An article in Indolink today caught my eye because it examines something very familiar to most SM readers, Christian Evangelicals attempting to convert Hindus, except in a very different context than usual. The setting of these conversions isn’t rural India but American college campuses:
…there is increasing evidence that Christian evangelical groups are aggressively targeting Hindu students in American college campuses for conversion.
In fact, a sampling of Asian American-identified evangelical fellowship websites reveals mission statements targeting Asian and Asian American students for outreach and membership, while simultaneously affirming a non-race-specific evangelical identity.
There is evidence that large numbers of Asian American college students are turning to a personal relationship with Jesus Christ through the encouragement and support of national and local prayer and Bible study organizations. Alongside the large national organizations, there are numerous local bible studies and fellowships that are often sponsored by local churches and are ethnic specific…One reason for the present renewed aggressive effort is that, unlike other Asian Americans, Hindu-Americans have staunchly resisted efforts at conversion. Also, unlike other Asian Americans who are becoming increasingly associated with evangelical Christianity on college campuses, Hindu-Americans have their own campus groups such as Hindu Students Federation.
Nevertheless, evangelical “parachurch” organizations like Campus Crusade for Christ (CCC), The Navigators, and IVCF are soliciting large numbers of students to their weekly bible studies, prayer meetings, and social events. There is no doubt that Asian Americans – especially Korean and Chinese – are becoming increasingly associated with evangelical Christianity on the college campus. The hope is that Indian-Americans will follow suit. [Link]
I don’t particularly care if someone that follows Hinduism decides to convert to Christianity. The idea that someone is born into a religion has always seemed rather silly to me, as does a notion I have previously read on our comment boards which declares that “white people can be real Hindus.” Religion should be a personal choice. In the context of America you definitely can’t accuse Evangelicals of taking advantage of poor or illiterate people. College students aren’t typically poor (although most are now illiterate). The real reason I found this article interesting is that it contained strategy advice on how-to, and how-not-to convert a Hindu.
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“Do not criticize or condemn Hinduism. …. Criticizing Hinduism can make us feel we have won an argument; it will not win Hindus to Jesus Christ…Never allow a suggestion that separation from family and/or culture is necessary in becoming a disciple of Christ. …Avoid all that even hints at triumphalism and pride. …Do not speak quickly on hell, or on the fact that Jesus is the only way for salvation. …Never hurry. Any pushing for a decision or conversion will do great harm. …. Even after a profession of Christ is made, do not force quick changes regarding pictures of gods, charms, etc. …Do not force Christian ideas into passages of Hindu scripture. … Empathize with Hindus. …. Learn to think as the Hindu thinks, and feel as he feels…. Those who move seriously into Christian work among Hindus need to become more knowledgeable in Hinduism than Hindus themselves are…A new believer should be warned against making an abrupt announcement to his or her family, since that inflicts great pain and inevitably produces deep misunderstanding……” [Link]
That’s some good stuff. It’s like finding a general’s battle plans. 🙂
Christian evangelist Rajendra Pillai of Clarksburg, Md. adds a few more specific pointers:
Pillai observes, “We can effectively reach Asian-Indians by knowing a little about their culture, beliefs and practices. First and foremost, we need to learn as much as possible about Hinduism.”
And he offers the following pointers:
“The Indian culture is highly collectivist. This means that most Indians will consider their acceptance of the Gospel in light of how it will impact their families and friends. There is also a strong possibility of being rejected by family members if a person changes his or her religion. Chances are you will not get an immediate response. Be prepared to walk with and support your Indian friend if he or she wrestles spiritually.
“As Indians come from a collectivist society and yearn for community, many will be open to coming to church if it means being a part of a community where people are genuinely concerned about each other. You might start by inviting them to less-threatening events outside of a Sunday church service.
“Most Asian-Indians yearn for community. Coming from a collectivist society, they have a tough time adjusting to the American individualistic culture. This is where Christians can step in, and the church can become the community they are seeking…” [Link]
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Nobody better try and turn the comment section into anti-Christian rants. That isn’t what this post is about. I find strategic plans fascinating whether they be military, political, or business related. I found this article educational because it shows a religious strategy laid bare. It is also something that many of us who walk across college campuses every day see in action.
