In the Hindu-dominant India, Christianity is a minority. However, figures like Mother Teresa have made the religion well-known among the population. Here are some recent news items about Christians in India - some very good, some very bad.
First up, a Kerala nun, Sister Alphonsa, is in the news.
Sister Alphonsa became Saint Alphonsa after she was canonized by Pope Benedict XVI at a ceremony at St. Peter's Square on Oct. 12.
From the Associated Press:
Benedict's predecessor, John Paul II, had beatified Alphonsa during a pilgrimage to India in 1986. Beatification is the last formal step before sainthood, the Church's highest honor for its faithful. Alphonsa, a nun from southern India, was 35 when she died in 1946.
The other new saints are: Gaetano Errico, a Neapolitan priest who founded a missionary order in the 19th century; Sister Maria Bernarda, born Verena Buetler in Switzerland in 1848, who worked as a nun in Ecuador and Colombia; and Narcisa de Jesus Martillo Moran, a 19th century laywoman from Ecuador who helped the sick and the poor.
According to The Economic Times, Sister Alphonsa is the second Indian woman saint from India to be canonised. In the 19th century, Saint Gonsalo Garcia, born in Vasai near Mumbai to an Indian mother and Portuguese father in 1556, was declared a saint.
But in a country where only two percent of the population are Christians and 1.1 billion people Hindus, religious clashes are apparent.
From a NYT/nternational Herald Tribune report by Somini Sengupta:
India, the world's most populous democracy and officially a secular nation, is today haunted by a stark assault on one of its fundamental freedoms. Here in eastern Orissa State, riven by six weeks of religious clashes, Christian families like the Digals say they are being forced to abandon their faith in exchange for their safety.
The clash of faiths has brought panic and destruction throughout these once quiet hamlets fed by paddy fields and jackfruit trees. Here in Kandhamal, the district that has seen the greatest violence, more than 30 people have been killed, 3,000 homes burned and more than 130 churches destroyed, including the tin-roofed Baptist prayer hall where the Digals worshiped. Today it is a heap of rubble on an empty field, where cows blithely graze.
Across this ghastly terrain lie the singed remains of mud-and-thatch homes. Christian-owned businesses have been systematically attacked. Orange flags (orange is the sacred color of Hinduism) flutter triumphantly above the rooftops of houses and storefronts.
Here's an article connecting the two stories. From the BBC:
Marco Tosatti, Vatican correspondent for Italian daily La Stampa, said the canonisation would offer support to Christians in India "who are often subject of persecution and violence by some Hindu groups, for political motives".
Having a 100% Indian saint, Mr Tosatti added, is "a source of pride and shows that Christianity is now deeply rooted in India - it is not something that comes from outside".
Over Forbes.com's opinion channel (run by SAJAer Tunku Varadarajan), Prof. Sumit Ganguly of Indiana University and one of the country's top India experts, analyzes the situation in "The Murder of Christians":
The state government of Orissa, which is responsible for the maintenance of law and order, has failed to act with alacrity to stem the violence. There is an easy explanation for their lackadaisical and callous response to this ongoing tragedy. Christians in Orissa are predominantly converts from either lower castes or from the tribal populations of the state.
More to the point, they constitute a minuscule minority in the state and thereby wield little or no electoral clout. Consequently, despite expressions of outrage in India's vigilant national press and statements of concern on the part of the country's vibrant civil society about the plight of the Christians, the state government has proved to be appallingly complacent.
What do you think? Post your comments below.
