India denies visa to American religious freedom watchdog USCIRF
India denies visa to American religious freedom watchdog USCIRF
By our correspondent
Ahmedabad,DeshGujarat, 17 June, 2009
In a welcome step, A US Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) delegation has been denied visa to visit India. The Christian influenced American panel was to travel India on June 12 to check the state of religious freedom in Gujarat and Orissa. Christian Missionaries were especially eager to receive USCIRF.
An associate at the commission told the Times of India, “They knew we had tickets for June 12 and the visas are yet to be given, so the inference is obvious…they don’t want us to visit”.
The US Commission on International Religious Freedom was never allowed to visit India before. Governments led by P V Narasimha Rao, H D Deve Gowda, Inder Kumar Gujral and Atal Bihari Vajpayee never allowed such institutions to sit in judgment on India regarding human rights. Earlier this year, the BJP had opposed granting permission to USCIRF to visit India.
Objections were also raised by various government officers to the “vitiated” method of reporting by the US-based body.
Early this year, Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi was singled out in the Christian influenced USCIRF report on religious freedom as the only person denied renewal of visa to enter to America under a special law.
According to the TOI report, Obama administration too did not press for the visit as US Undersecretary of State William Burns was in New Delhi, preparing ground for the visit to India by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in July.
June 17th, 2009 at 1:24 pm
Excellent news. Thanks in advance to the Consulate General of India in USA. THANK YOU.
June 17th, 2009 at 2:37 pm
Why Media is giving so much importance to USCIRF’s visa denial (expecailly TOI and I am sure Rajdeep Sardesai must be crying for christian missionaries coming as USCIRF members)?
America has got many such institutions set up to bully the world as and when required to gain political advantage. We dont give shit about USCIRF’s Visa rejection and media also should not be bothered.
June 17th, 2009 at 2:38 pm
Why Media is giving so much importance to USCIRF’s visa denial (expecailly TOI and I am sure Rajdeep Sardesai must be crying for christian missionaries coming as USCIRF members)?
America has got many such institutions set up to bully the world as and when required to gain political advantage. We dont give damn about USCIRF’s Visa rejection and media also should not be bothered.
June 17th, 2009 at 3:05 pm
This is too little too late.
Sections of people who support UPA like Teesta, Missionaries, leftists, psuedos actually instigated this US body to undertake visit to India which is unprecedented as never before they were given permission to visit India.
They systemetically abuse Hindus, people of Gujarat, Orissa, Hindu organisations as they stand for protection of Hindu, indigeneous culture.
Now, Kachi Sankaracharya and many other top Hindu Seers openly opposed this visit as its meddling in our internal affairs. UPA for now has stopped them, but we have to keep a vigil on the whole issue of conversion.
One major difference to note here- Indian Supreme Court upheld rights of Indigeneous people (meaning Hindus) to PROTECT THEIR RELIGION. That’s why so many states have rights for protection of religion (which psuedos, missionaries call anti-conversion law). These US bodies do NOT accept Indian law on this issue. THEY THINK FULL RELIGIOUS CONVERSION BY ANY MEANS IS THEIR BIRTH RIGHT.
June 17th, 2009 at 3:05 pm
* Kanchi Sankaracharya
June 17th, 2009 at 3:57 pm
IF THIS NEWS COMES IN……………….INDIA………….AND AUSTRALIA……..?????
OH………….OI……………..GUJARATI MALE AND FEMALE BEATING AUSTRALIAN——AND
WHITE PEOPLE IN………….AUSTRALIA.
WE ARE THE PEOPLE WE HAVE TO CHANGE NEWS ALL TIME.
ON PLANET EARTH MALE AND FEMALE LIVES. SOME PEOPLE HIDE DOWN THE BED. NEVER BECOME ONE OF THEM.
RAWANA BURN HUNUMAN TAIL………HE BURN 50% SRI LANKA…………….HE HE HE HE HE….
June 17th, 2009 at 6:35 pm
Christian Missionaries want to convert whole Hindu population into the Christian religion.
They have done this in Latin America and Africa successfully. They are doing same in South Korea aggressively.
America, being a right wing Christian nation uses non-government bodies like USCIRF and Amnesty International to interfere in other nation’s affairs. These bodies are powered by the U.S.
Who is USCIRF to judge India’s credential in religious freedom?