Rajendra Pillai
isn’t pillai often a christian name? i went to some intervarsity meetings to meet chix in college and the brownz were usually from christian backgrounds as opposed to converts (some were adopted).
re: asian american youth & evangelical christian, the reason this is such a big deal is that the base was really low, asian americans are the least religiously affiliated of ethno-racial groups, so penetration is easy. that doesn’t mean that most asian americans are evangelicals, the vocal minority just is really prominent. many asian immigrants become “buddhist” in the USA because it is normal here to be part of a religious community. in south asia, obviously the situation is different, explaining why christians have a harder time gaining traction since they have to face a group that has a strong religio-communal identity already.
when i was in school in middle-of-nowhere, wisconsin, the school’s christian fellowship used to pray for us “misguided nonbelievers” (aka the non-christian international students) at each one of their weekly meetings…
in fact, speaking of strategy, they used to meet in the school union’s lounge (the only place you could smoke – and we all know who smokes the most) and pray quite loudly and in unison. not-so-subtle strategy there! i think they may have managed to convert one or two chinese students. the rest of us desis used to just laugh at our “misguided-ness” and have another smoke…
You could just as well dig into the game-plans of British missionaries in pre-Independence India. After all, one of the euphemistic goals of the British empire was to liberate the brown souls from ignorance.
The Campus evangelicals however have to contend with the guile of Indian students on campus. I had a friend on campus who joined the Bible study course because the girl teaching it was really hot. It was a bonus that he was the only person in her group.
I guess this has been going on for a long time. You should read Mahatma Gandhi’s autobiography. He has described various such attempts during his stay in England when he went to study law to get to convert him to Christianity. Maybe that experience later prompted him to come out against proselytyzing really forcefull.
Seems like the 4 times or so i have been approached by badalos in US they seem to be getting better 1st couple of time it was in high school by amatuer kids. Incidentaly both were koreans. the other 2 times, once i was appraoched by a desi guy in a univerities library. He said his name was Raju and gave his pitch so i told him come on lets to saudi arabia and convert there. Last time was last year when i was sitting in a park w/ a sikh friend. It was w/ a white woman who spoke broken hindi and punjabi and did say sat sri akal to my sikh friend before giving us the pitch. I told her she had to do a lot of homework on being a saleswoman.
in first grade at a christian school i was taunted as the devils child..
in college they invited me to a party…but albeit a chritian meet up of sorts trying to convert through ‘non threatening’ methods…
What kind of “non-threatening” methods did they use chick pea?
targeting as a ‘bbq/party’ not as a ‘place of conversion’.. so kind of a misleading experience to say the least.. i felt the heat the moment i entered..and exited quickly.
Being the enthu kind, in my first year at the univ here I promptly signed up for some of the activities advertised at the International Students Office on campus. One was with a group with an innocuous name like “Friends International” or some such thing…and I signed up to go with a host American lady to the LA County Fair. We had an utterly fun day, the two of us…but at some point I realized that, while she was genuinely very nice and out to be a good ‘host’ to a newcomer in her country, there was a definite agenda 🙂 i.e. what she most wanted to do was talk to me about Christ 🙂 and sign me up for activities with her (Christian) group. I remember feeling a little let-down when I realized this, but I liked her and thought I had made a fun friend…but sadly, since I told her that I am not into religion at all she lost all interest in me (we had said we’d continue to be friends, and I did call a few times after that). Oh well. Since then I’m VERY careful to really carefully check the fine print of any group before I sign up for an activity :(. The pity of it is that the evangelist lot (being master marketeers plus funding!) have the funnest free activities …dances, going sailing, the zoo etc but I’ve never felt comfortable going along for any of them.
It’s not just the Christians who want to reserve the right to save your heathen ass.
I wouldn’t mind so much if these groups were upfront about what they are doing (but then, of course, someone like me would just not sign up for an activity). The problem is they get people to sign up by using altruistic/innocuous platforms and initially totally downplaying the very clear agenda they have. Really dislike that combination of sneakiness, arrogance and complacency!
