed by lust and anger, how can they liberate others. Their projection as Gods is nothing but a joke (page 39).

* When Vishnu asked Brahma to commit a sin, he immediately did so. How can such an “evil Brahma” be a Creator of this Universe? How is it possible for both the sinner and the entity which provoked the sin to be gods? (page 39).

• God, please liberate the sinful people of India who are worshipping False Gods that believe in the pleasures of illicit ‘Vyabichari’ relationships (page 39).

In this scenario, Indian citizens, especially Hindus, would like to know from Bangalore Archbishop about what he feels about denigrating Hindu gods by New Life missionaries. Aren’t the New Life missionaries provoking majority Hindus? The Archbishop should explain.

The distribution of these pamphlets caused the Hindu backlash in Mangalore. Though the Christian community may distance itself from New Life activities, they are supporting it by protesting in a big way as if to condone their unethical activities.