Is it not enough that a Christian Catholic Sonia Gandhi is ruling in India?
Is it not enough that Andhra Pradesh has a Christian Chief Minister under whom thousands of Hindus are being converted to Christianity every week?
Does USCIRF want India to convert to Christianity faster?
June 17th, 2009 at 6:41 pm
Never miss this website.
It regularly reports how they want to kill Hinduism from the last part of the world called India
http://www.christianaggression.org
June 17th, 2009 at 6:59 pm
Haa haa, religious freedom watchdog?
No No, it should be called a religious conversion watchdog.
June 17th, 2009 at 9:20 pm
My Gujju Hindoo friends say” Wakhani Khichadi dante vadage” Too early to praise UPA government.
Just wait and see, how this is reversed. American evangalists solders are openly out converting Afghans as well. Under the pretext of stopping march of communism they converted south Koreans and south Vietnamese.
There are long conversion courses taught to people to prepare for conversion, in west. Very systematic on war footings. Millions of pounds are spent overtly and covertly.
Parsoki Au Pair girl ( gharkam karne vali) , nakli Ghandi ki BAHU) , papa ko milne ITALY JA rahi hai. SATHME PAPAKO amantran dekar ayegi.
Usne to BHARTKE KE paiso par CATHOLIC CRUSEDARO KI MOHR JO LAGALI HAI, KI BHART EK CATHOLIC KA KHANDIYA RAJ HAI.
RUPEES upar HINDU BUDDIST SIKH YA ISLAM KA CHIHNA NAHI HO SAKTA> ASHOK CHAKRA BHI HATA DEEYA. AUR CRUSADARO KI GULAMIKI MOHAR LAG GAEE HAI.
AAB GULAMI KA TAMASHA DEKHTE RAHO. JO EAST INDIA COMPANY NE, PAROX RAJAH LAGAYA THA OR BADME USE UTHAKAR compani raj par BAITHA GAYI.
BILKUL AISI AVASTHA HO GAYEE HAI.
June 18th, 2009 at 1:44 am
EXCELLENT NEWS. INSTEAD OF TRYING TO GET VISA FOR INDIA AND WORRY ABOUT INDIA THEY SHOULD VISIT NEW YORK PUBLIC SCHOOL WHERE THIS ONE SIKH BOY IS BEING HARRASED EVERYDAY FOR WEARING TURBAN,AND NOW FINALLY HE HAS TAKEN LEGAL STEPS.THIS IS NOT FIRST TIME AND NOT NEW.MUSLIMS,JEWS AND CHRISTIANS HAVE CHILDREN IN THEIR OWN PRIVATE SCHOOLS,BUT MOST OF THE HINDU AND SIKH CHILDREN ARE IN PUBLIC SCHOOLS AND FACE THIS PROBLEM ALL THE TIME.SO USCIRF PLEASE VISIT SCHOOLS IN USA AND TAKE CARE OF PROBLEM THERE FIRST.
June 18th, 2009 at 4:38 am
chote imam. perfact. you wrote perfact analysis. wait for gulami..
June 18th, 2009 at 7:42 pm
GOOGLE WHAT IS 20/20 WINDOW and YOU WILL FIND THE EVIL DEALS OF CHRISTIAN MISSIONARIES FOR INDIA.
EVEN THE HOLY BOOKS OF HINUDS ARE BEING TWISTED AND FALSE INFORMATION IS SPREAD TRHOUGH WESTERN MEDIA.
TONS OF MONEY FROM ABROAD IS BEING POURED IN INDIA FOR THIS WORK AND LOCALS WHO INVOLVED IN PRINTING, DISTRIBUTION OF SUCH FALSE-HOOD GET LOTS OF MONEY.