Apart from the Hare Krishnas who walk around in saffron and the Bhagvad Gita in public places (and I can’t help but notice that they are predominantly white Hare Krishnas), I wonder what a “strategy memo for conversion” would be like for Hindus in America who seek to proselytize Protestant Americans??
Another ethnic group that has been targeted for conversion are the Cambodian refugees. Yes. The Mormon Church has aggressively pursued Cambodian refugees in America to embrace the Mormon Church. For those who are interested, read Aihwa Ong’s book The Buddha is Hiding.
Its different as there is no real analog of word religion in india(and elsewhere too). Dharma and religion are different. PS check out what ‘religion’ did the ‘hindus’ of cambodia belong too and contrast that w/ bali.
Most of them were not converted via any proselytization…There is an organization called ISKCON which started most of the hare krishna movement in north america…A lot of them are transitory birds whith no nest and found some ritual aspect appealing.
But we can expect more bobby jindals than more hare krishnas.
e should have the right to convert to another faith.
wuz wrong with that?
a lot of xtians around her dress like ‘hip’ street kids. dress like the locals….
GGK:
I know about the ISKCON. I’m not talking about the Hare Krishnas as converts, but the Hare Krishnas that attempt to convert people, one of their strategies being to stand in front of the gates at airport terminals to greet arriving passengers with copies of the Bhagvad Gita. What I meant to say was, apart from the Hare Krishnas who seek to convert others, what would another Hindu group/organization’s “strategy memo for conversion”, targeting Protestants specifically, look like?
You’ll have to ask the Hare Krishnas since they seem to have picked up their cues from the evangelicals and insist that Krisha is the only way.
The concept of conversion is absurd in the Hindu context since one is free to worship anyone and anything. I always tell the missionaries that I already include Jesus in my pantheon. This does not go over very well with them, specially when I add that our pantheon includes not just the assorted gods and goddesses but also serpents and other animals, and depending on the occasion even our pens and books, not to mention the local streams and mountains, the rain and the clouds and in fact the entire earth.
In Japan too people belong to many different religions simultaneously – buddhism, shinto, tao. Hindus tend to have a similar outlook, not feeling compelled to accept just one religion.
It was the seventies. My wife and I were starving grad students. Cooking a proper Indian meal back then, sans spices, in the middle of Florida was considered quite a feat. The Hare Krishnas came to our rescue every day. In return for listening to their exhortations on how to be a good “Krishna bhakt” or whatever they called their model citizens, we received four “puris” made in pure ghee, a scoop of vegetables and another one of halwa. They were our on-campus meal ticket. And we didn’t even have to convert to an alien religion to survive.
Yes and No. If you buy that buddhism shito and taoism are religions. Religion is a judaism inspired idea, where as being a hindu is not the same.
Floridian:
Chho, chho sveet of them! A sorts of community outreach, or community service, if you will.
But I get the feeling that you’ve been traumatized by this experience. Is this true? Am I correct to assume so?
Only four puris though? How big were they? That’s not a lot. I mean, beggars can’t be choosers, but still. What do you do with four puris?
Wait a minute, you’re not talking about prashad time, are you? Like when we sit in a row Indian-style and fellas with big pails of daal, subji, shikand, and rice come by one by one to plop food onto our plates?
If i had a penny for every time i was approached by people looking to convert me at grad school ….
The best was a recent attempt by the LDS – 2 really young guys knocked on my apt. It was late afternoon and i had just woken up from a nap and feeling rather like a good debate. I invited them in, let them make their pitch. And then asked them what the Pope thought of them and would they be willing to repent for their sins for deviating from the catholic church 🙂 And then i changed track and handed them “Chariots of the Gods” in return for accepting their version of the bible 😀
I haven’t heard from them since.
I agree. Just didn’t feel like getting into the hinduism-is-not-a-religion debate.
When two Jehovah’s witnesses rang our door bell, I briskly told them, “No, thanks. In this house, we are Sikh and Hindu”. One of them said, “Oh, I’m sorry to hear that. For how long?” I petulantly told them “Why are you sorry? We have been this way for a long time.” He then replied, “May I ask why and since when?” I snapped back, “Look, Hinduism is older than Christianity, and Sikhism is centuries old as well. Christianity is not the only religion in the world, you know. And to answer your question as to why we’re Sikh and Hindu, it is because we just happened to grow up that way and we are content with who we are”. Then, comprehension dawned on them– “Ohhhhh, when you said “Sikh” you didn’t mean “sick”?
