Opinion - Letters to the Editor

Heinous crime

Sir, — Your Editorial, ``A heinous crime'' (Jan.17) is a candid analysis of the attack on the American missionary, Joseph Cooper, and his associates at Kilimanoor near Thiruvananthapuram. It is an irony that the incident has happened in Kerala which boasts of better cultural, liberal and pluralistic ethos.

The police and the administration of the God's own country should smoke out the real miscreants and check the hate campaign, so that the people of the district can live in peace and harmony. The rot may be at the top, not in the layers below.

K.S. Thampi,
Chennai

Sir, — No doubt, the incident (for that matter any crime) has to be condemned. But, Mr. Cooper has come to this country on a tourist visa and so has violated the visa terms by indulging in religious propaganda.

It cannot be gainsaid that under the umbrella of ``Pentacost'' which, it seems, is a liberal sect, a lot of conversions among tribals and the poorer section of the society is taking place with the aid of foreign funding. This has to be equally condemned.

S. Jayachandran Nair,
Thiruvananthapuram

Sir, — You have blown out of proportion the attack on the American missionary (on visiting visa) by suspected RSS activists.

The right to profess, practise and propagate one's faith should be used faithfully and responsibly, not in an aggressive and flamboyant style. It must be borne in mind that this right is guaranteed to Indian citizens only and not to a foreigner. Highly organised missionary activities, supported by vast sums of money from abroad, using expensive mass advertising techniques, loudly proclaiming the word to large crowds, quite often by preachers from outside whose knowledge of the Indian people's religion and culture is limited - do these constitute the ways of Christ?

P.N. Benjamin,
Bangalore

Sir, — It was deeply disturbing to read about the attack on the Christian missionary in Kerala. This is not the India that I grew up in or the India that I had known. There are two disturbing trends in the Indian society today that will have long-term consequences on how we treat the minorities.

The first is that the voice of Hinduism is slowly being taken over by a very small group of people who call themselves as the representatives of the Hindus and who have no qualms about using violence to loudly proclaim and, if possible, establish their views. Unless the majority of moderate Hindus raise their voice of outrage, I think India may well succumb to the wave of Talibanisation that is sweeping our neighbourhood.

The second trend is subtler and is also related to the first one. There is an effort to associate religion with nations. Somehow Hinduism is portrayed as the only Indian religion and Christianity has become a Western religion. Will someone rise and correct this misconception in a voice that will be at least as loud as the violent Hindu minority?

Jit Muthuswamy,
Arizona, U.S.

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