June 18th, 2009 at 8:21 pm
THIS IS GOOD, AND TOO LATE. THIS IS MY OPINION. BOMBARDMENTS OF WESTERN CULTURE ON YOUNG INDIAN MINDS ARE SO MUCH THAT COMMON YOUNG INDIAN PERSON CAN NOT THINK STRAIGHT. THIS PERSON WILL NEVER HAVE “DESHPREM” AND HE WILL NEVER PRIDE FOR BEING INDIAN.. THIS IS WHAT CONGI. LEADRES WANT… WAKE UP INDIANS, WAKE UP… SEE, WHEN 11/26 HAPPENED IN MUMBAI. THERE WAS UPROAR. AND STILL ALL SEATS IN MUMBAI WAS TAKEN BY CONGIS. INDIANS HAVE SHORT MEMORY… THIS IS WHAT HAPPENS… NO OFFENSE TO ANYONE BUT NATION IS IN TROUBLE…
June 19th, 2009 at 5:33 pm
By: Bandyopadhyay Arindam
Oct-02-2007
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This is a hypothetical interview of “Father Johnson’ after his award by the Government of India for his exemplary work in India in enlightening the people in the path of the ONLY God. Father Johnson returned to the USA after 10 years of service, to uplift the people of India in the name of God. The interview was taken in July 2005 by a journalist in Houston, USA……
Welcome home Father. You have been in India for 10 years, where “our mission’ is still going on. Tell me Father, how is India?
What about Hinduism as a religion?
Hinduism has a deep philosophical and spiritual heritage that has repeatedly mesmerized the world including western scientists, leaders and philosophers. Despite propaganda to the contrary, Hindus, like us, believes in one Supreme God but they do so in many forms, that helps to develop personalized relations. Hinduism is the oldest major religion in the earth with 900 million followers. Unlike monotheistic institutionalized, religions like Judaism, Islam or Christianity, it is not based on any single prophet or scripture, but allows its followers all the freedom to pursue God and Truth in their own way, while living harmoniously with all creation.
We know that the Hindus are tolerant of other religions. Recently, UNESCO pointed out that out of 128 countries where Jews lived before Israel was created, only one, India, did not persecute them and allowed them to prosper and practice Judaism in peace. Similarly the Zoroastrians, when driven out of Persia by Islam were given shelter by the Hindus in India and still coexist in India peacefully. Very recently, the Dalai Lama, driven from Buddhist Tibet, has been accepted with open arms. Such is the ethos of Hinduism and India.
I have heard that Mark Twain once said that “In religion all other countries are paupers; India is the only millionaire’. I have also read Arnold Toynbee’s writing “…at the religious level, India has not been a recipient; she has been a giver. About half the total number of the living, higher religions are of Indian origin’. What do you think about it?
We know India gave birth to religions like Hinduism, Buddhism, Sikhism, and Jainism. Hinduism, though the predominant religion, has, to quote Aldous Huxley, “never been a persecuting faith, have preached almost no holy wars and have refrained from that proselytizing religious imperialism which has gone hand in hand with political and economic oppression of colored people.’
What many do not know and I will not elaborate further for obvious reasons, is that there are researchers who think that the teachings of Jesus Christ have something to do with the ancient wisdom of Vedas. The Hindu concepts of “karma’, and “reincarnation’, which are part of the New Age Movement that we see today, were not unknown to Jesus.
Then Father, why do we need to convert people in India?
You see, we in the western world, have the “white man’s burden’ of civilizing the rest of the world. We also have the need and desire to spread the message of Christ, since we believe that it is the ONLY way to salvation and all other nonbelievers will go to hell. The faith in Christianity is being eroded in Europe and America. That is why our Pope on his visit to India said, “Just as in the first millennium, the Cross was planted on the soil of Europe, and in the second on that of the Americas and Africa, we can pray that in the third Christian millennium a great harvest of faith will be reaped in this vast and vital continent.’
Why do you target India?
India is the right country because Hindu Indians are generally peace-loving tolerant, law abiding people who are truthful and virtuous. India”s devotion to being good rather than being clever comes nearer the heart of a true civilization, said W. J. Grant, in his book, “The spirit of India’. The unsuspecting Indians have always welcomed everybody on their shore and still keep on doing so. You cannot say the same about a Muslim country or of communist China. You see Hindus are such naive – they go out of their way to say that “all religions are same – they all lead to God’. Christians and for that matter, no other religion, says that.
Where does your resource come from?
There are five major aid-giving countries, viz., USA, Germany, Britain, Italy and the Netherlands. According to the available data, in the last decade alone, foreign aid organizations received more than 2.5 billion dollars. This is only official statistics. According to the record and report of the Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India, the statistics about the foreign aid being received by Indian Non Government Organizations shows that 80% of it is meant only for the Christian organizations that have been buying their ways into the Indian society and converting unsuspecting people under the guise of social service.