You do know that Chariot of the Gods has been exposed by the BBC as fiction and pseudoscience, don’t you?;-)
I feel denied. Why don’t they target members of my peaceful religion of peace and tolerance? The solution to this Hindu-American problem is, quite clearly, the introduction of a ‘death to apostates’ clause (with stoning as the preferred method of execution) in Hinduism.
(Incidentally, I noticed that most of the World Vision child sponsorships available in Bangladesh are for Hindu children. And then I heard that children need to either convert to xtianity or participate in xtian activities to qualify. Is this a global trend?)
happend one afternoon in uni … i think i was making eggplant bharta that day and was cutting a large onion with an industrial sized knife – i had a new roomie – white dude – so the bell rings – i see an older sober looking couple – being the nice fellow i am – i say “HAAiiii!!! How are you!!! Come on in… ” etc. thinking they are roomie’s folks helping him move in. “I think chuck/chad/buck/phil/whatever has gone to the rental office, would you like to come in”. I realized they looked rather hesitant. I looked down and I was still holding that cleaver thingie. Well, to make it short, it was a short visit they handed me their little bible and flew out of the door pretty fast. works every time… friendly people are scarier than angry people… odd eh?
I noticed that most of the World Vision child sponsorships available in Bangladesh are for Hindu children.
i have read xtian missioanry literature on this issue. the powers that be in bangladesh don’t care if hindus convert to christianity, but there is serious fear of violence if missionaries target muslims (some of the literature then goes onto describe how to ‘stealth preach’ and shit). they just go where the picking is good. same thing in malaysia, targeting hindus and buddhists and daoists, etc., is kosher, but not muslims. the funniest thing though i have found re: muslims and missionaries is that in many arab countries the missionaries end up preaching to local christians, people whose families have probably been christian for around 1500 years or more!!! needless to say, the eastern churches aren’t pleased 🙂
Obviously non-Western christians aren’t christian enough. They’re pagan savages, the lot of them!
I too had my fair share of Jehovah’s witnesses knocking on my door..or stopping me on the sidewalk. I don’t have any problems with them as long as they try to “sell” their stuff….but I can’t stand the fact that they try to demean other religions at times. Once I had a 10-15 min discussion with a couple of them..and tried to explain them that I was a tough nut to crack..a hindu..who believes in 100000 gods, worships cows, “don’t eat no meat” and worships sun, air, fire etc.
Aside: Many of the good schools in Indian cities are run by Catholic missionaries. I studied in one such school..for 10 years. Not once did I feel that they tried to “convert” us.
I’m so sad that I don’t have attempted conversion stories to share… well, there was that j-hova who had an incessant crush on me! Really… same boy every Sunday, coincidence? Yah right! I think we’re all hip to that game. (or was it the inverse? did i have the crush? did I tease him by gently grazing his thumb knuckle while reaching for that pamphlet?)
Anyway, to compensate, I offer you Lambuel, a good Christian flock-member on a mission to save children from the fates of poor souls such as Habu…
I fear our local Tabligs more than the Jehovah’s witnesses. They always seem to materialise at the most inopportune time e.g. Friday night, right before we are about to go out and I am 100% convinced that if one lies to them (‘yes yes brother, we will go to the mosque tmrw’) they use some evil form of wizardry to ruin one’s weekend.
I had the same experience at my Catholic high school.
I think it’s lovely and touching. Almost the exact opposite of religious bigotry. Take the anti-semite; an anti-semite would hate a jew even if he were an athiest. His hatred has nothing to do with the religion per se, but rather it is almost a racialization of the religion. In other words, the religious bigot hates people b/c of an accident of birth. Thus to recruit people to your religion regardless of birth is an act of love, not hatred.
