The Hindu : Cooper harbours no ill-will

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Jan 17, 2003

Southern States

Southern States - Kerala-Thiruvananthapuram

Cooper harbours no ill-will

By G. Anand

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM Jan. 16. The 67-year-old American missionary, Joseph Cooper, bears no ill-ill against the youth who waylaid and attacked him while returning from a Protestant Convention at Puliyam, near Koppam, in Kilimanoor police station limits on Monday night.

``When I heard that the police had arrested four youth, I thought about their families and the pain the arrests would have caused them. Even while being rushed to the hospital, I felt no hatred or anger towards the attackers. I forgive them and pray for them,'' he told The Hindu from his room at a private hospital in the city.

Mr. Cooper, who is nursing a severely injured right palm, describes himself as a native American whose father is a Cherokee Indian. "My mother is a true Scot. I have mixed blood, though I consider myself a native American,'' he said. A civil engineer by profession, Mr. Cooper was "drawn to Christ'' at the age of 36 and has dedicated his life to missionary work ever since.

He has been to the State as many as eleven times and look forward to visit Kerala again. "I have always felt safe in India, particularly Kerala where the people follow Abraham's laws of hospitality,'' he said.

Mr. Cooper said he was at Puliyam on the invitation of Pastor Benson Sam, an old family friend, to "minister to neglected Christians'' in the hilly tract. He said that the 20-odd families who attended the Protestant Convention at Puliyam were Christians for the past one generation. Mr. Cooper said the prayer meeting at Puliyam was no conversion drive as alleged by some quarters. "Conversion has to be from the heart. No one can be tricked or bribed into accepting Christ as their saviour,'' he said.

Reminiscing about the attack, Mr. Cooper said he could sense "their hatred'' as the attackers set upon the small group with clubs and machetes. "I tried to run, but fell down. Then it must have been an easy task for the attackers,'' he said. Mr. Cooper had first come to know about Kerala through the father of Pastor Benson Sam who he had met in the United States in the early 1970s.

Speaking to The Hindu, Pastor Benson Sam said he had been working with Christian families in Puliyam for the past three years. "There was never any protest against our prayer meetings which were always low key affairs involving the few local Christian families,'' he said. His wife, Ms. Sali Benson, has also sustained minor injuries in the attack. "My daughter Joy was sitting on my shoulder when the attackers waylaid us,'' Mr. Benson said.

The Friends Bible Church he heads has six units in Kerala, most of them in the rural areas. Mr. Benson said that the followers of the Friends Bible Church in Puliyam hailed from the Vedar community. But all of them have been Christian for the past one generation. "Some of them are Roman Catholic while others are part of the Lutheran Mission,'' he said.

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