How powerful is Christianity in India?
Oh, though we are only 2.4% of the population officially, we have a large control over the country because of our economic invasion. You see, the present leader of the main political party of India is a Roman Catholic with close contact with the Vatican. There are Christian Chief ministers in 5 out of 29 states. Because of the British rule of India, we have a large section of the leaders of India who look up to us. Believe me, we are the second largest land owners in India. We own and control 80% of the Indian media and newspapers. We overtly or covertly have alliance with key political associations. So it is very easy for us to influence the right people.
You must have a very organized system?
Yes, we do. Have you heard about the Joshua Project? It identifies and highlights the people groups of the world that have the least exposure to the Gospel and the least Christian presence and shares this information to encourage pioneer church-planting movements among every ethnic group. The Joshua Project has identified the North India Hindi belt as “the core of the core of the core” because of its population density (40% of the Indian population- the states of Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh lies in this region); it is the religious hub of India; and it has the smallest Christian presence in India. Thus detailed plans have been drawn up to target India’s 75,000 Pin Codes.
The Seventh Day Adventists owes its Indian success to Canadian evangelist Ron Watts, President for the South Asian Division. When he entered India, in 1997, the Adventist Church had 225,000 members after 103 years of operations. In five years, he took it to 700,000.
Some methods used include the 10-Village and the 25-Village Programs, which involve five sets of laymen, under guidance from a regular pastor, who identify 10 or 25 villages in close proximity. Once the villages were selected, the teams would approach the leaders of each village and invite them to send two leaders to a 10-day seminar at a nearby resort, at the organization’s expense. It is before no time that the local leaders will then start working for our faith and organization. In 1998, there were seventeen 10-Village Programs and 9,337 were baptized. In 1999, forty programs were held and nearly 40,000 people baptized. Under the Christian Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Samuel Reddy, the Adventists shifted to a 50-village plan. They began baptizing at the rate of 10,000 persons per month.
The US-based Maranatha Volunteers International provides buildings for the Seventh-day Adventist Church. They are committed to build 750 churches in 2 years in India. The Oregon based, Fjarli family have a goal to build 1000 churches at a rate of 1 per day.
How do you carry out conversion attempts?
You see the local people are so simple and naïve that they do not have any clue as what out motive or means are. We target mostly the poor, illiterate, tribal people because they are the easiest to convert. We do that by various means – we establish schools, hospitals that overtly or subtly promote our faith, we allure them with money or goods to the needy when they convert, we “stage’ miracle cures, we use our influence on the media, we use our experts in propaganda, we promote the influential people and so on. We use the money sent to us by unsuspecting religious and faithful Christians from all over the world. We have numerous NGO and AID organizations to funnel the money into the country. There are a great number of missionaries of various denominations who are working there, all literally competing for the most number of converts. The Southern Baptists alone are a group that has nearly 100,000 career missionaries in North India, all working to spread our “good word.”
We convince the “natives’ by our appearances and even use their own culture. A native converted person will continue to use his Hindu name so as not to alienate himself. Some of the numerous Catholic priests in Southern India dress like “sannyasis’ (monks), and call their organizations “ashramas’ (hermitage). This is to make Christianity more similar to the Vedic traditions. Bharat Natyam, the classical dance of India, is also taught in the Christian schools, but with Christian symbols and meanings replacing the Vedic. This is all in the attempt to actively sway Hindus over to Christianity. The Evangelical Church of India (ECI), established in 1954, targets the slums, scheduled castes and scheduled tribes, in cities and villages. Its logo depicts a cross struck deep in a lotus, the seat of Hindu divinity.
Is the so called caste system in India an advantage?
The “Caste-ism in India’ is a boon to us. Though Varna or caste was once an essential part of the culture, based on occupation and vocational skills, which kept the civilization going for over 5000 years, caste-ism is a degenerated socio-political system now that has been declared illegal. However it is one big weapon against Hinduism. We have learnt from the colonial British that it is very easy to divide the population on the basis of caste and religion based politics and we use it to our own interest to the maximum. We join the anti-Hindu forces and help to keep the stigma of caste-ism alive for our own benefit. We target the “untouchables’ (the unprivileged people, that has so marvelously crafted to be a result of the Hindu religion and not the social system) and convert them in the lure of “liberating’ them. However I must confess that we maintain their “untouchability’ by not allowing them to mix with the general Christians, maintaining separate entry to churches and even giving them separate churches and cemeteries.