In a world where “the other” is so hated; this behaviour is a nice counterpoint.
isn’t christianity pretty diverse any way? the asian christians i know are not oppressed. during colonialism i can see missionary work maybe was ominous. but nowdays…….honestly i think it gives people a voice sometimes that they didn’t otherwise have. don’t african christians have pull in the episcopalian and catholic churches? is christianity a “foreign” religion in india?
ha… you were lucky.. i went to a school run by some spanish priests and within a year i had taken up saying three hail mary’s and three our father’s before sleeping and had read the bible twice and memorized the catechism of christian doctrine… but like ggk pointed out earlier… at no point did i feel a moral conflict … or that i was selling out… i just had great role models i looked up to at the school … my old teacher taught me penmanship… another introduced me to rugby (ow!) … i guess it’s part of my (hindic?) upbringing to just … well absorb like a giant sponge… on my terms… and my experiences were much better than this fellow here.
on campus, i usually have to contend with an inordinate number of faithfuls talking to me about hell. 🙂 it is usually annoying when you are running someplace and this bloke tries to stop you.
you know what is worse? some guy who “teaches” me about intelligent design. they even have a institute for ID in my school. and we claim to be a good univ!
and what is worse than that? the friendly guy in the grocery store who speaks kannada (so happy whenever i meet anyone i can speak to in my mother tongue) but then nudges the conversation to AMWAY. that is betrayal.
I agree with GGK that religion is not the same as Dharma/Philosophy/way of life and it is so difficult to reconcile the Eastern philosophy to western religion because lot of the eastern concepts don’t exist in the west and there is no equivalent language to descibe these ideas. The western academicians and their eastern followers have/are doing a great disservice to Hinduism/Buddhism/Taoism/Confucian etc by modeling them using the concepts of semitic religions.
oh the fond memories….my father being told by a student that he was going directly to hell after giving a lecture on Hinduism at school. the cheery jehovah witness who waxed eloquently about Gandhi until i reminded him that the mahatma said in his autobiography (someone else mentioned it) that he would outlaw proselytization if he had the power to do so. and so many more.
missionary battle plans would be impressive if they weren’t so detestable and a little repulsive. one particular one i read about involves a step-by-step plan to convert the people – sculptors, builders, artisans and so forth – who build Hindu temples. the idea being that once they are converted, an important tradition will have died out and this will result in fewer temples being built. a how-to guide on how to destroy and undermine another religion. how charming.
after last year’s tsunami, the ICC held a charity tsunami cricket match involving all the top players from all the top cricket powers. unfortunately the money they charged viewers went solely to world vision’s tsunami recovery efforts. considering that all of the countries affected were predominantly non-christian and given world vision’s unclear stance on using their aid work to proselytize, this was really odd. they could have given the money to the red cross, unicef or several other non-affiliated groups.
No kidding, Abhi. I felt like I happened upon a verse from Sun Tzu. Especially the bits that refer to “the Hindu”…it conveniently depersonifies the individual and “others” him…all very Art of War-ish.
Indians are generally considered quite religious. But one thing that binds us together is our diversity. – a hindu majority with a sikh prime minister, muslim president and a christian leader of the majority party.
I’m a hindu who studied in a Catholic school situated in a city known for its Muslim culture (Lucknow) and used to have free ‘langars’ (community lunch) at the guruduwara :). Never had any kind of friction visiting temples, masjids, gurudwaras or churches. did I miss something ?
@brown_fob
a lot of entertainment.
Isn’t the broader problem with conversion, particularly religions that advocate conversion or “spreading the message” that they assume their theological institution and its development is universal and doesn’t have unique anthropological origins. Of course, if one assumes that the message is divine and has heavenly origins, then enter some sort of sel-fulfilling, circular-thinking fallacy because you’ve ignored that every other group of people have formed their own theology and is intricately related to their economics (dry, desert agrarian vs. lush, green temperate), their culture, their development. All of this compounded further when you factor in the primacy and power of monotheism which was detailed in Kirsch’s God Against the Gods: The History of the War Between Monotheism and Polytheism.
Jomo Kenyatta‘s classic Facing Mount Kenya highlighted this point with respect to the Gikuyu.
In reponse to Manju, no I don’t think it’s “lovely and touching” and I do think its bigoted because the assumptions made about one’s own religion are categorically wrong in relation to the assumptions made about the other’s religion. Know thyself before becoming preachy.