We also use opportunities that God gives us. During natural disasters like floods, earthquakes and the recent Tsunami, taking advantage of the need, we were able to convert successfully entire low caste villages in Tamil Nadu to Christianity with the lure of money and aid.
How successful are you in your conversion attempts.
Oh we are doing a good job. The Northeast Indian states like Assam, Nagaland, and Manipur, have witnessed a surge of nearly 200% in their Christian population in the past 25 years. Their grasp is so strong now that practicing Hinduism is forbidden in some areas. Hindus can no longer do worship or “puja’ in the open because of our influence. In another northeast state, Tripura, where there were no Christians at the time of India’s independence, 55 years ago, there are now over 120,000 today. The figures are even more striking in Arunachal Pradesh, where there were only 1710 Christians in 1961, but over 1 million today, along with over 780 churches. In the southern state of Andhra Pradesh, churches are coming-up every day in far flung villages and there is an attempt to set-up one near Tirupati, the world famous Hindu temple. Many of the North-East separatist movements, such as the Mizo or the Bodos, are not only Christian dominated, but also sometimes function with the covert backing of the missionaries. Christian Nagaland terrorists have been killing non-Christians for decades on end. More than 20,000 people have lost their lives to insurgency in Assam and Manipur in the past two decades. We understand that there are some social problems that crept up – the northeast states are the highest in India in terms of drugs and AIDS related problem – but we accept that as “casualties of war’ –that should not deter us from our goal.
Do you face any resistance?
Of course we do. But we brand any resistance as “Hindu fundamentalism or militancy’ and the media and our favorite leaders take care of the rest. We have set the mind of the unsuspecting population in a way, that whenever any of our people are harassed, attacked or killed, from any reason including their own faults, the blame automatically goes to these so called “Hindu fundamentalist’ and even though almost all of these instances are later proved to have nothing to do with these Hindu groups, the initial hue and cry that is raised makes sure the memories persist in the mind of the populace and the sympathy stays with us. There are instances when nuns have been proved to be raped by Christians, but the blames continues to stay with the Hindus.
Is there any legal barrier?
Yes there are some rules and laws that sometimes impair our activities. The Indian Supreme Court had declared that: “The right to propagate religion does not mean the right to convert… Conversion done under allurement, use of force and fraud in which the poverty or ignorance of the individual is taken advantage of, is not only undemocratic but also unconstitutional…Respect for all religions is the foundation of secularism whereas the seeds of conversion lie in religious intolerance.”. Anti conversion laws have been passed in various states. But as I said, we have our ways.
Sometimes the law does get us though. We had some instances where members of our faith have been convicted with resultant imprisonment or expulsion. As in churches all over the world, some clergymen have been penalized for cases of sexual exploitation, including pedophilia. But that does not deter us from our goal and our almighty Lord takes care of our soul.
How satisfied are you with the progress of the missions?
It is really satisfying. We find enormous pleasure in converting the Hindu “pagans’. However I wish we could do more. I wish I could say like St Francis Xavier, during the Goa Inquisition in 1560, “When I have finished baptizing the people, I order them to destroy the huts in which they keep their idols; and I have them break the statues of their idols into tiny pieces, since they are now Christians. I could never come to an end describing to you the great consolation which fills my soul when I see idols being destroyed by the hands of those who had been idolaters.”
Thank you, Father for your time and honesty.
Thank you, my son. God bless you.
Epilogue
“Christianity offers nothing that is not already available somewhere in the many forms of Hinduism. Hinduism never rejected the teachings of Jesus. Those who have converted either agreed with a gun pressed at their skulls as in Goa, or because it provided an escape from caste tyranny, as well as a guaranteed professional advancement. Through its Vedic legacy, Hinduism respects all faiths. It clearly states that God is one, but has many forms. The Christian message must sound preposterous: that God is indeed one, but has only one recognized form, his son. The “savages” of India were sophisticated – so sophisticated that the imperialist mixture of church and state in Europe could not grasp such sophistication….”
(Paul William Roberts, author of, “Empire of the Soul: Some journeys in India’)
Bandyopadhyay Arindam