Furthermore, if Jews weren’t “racialized”, then why do geneticists study Ashkenazi Jews? IIRC, the Ashkenazi has had less variance in their gene pool primarily due to lineage requirements, no? The race is uniquely intertwined with the religion is it not?
@bytewords
indeed.
HIndutvavadi in Ca:
I know what you are trying to say here, but “western religion”, ie Christianity, is not really western in its origins. Christianity is an “Eastern” religion, seeing that it was born in Palestine. But yes, usually when we think of Christianity, we tend to think of the “West” since Western Christianity is the predominant strand of Christianity that now runs through the globe.
I can understand the religious person’s dilemma though – it’s just a natural response to “what about the unfortunate people who weren’t born into righteous religion X and will go to hell?” Both Christianity and Islam place great importance in the need to convert the heathens hence there is a higher proportion of annoying people from said religions.
brownfob:
No, you didn’t miss anything. I’ve had similar experiences; as a Hindu, I’ve gone to gurdwara, Church, masjids , Buddhist temples, and probably other things that I can’t remember right now. I’ve never had a problem.
NyukNyuk:
I agree. Religions do tend to “racialize” (the idea that someone is born into a religion) themselves though society has been queesy to call this “racism” as it is not really born out of hate. Charles Murray studied Jews as a “race” in his controversial book about intelligence–even while acknowledging that race is an artificial construct. That “race is uniquely intertwined with the religion” as you say is true, and this is precisely my point about this behavior being “lovely and touching”…these christians are de-racializing religion.
They are doing nothing more than you and I are doing right now…asking others to accept our beliefs as true, ie universal. To ask religious people to concede that their “theological institution and its development” is not universal and has “unique anthropological origins” is asking them to sieze to be religious. To say their failure to acknowledge this is bigotry would make bigots out of everyone, minus the relativists (who could also theoretically be called bigots b/c they believe relativism is universal). It all gets quite absurd…like your name.
I don’t mind people converting. But, why do I get the feeling that Jindal had political motives when he converted…
i think converting is silly. in the most non-judgmental way possible. religion, for me, is synonymous with culture/heritage/i’m as much muslim as i am brownie, as i am woman.
religions are all different paths to the same goal. walk the road less travelled. does it need a name, a guide or road signs for the journey to be valuable??
Manju:
Nonsense. They are targeting those they deem theologically and spiritually inferior. If this wasn’t about power and more about righteousness, you’d have to wipe out 90% of the historical record regarding conversion. Even today, religion/theology, in all its various forms from Abrahamic to dharma, has its own politics and is susceptible to having its message cannabilized by power and indoctrination. This is not de-racialization but a realization that Europe is no longer the center of Christian power, and if the Church seeks to be relevant, it must build a congregation in the America’s and Asia. It’s a political response mired by a superiority complex.
I certainly hope I am not asking you to believe my points. I am not so audacious to think my beliefs are universal. What I do believe, however, is that enormous logical fallacies are littered within the polity & theology of religion and these fallacies need to be uncovered in reasoned discussion. Asking someone to believe your point is not an element of reasoned discussion.
You are also confusing universal truths with the perceived universality of an entire religious dogma, history and its subsequent universal application. The latter is ignorance, not a jaunt in relativism.
the people with the social power nowdays are not the one’s converting people. you’re getting people who aren’t all that socially powerful who, in their own way, think they are doing the good thing. maybe there’s some people who think different, but some evangelicals really are trying to do what they think is a loving act. the black church is willing to try to tell people about religion as much as the anyone else. i think there’s people who don’t concieve of christianity as a racialized religion anymore. it can be said that christianity, nowdays is one of the more multi-racial social movements going
NyukNyuk:
I don’t doubt this but the key words are “theologically and spiritually,” as oppossed to racially. The christians want you to become their spiritual equal, while the real bigot (say a racist) would never accept you as an equal.
Sahej’s point: “the people with the social power nowdays are not the one’s converting people” also exposes a critical departure from “90% of the historical record regarding conversion.” Conversions and colonialism are no longer intertwined as they once were. Plus, in the context of US universties, becoming an evangelical christian would hardly put you among the social elite. Among the socio-eonomic/ political elite in the US in general, Christian Evangelicals are at best only one of many competing groups.